SPK Dog Log

Thank you all for your thoughts, concerns, well wishes, light, prayers and love.  Our thoughts are also with Jeff King and his team.  The sorrow he must be feeling right now!

We don’t have a lot of new information to share with you, but we are keeping an eye on the story as it develops.  Iditarod has said that the person suspected of attacking Aliy and Jeff is in custody and off the river.  The Alaska State Troopers were due to arrive this morning to continue the investigation into this incident.  Click here for the official press release from the Iditarod in case you haven’t seen it yet.

We don’t know who it was from Aliy’s team that she left in Nulato.  We know from the press release that he or she has non-life threatening injuries and for that we are thankful.  The video of the team coming into Nulato didn’t show anyone obviously injured and in the shots of them leaving it was difficult to tell for sure who was missing from the line.  We’ll let you know once we find out more.

In the meantime, we hope Aliy and her dogs have found some peace on her run to Kaltag.  They arrived into the checkpoint at 10:44.  They made good time getting there.

Allen and the Black Team are into Galena and he will have been apprised of the situation.

Firstly, Aliy and the dogs are okay.

We are hearing horrible reports about incidents with a drunk snow-machiner harassing dog teams between Koyukuk and Nulato and that Aliy had a scary and distressing encounter with him before she got to the checkpoint.

We had a call from the Iditraod Race Marshall early this morning to say that Aliy is okay, her dogs have been thoroughly checked out by the veterinarian team at the checkpoint and they are okay too. Aliy took some time in the checkpoint to regroup and the mushers involved got good support from the team at the checkpoint and the Iditarod organisation.

We feel very far away right now but she knows we are with her in spirit and so are you all. We understand she has revamped her race plan but will continue down the trail.

There is a plan to keep Allen in the loop also.

This is a developing story and we have very little information so please check with the Iditarod and other news sources as they will have the information first. We’ll update when we can.

Linda picked up NOMEX last evening from Iditarod HQ. Linda said the fantastic team down there worked so hard to get through the large number of dogs waiting for their vet checks and release documentation. Allen left Nomex in Cripple with the vet team due to a sore right shoulder, but other than that Linda said he is full of energy and ate like a horse (note the empty dinner dish)!! He looks great and it seems like he will just need some rest (and maybe a massage and lots and lots of treats) to get back to 100%.

We’re excited that Nomex made it nearly 500 miles in his rookie year! He has a very bright future and he was one of the first dogs on Allen’s list to make the team this year.

RED TEAM UPDATE

The Red Team has pulled into Nulato checkpoint at 2.17am this morning, with a runtime of 7 hours 31 minutes over the 55 miles. We expect Aliy will rest the team here for a few hours before hitting the trail towards Kaltag, some 47 miles away. With the increase in miles for the leg, Nulato is spaced perfectly for her schedule.

A nice couple of videos on the Insider this morning, one of her feeding in Galena where she is concocting a delicious chicken soup with lots of kibble. The whole time she is doing it Clyde doesn’t take his eyes off her and when he gets his meal you can see him chow down excitedly! If there is one thing you can rely on with Clyde is he will eat what you give him and then some!

The other video shows the team coming in to Nulato and she had Kodiak and Mismo in lead, Izzy and Dutch in swing, Scout with Chemo, Chipper and Willie, Scruggs and Waylon, Schmoe, Felix with Commando and Sandy and Clyde in wheel. They look very nice coming in after a 7.5 hour run. They are wearing their “puff jackets” so we can assume it was cooler over night which is great!

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

The Black Team completed their mandatory eight hour stop in Ruby and left there on time at 2.45am this morning. Allen still has 14 team mates with him – yay! They are currently moving very nicely on the Yukon River and depending on the speed they go he will either go all the way to Galena 50 miles away or it may suit them to stop on the river to camp somewhere. We’ll keep an eye out for that.

Both teams also feature in the latest “Run Dogs Run – Finger Lake to Galena” video which is exciting! There are a lot of gorgeous shots of the Red Team and a lovely, close up shot of the Black Team coming down a hill early in the race – maybe in the Happy River Steps area. In it the team was led by Quito and Chena with Lester and Junior in swing, Chica and Nacho, Sissy and Spark, Tinder and Lydia, Nomex and Iron, then I can’t quite make out the order at the back but see Champ’s happy face! See below a couple of screen shots from that video showing the Black Team.

You may not hear from me much today as I am part of the first wave of the SP Crew making our way to Nome. Chris and I will drive one of the trucks down to Anchorage, ready for when we pick up the dogs from Nome after the race, then fly out to Nome. The next waves arrive at various times throughout the day on Monday. We will update as and when we can but in the meantime keep an eye on the Current Standings, the Iditarod website, the GPS Tracker and their Facebook page for details.

