SPK Dog Log

Aliy took some “Aliy Cam” during the first leg of the Two Rivers 100. We thought you might enjoy it!

Chris and his Red & Black Team have finished the Northern Lights 300! Good job team!

Schmoe and Scout led the team over the line and Steve managed to catch this quick snap of them. All the dogs have had a meal and are now in the dog truck having a nap, as is Chris.

The tracker information tells us that they did indeed stop for a couple hours enroute to the finish. My very rough “back of an envelope” calculation has them resting almost half of their total time. At this stage we are unsure of official times or their finishing position.

We are very excited to learn more about the race on their return home later this evening.

Chris and 11 team mates are on the final leg of the Northern Lights 300! They checked out of Yentna at 5.06pm after just over 6.5 hours rest; with 72 miles until the finish line. As mentioned in the previous update, his conservative version of the race plan has the team resting part way through this final leg depending on the trail conditions and how he feels the dogs are doing.

We expect them to finish in the early hours of the morning. We’re excited for them to cross the line.

RETURNED DOG UPDATE

McCaw was the dog that Chris left behind at Yentna on the way out. He developed a sore shoulder and as he is a BIG BIG dog Chris wouldn’t have wanted to carry him!

Chris left QT in Yentna on the way home and she is already back with Steve in Big Lake. She developed a sore wrist in the previous leg and Chris felt it was better to fly her home to rest.

The both have had quite an adventure, getting to hang out at the checkpoint with all the volunteers and vet team then fly in a small plane back to Big Lake. They will have some stories to tell their team mates when they see each other at the finish line! Steve said they are both quite happy and have been reunited with Decaf at Matt Failor’s kennel this evening.

McCaw and QT caught the plane home

*Edit: updated with official information

We are very excited to see that Chris and the R&Bs are into the final checkpoint of Yentna! They pulled in at 10.27 this morning and they have a mandatory six hour rest stop here so can leave at 4.27pm at the earliest. He still has 12 athletes with him at this stage.

The conservative version of the race plan from here has the team resting during the final leg so, again, don’t be alarmed if you see the tracker stationary for a few hours. Chris will assess the team and the trail conditions and make the call whether to stop.

We heard from Steve earlier this morning and he said there is no new snow overnight in Willow and it is about 11 degrees. Denali cleared from the cloud cover to treat everyone to a glimpse.

Steve and Decaf have become good buddies in the few days they have had together!

Officials are hoping to fly the returned dogs back to Willow today so we will let you know once we hear more.

Chris and the R&Bs pulled into Talvista, the second checkpoint, earlier this afternoon. They will rest there for a few hours.

The trackleaders.com trackers give us loads of great information to see what’s going on. In the view below you can see when, and for how long, the team stops in checkpoints or at their camp spot. You’ll see they camped for around three hours then their next stop was at Yentna checkpoint for the mandatory six hours plus time differential (the extra time lower bib numbers take to correct for the staggered start). The little ‘dips’ in the tracker are likely to be when he stopped the team to snack or replace a bootie or something and the tracker updated right at that moment.

The next leg is an out-and-back loop up Skwentna River and return to Talvista checkpoint where, as I understand it, the teams can use their same campspot and straw.

We can see from the race standings that he left Yentna with 12 dogs. At this stage we have no idea who he left behind as we have no way to communicate with Chris. We will find out once whoever it is returns to Big Lake for Steve to pick up. Until then we ask for your patience as we await further information. We’ve heard from Steve that they have had about four inches of snow there and are unlikely to be able to fly the dogs back today but they will be well cared for at the checkpoint by the vet team and volunteers. We will let you know more as soon as we can.

How’s that refresh finger – getting into shape for the Quest and Iditarod?

Chris and his R&B Team left the start chute at 11.36 this morning.

L-R: Final line-up; the rowdy end; Waylon says “I got this Steve”

The final line up to start was Scout and Waylon leading, Woody and Sanka in swing, then Bean and Schmoe, Willie and QT, Creamer and Bruno, McCaw is running on his own then Perky and Barisa in wheel.

Unfortunately, he left without Decaf because somehow, sometime between vet checks and the start line Decaf knocked one of his back legs enough to cause some swelling and Chris didn’t want to risk aggravating anything by taking him. Decaf will rest for a few days with Steve in Big Lake.

Steve caught this video of them leaving the truck towards the start-line.

