SPK Dog Log

Friday morning we took 21 dogs to kennel sponsor North Pole Veterinary Hospital for their Yukon Quest pre-race examinations. Because Allen is a veteran racer he is able to have vet checks done privately.

Dr Dawn Brown, who herself races sprint dogs, with the help of vet assistant Mara, thoroughly checked out our athletes from top to toe.

Spark gets checked while Commando waits patiently, “What are you writing Moira?”, “I’m totally the best one aren’t I?”

The checks include:

• reading and recording microchips to ensure the right dogs are included on the team and so they can easily be identified by vets who may not necessarily know one dog from the next
• examining dental and gums. They note the colour of the gums which can be an indicator of illness.
• checking that eyes, ears and lymph glands and ‘personal areas’ are normal
• recording weight, temperature, heart rate and respiration rate and checking for any abnormalities
• testing range of motion in front and back legs and wrists to check for any soreness
• examining skin and feet, noting if there are any abrasions or bootie rubs etc to be treated before the race
• fixing an overall body score out of 9 (those of you with pets may have seen this chart on your vet’s noticeboard where 1 is too skinny and 9 is too big).
• ensuring vaccinations for rabies, parvovirus, distemper and bordatella are up-to-date and documented
• they also note for any medications the dog may be on, and how recently, to ensure no banned substances have been ingested. Note: the dogs are drug tested throughout the race also.

For more information you can check out the Yukon Quest website.

A number of our dogs have quite a history with North Pole Vet – the “Five” litter were cared for there when they were a few days old, Ginger later had surgery there, Outlaw and Clyde were born by cesarian section there and Mac had his salivary gland surgery there. Thanks to the North Pole team for being part of our team!

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.