RED TEAM UPDATE

After an eight hour break Aliy and 15 team mates are back on the trail, bang on time at 6.46pm, towards Nulato. They have now completed two of their three mandatory stops (see the two green ticks beside her name on the Current Standings)

We got a report from a friend in Galena checkpoint who spoke with Aliy soon after she arrived and she said that Aliy was really happy with how the team is looking and made particular mention of how well Mismo is doing – she’s really proud of him! Good boy Mismo! She was about to sit down to lunch then was going to get some sleep. She wanted her Mom to know she was feeling good and getting some rest!

When the mushers received their trail report prior to the race they were told about the variation to the “normal” trail from Galena to Nulato. Instead of continuing down the Yukon River they will go overland on the old portage trail for a while until they hit the Koyukuk River, then they get back onto the Yukon just before Nulato. There are open holes in the river ice on that section and it is safer for teams to get off the river for a while. I am not certain how much this adds much to the documented 37 miles but it certainly is a change from running the river. (Edit: Sebastian Schnuelle reported the leg was 55 miles – an extra 18 miles.)

The new route off the river between Galena and Nulato

Laura Wright, the Teacher on the Trail uploaded a video of the team coming in to Galena where they decided to check in via the road rather than the marked trail. To see it go to the Iditarod website home page, then click on the “Teacher on the Trail” bar on the left hand menu to get all her posts.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

The Black Team has just pulled in to Ruby! I’m not sure of the official arrival time as the Standings have not been updated yet but the GPS tracker shows them in and resting. (Edit: Black Team arrival time to Ruby is 6.45pm)

Allen seems to have been running shorter runs today and his run/rest cycle looks very consistent. He will be taking into consideration the attitude of the youngsters and the weather, and making the best decision for the team. We’re hanging out to see a picture of the team and, as yet, we have no word on the team member he left in Cripple checkpoint. We are hoping to find out later this evening so will update you asap.

Many of you are asking about Aliy and Allen’s opinion of the “hauling dogs” strategy. I’m not really in a position to answer that on their behalf and perhaps we will ask that question once the are home. What I do know is they both always say they run dogs because they love running dogs. It may be seen as “old school” but it doesn’t seem to fit with their philosophy to haul them. Allen’s goal in this race is to have as many young dogs as possible run 1000 miles to see and experience the trail so it makes no sense for him to haul them and miss out on that experience. I’m sure there are many pros and cons to doing it and I’m sure those that do it, swear by it and those that don’t, swear by that also. Same as ski-poling vs pedalling with your feet, a sled with a caboose or one without etc. To each their own.

We just caught a very quick Iditarod Live feed snippet of Aliy and the Red Team coming in to Galena. She “declared” her mandatory eight hour stop here. When asked why Galena she said “It fits my schedule and I have to do eight hours somewhere”.

Even though she did “declare” (well, I do declare…) her rest it doesn’t mean she HAS to stop that long and is allowed to leave the checkpoint before the time is up. She would, however, then have to do eight hours somewhere else.

The dogs loped happily into the checkpoint and after checking in, Aliy asked if they were “ready?” to move to their parking spot and they all snapped to attention and looked as if they were just has happy to keep going!

The feed showed Aliy giving the dogs some medication – it would likely be an Omeprazole/Prilosec tablet. This is an approved medication for the prevention of gastric ulcers. Dr Mike Davis and his team, who have done several research projects at SP Kennel, have done extensive research into this and it is now very common, and strongly advised, that mushers give omeprazole or pepcid to their teams every day. The tablet must be given three hours after food and half an hour before food so by giving them the tablet immediately when they arrived, Aliy can then continue her checkpoint chores and give them their snacks and meals as normal.

Sebastian Schnuelle has two great posts full of pictures of the Red Team, one on the Yukon River on the way to the checkpoint, the other when they arrived.

Sebastian Schnuelle’s pic of the Red Team on the Yukon River before Galena

RED TEAM UPDATE

At 4.24am this morning the Red Team arrived into the Ruby checkpoint and spent just eight minutes there while Aliy went through drop bags and the vet team had a chance to look at the dogs. They have multiple experienced vets available so can get through a dog team, looking for specific issues, very quickly.

Check out the Insider video here! Dutch and Mismo were in lead, Kodiak and Izzy in swing, Scout and Willie, Chipper and Waylon, Chemo and Scruggs, Schmoe, Commando and Felix then Clyde and Sandy in wheel.