If you are having trouble viewing the video hit the “pop out” symbol on the upper right to watch via google drive

You will see in the video, on top of Chris’s sled bag is a bag of straw. Chris and the team will be running a VERY conservative race schedule taking much more rest than is required and breaking some of the longer runs into two with some camps in between. This will give everyone the best chance to get to the finish line and also be great practice for the youngsters to spend time in checkpoints and out camping. Don’t be alarmed if you see the tracker stop in the middle of the runs, he plans to stop often!

The trackers are up and running so click here to check it out – they are number #19. Also keep an eye on the Northern Lights website and Facebook page for updates.

As alluded to in our earlier post, Chris has a very young team with him for the Northern Lights 300, along with a few of the older guard. He will decide on the actual line up on Friday morning but for your info, here is who he has with him:

Woody, Schmoe, Willie, Waylon and Scout will show the ropes to nine yearlings: Sanka, Bean, Creamer, Bruno, QT, McCaw, Barista, Perky and Decaf. Click here for more information about each athlete.

Creamer and Sanka make the team

He has four great leaders, plus excellent team dog Willie, and will be able to rotate some of the youngsters up front during the race. They will learn a great deal over the weekend and really come-of-age.

Steve Parker, Chris’ dad, will be handling for the team and hopefully will be able to send us through some details – depending on cell coverage.

Yesterday everyone passed their vet check then Chris and Steve dropped off the checkpoint drop bags for delivery to the checkpoints. Today (Thursday) is for final preparation and rest before the race starts at 11am on Friday.

They are staying at Matt Failor’s kennel in Big Lake and he was kind enough to clear some space for a temporary home for our athletes. Thanks so much Matt, we appreciate it!

Temporary lodgings in Big Lake

Note: It was a difficult task to narrow down the yearlings to take as Chris needed to take some experience with him leaving only so many slots for the youngsters. Those left behind are Dancer, Chevie and Jefe. These three were some of the most advanced yearlings earlier in the season and they went on a number of longer runs and trained well. This, combined with the cold temperatures last week, unfortunately took a little weight off them as can tend to happen with youngsters, and we felt they needed more time to get back into condition before embarking on a 300 mile adventure. They will continue to train while their siblings are away.

Ruth had an interesting mix of dogs with her on the Two Rivers 200 ranging in age from yearlings Bean and Sanka to veteran Olivia at nine years old. She started with just nine dogs: Chena, Chemo, Olivia, Schmoe, Five, Bean, Sanka, Hotshot and Iron.

Photo: Julien Schroder

Chena did very well and is a very talented leader. Sometimes, however, she can be too smart for her own good. At the intersection of the slough trail and baseline, where we would normally take a HAW to go home, the route called for a GEE and it took some time convincing Chena that Ruth knew where she was going.

Chemo was typically Chemo, he was eager to please and worked steadily but he got a little sore in his front end and Ruth left him at Angel Creek checkpoint. This left her team underpowered for the hills in the final leg.

Olivia is an absolute legend. She will work and work then when it is time to rest she will settle in quickly and make the most of her down time. She is certainly a matriarch of the kennel and has proven herself time and time again.

Schmoe never let up and he didn’t feel he needed to camp! He was ready to continue on for as long as you needed.

Five is so strong and hard working, he will be an important dog next season! He also had some mental issues at the GEE on baseline; he was convinced Ruth was wrong and protested about turning right. He got sore during the second leg so Ruth left him at the Pleasant Valley Store checkpoint. He is already back into training now and looking good!

Bean did great! She has a lot of energy, enthusiasm and will be a future leader.

Sanka is a bit more timid and understated than Bean but will be one of our future leaders and she certainly proved herself this race.

It is great to see Hotshot out on the race trail this season. He hasn’t had much chance but this year has seen him race a little more. He tries far too hard at the beginning of each run which leads him to tire a bit more than the others and he was not able to contribute fully in the latter half of the hills because of that.

Iron didn’t even know what happened! He was ready to race 200, 300 or 1000 miles or follow the snow machine anywhere you wanted to go. He’s a good boy!

In the final leg Ruth had just seven dogs left to get her up some serious hills and no longer had two of her powerhouses Five and Chemo. She, herself worked extremely hard, helping the team by running alongside the sled. After camping and a meal it was decided it was just too much for everyone to continue and remain a positive experience.

Aliy took a snow machine up the hills and brought the team out. She attached the sled to the back of the snow machine and Ruth rode the sled with the dogs happily trotting along behind them all the way to the waiting dog truck (except Schmoe who is, honestly, still a little wary of snow machines so he hung back from the pack, always within sight). It certainly was an adventure for them all!

R&B camp spot