It’s 3.30pm Alaska Time
Black Team
At 10:45am Allen and all 14 of his team mates left Circle City Checkpoint after resting over five hours. He left with brothers Commando and Dutch in lead, Chipper and Spark in swing, bros Jefe and Bruno, bros Five and Rodney, Scooby and Amber, Clyde and Perky with Decaf and Violet in wheel.
It was the last time the handler crew get to see the team until they arrive in Dawson a couple of days from now. The dog team will have 310 miles of trail to cover before the crew get to see them so there was a quick switcharoo of handlers at Circle. Aliy has been supporting Karolyn in her race but once she left Central, Ryan was able to scoot her up the road to ensure she saw Allen and the team before they left. It was important to both of them that she could see them.
162 long lonely miles to go before Eagle Checkpoint however there are two welcome spots where mushers and teams can stop. About 60 miles from Circle is Slaven’s Roadhouse. Slaven’s is designated a ‘dog drop’ stop so it is not a supported checkpoint where supplies could be sent forwards, but there will be a vet crew there and dogs can be left with the vets if they are best not to continue with the race. The hospitality there is legendary. Another 50-odd miles on is Trout Creek – a ‘hospitality stop’, again with legendary hospitality and brownies. Expect teams to stop at one or the other – or both!
For this section of the race the Current Standings will not tell the story as only official checkpoint times are recorded. The tracker is the place to watch – as if you weren’t watching it obsessively already.
Read all about what mushers can expect in the trail notes here.
Red and Black Team
Birch Creek is where it’s at! Karolyn and her team rested for a couple of hours on the creek at mile 163 and are currently about 37 miles from Circle and the warm welcome that awaits them from the handler crew.
Evidently they have lots of photos and video so we will do a big catch-up post once they are all through.
Thanks for the update! I love this section of trail…what an awesome service these hospitality stops provide for the Mushers and for this race as a whole on these desolate parts of the trail! I wish our Cabin was enroute!
Another great update! Thank you Moira.
Thanks ever so much for the updates – GO BLACK TEAM, GO R&B!!!
One forgets that this is just the first quarter of the YQ1000 – a long way to go !!! GO ALLEN!!!
And the R&B’s have a ways to go (at 183 miles of @300 as I write this) but they’s been up and down Rosebud, Eagle Summit and thru Birch Creek so it should be less difficult the rest of the way, I hope!!! Karolyn is so brave to go out on the YQ300 with all those youngsters in the team – a fantastic experience and a cool one!!!
WOOF WOOF WOOF
Nice to see everyone in Circle! Thanks for getting Aliy there! Looking good! Go Black team as this
stretch is certainly a long one. Keep the finger exercised!
Watching Karolyn too and she is going along steady. Go Karolyn and SP Dogs! 10 Miles out–Go Girl!!
Both teams must be so excited every time they see Aliy.
<3
🙂
Great video and pics
Been checking on both – two browsers open and yep – Karolyn is in Circle and I feel silly happy about that. Just back up the creek and she and a few pups are no longer rookies to the 300 miles.
How great is that?
Times into Slaven’s for the for four are pretty close, all things considered. Allen is off the top spot by 1 hour & 25 minutes. He is definitely taking it the most easy of the top 4 – which also makes me silly happy. No explanation for that emotion, but there it is.