The team had camped between Cripple and Ruby for about 3-3.25 hours at 9.30pm last night. A zoomed in view of the analytics shows us she stopped almost exactly two hours later for a quick snack for the dogs at about 2.30am then pulled into Ruby another couple of hours after that.

They are now running on the Yukon River and will take an eight hour mandatory rest at one of the next three checkpoints (they can choose from Ruby, Galena, Nulato or Kaltag).

The GPS tracker currently has them in first position, although the teams are all on different stop/start schedules and expect teams to leap frog each other all the way down the river!

Sebastian Schnuelle saw the team into Ruby – to read his report and see his pictures click here. And, there are a couple of great pics of the team from yesterday in Cripple by Jeff Schultz on the Iditarod website (click here for link)

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

We see that Allen has left one team mate in the Cripple checkpoint with the vet and volunteer team. We do not know who it is at this stage and will get that info to you as soon as we can so we appreciate your patience.

Allen had his Black Team rest in Cripple for just over 4.5 hours having arrived at 15 past midnight last night. They are now on the trail again and as I write are about 50 miles from Ruby checkpoint. We had expected them to go through Cripple but Allen must have felt the team needed a little more rest and took advantage of a quiet night-time checkpoint. Time after time Allen shows himself to be a great dog man; running the Iditarod with the bunch of youngsters takes a specific skill set to keep in tune with the team and alter original plans accordingly. He will have several contingency plans up his sleeve and we send his drop bags out with that in mind so we are not concerned at a slight deviation from plan A.

We hope you enjoy our latest edition of the SP Kennel Howler. It is a pre-Iditarod issue so I am a little bit late in posting it – sorry ’bout that!

In this issue we recap the successful Yukon Quest where Allen and the Black Team came in third position, and the Yukon Quest 300 where Aliy and her young team came in second position.

We also preview the Iditarod detailing the route and our expectations of a low-snow year.

Put your feet up and enjoy!

It’s 6.15pm AK time.

RED TEAM UPDATE

Aliy and the Red Team are running towards Ruby right now having ‘blown through’ Cripple at 3.45pm this afternoon. The Insider posted a video of the team as they went through and she is currently running with Mismo and Dutch in lead, Scout and Izzy in swing, Willie and Scruggs, Waylon and Chipper, Kodiak and Chemo, Schmoe on his own, Sandy and Commando then Clyde and Felix in wheel.

Screen shot from Insider video

The video showed the vets taking a look a the team and Aliy signing off the vet book (part of the mandatory gear mushers must have on them at all times), and showed some nice close-ups of Kodiak, Sandy and Commando. The dogs look really good and seemed more than happy to continue on to their next stop.

Aliy herself also looks great! Well rested, fit and healthy!

As they leave you can see that Aliy has half a bale of straw strapped to the sled. That indicates strongly that they will camp out on the way to Ruby.

Screen shot from Insider video

Aliy and Allen both set a ‘plan A’ (and B and C…) for their race and at this point it seems they are both keeping to schedule. They like to keep a regular run/rest rhythm for their dogs and because they both enjoy camping, and are extremely capable and experienced, they are able to break their runs up to suit the dogs rather than to stop in checkpoints for the mushers’ comfort. They are well prepared to take what they need to stop on the trail, and as I have mentioned before, often times the dogs get a better rest when they are away from other dog teams and people.

They are currently sitting second according to the GPS tracker but there are a bunch of mushers still seeing out their mandatory 24 hour layover so it is too soon to arrive at any conclusions about that yet. Once everyone is off their 24 hour break we will get a better idea of where they all sit.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

Allen and the Black Team have stopped to camp at mile 400 – exactly the same spot as the Red Team did earlier in the day. At the moment they are using the same run schedule as the Red Team (but their rest break may be a little longer) so expect them to go through Cripple during the night.

The Trail Notes say of this section: It’s a safe bet you won’t have the faintest idea where you are for much this leg. Even if you sneak a GPS along with you it won’t help much because every hill and creek seems the same as the one before and the one ahead. There are a few recognizable river and creek crossings, but precious few hills and prominent landmarks. At night you will be collapsed into your own little world and the trail will seem to go forever. At least much of it is along an old cart trail, so there’s not much chance to get lost.

CHICA UPDATE

Chica is staying the night Linda’s before heading out to Margie’s kennel in Knik. Having had a couple of days rest out on the trail she is in good shape but just seems a little bummed about not being in the race anymore. Linda brought her inside while she had some work to do and she seemed very happy with that situation!

Selfie fun; Looking good Chica!

Having a snack; relaxing inside while Linda attends to her work