SPK Dog Log

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

We have heard from Iditarod HQ that it was Chica that Allen left in Rohn on Monday night. Chica developed a sore shoulder and leaving her in Rohn would have been the best thing for her and the team. We say “it would have been a difficult decision” but that’s not really true – it would have been an easy decision because it was best for her but it would have been a tough reality for Allen. She is one of the best dogs ever and he will miss having her calming influence, vast experience and extraordinary work ethic on the trail with the youngsters.

Chica is back in Anchorage already and our Returned Dog Coordinator Linda is about to pick her up. We’ll update you later today.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

Allen still has 15 team mates with him on the trail towards Ophir! They left Takotna at 7.26am this morning after completing their mandatory 24 hours plus time differential. We’re super pleased to see both teams still have 15 athletes!

RED TEAM UPDATE

Aliy and the Red Team, as expected, went right through Ophir and are on the trail towards Cripple. The GPS tracker shows them resting at mile 400 so it has either updated right when she has stopped to snack the dogs, or they are going to camp there for a few hours. We suspect the latter as it would fit her run/rest schedule perfectly to be resting here rather than the checkpoint at Cripple. Historically she has stopped the team and camped on this run so that seems to fit.

Cripple is a ghost town now, having once been a booming gold town back in gold rush times. It is the official ‘half way’ point in the race although not technically half way in terms of mileage. The first musher there wins the Dorothy G Page Halfway Award sponsored by GCI. Dorothy G Page is known as the “Mother of the Iditarod” (check out the wikipedia link for more information). Dallas Seavey took that prize yesterday evening.

RED TEAM UPDATE

Aliy and 15 team mates (woohoo!) hit the trail towards Ophir at 12.25am after seeing out their 24 hour mandatory layover plus time differential (to put everyone on even footing after the staggered start on Sunday).

We have seen from videos from Takotna that they have had a little snow out there and Aliy thought it may just add a little bit of cushioning for the dogs so the trails are not quite as hard. It looked so peaceful to see the dogs resting under their jackets and fleece blankets with light snow falling around them.

As Ophir is only 23 miles away we don’t expect her to stop there other than perhaps to grab a few meat snacks for the dogs.

The Iditarod Trail Notes describe Ophir as “Whether you’re on the northern or southern route, this is your last vestige of civilization for a very long while. The trip from here to Cripple and on to Ruby (or down to Iditarod and over to Shageluk and Anvik) is arguably the longest, emptiest, loneliest stretch of trail on the race, and the checkpoints at Cripple or Iditarod are basically nothing but tent camps in otherwise uninhabited locations.”

Here are a few links that have photos of the red team: KTUU has “51 photos of the Iditarod Day 3” including some of the Red Team. There is also a KTUU News story that has pictures from Taktona and an ADN article has a little from Aliy.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

The Black Team is still resting Takotna and will get back on the trail tomorrow morning. We expect Allen was outside seeing Aliy and team off and it is possible this will be the last time they see each other until Allen crosses under the burled arch in Nome.

The team will be enjoying a 24 hour break and will get to eat at least three meals and meat snacks galore! We sent out salmon, beef, poultry skins and tripe (yummy). Allen will be working to hydrate them as well as getting as many calories into them as possible. He will massage every shoulder and wrist and put soothing ointment on every foot (that’s 60 feet). He will also walk them around a bit so they don’t stiffen up during the break and cover them with jackets and blankets so they can stretch out while they are sleeping.

Allen himself will get in as much sleep as he can and as many calories as he can. We packed meals of chicken pesto, beef stir-fry with cashews, and meatballs in alfredo sauce to accompany his regular trail food of nuts, bacon, oatmeal bars (click here for the recipe) and freeze dried meals. He will also enjoy the Takotna checkpoint hospitality – you could almost see his eyes light up when he spoke of it before the race.

I have found a couple of pics of the Black Team in Nikolai by Jeff Schultz on the “Iditarod Photos” page from March 8 – one of Junior sleeping and the other (third down on left) of the team at rest. (You can also see one of Dutch in Takotna on March 9)

We still have no word on which team member was left in Rohn but we do know that about 70 or 80 dogs are flying into Anchorage from the trail tonight. It will take the vet team some time to work through them as they all are vet checked and documented before they are released to the handlers. It may be tomorrow morning before we find out who will join Mac at Margie’s.

If you are wondering about what happens to returned dogs, Kennel Mom Mickey wrote this great piece and this one for the blog a couple of years ago that explains all about it.

Wendy and Moira took the puppies out for a run yesterday while taking a break from the tracker. We took them in small batches but, yep, it was kinda chaotic!

L-R: Barista, Bean, Sanka and Creamer; Decaf

Perky and Barista; Bruno back at his house – I didn’t manage to capture a picture of him in the field!

L-R: Dancer, Hefe and QT; PC and McCaw

In a totally random event, IZZY has won BOTH bonus fan club draws today!

Congratulations to Carrie and Shawn who have won the McGrath checkpoint bag and to Barbara Embick who has won a signed Iditarod Race Guide plus some other kennel goodies.

Izzy has come into her own and is a very important dog on the team. She is a happy, yet cocky individual. Her BFF is her brother, Mismo, whom she both partners with and picks on relentlessly. Physically, she resembles her father, but she has her mothers spirit in there as well! She is currently resting in Takotna with her team mates.

Remember we have lots of extra draws coming up and you have to be in to win! If you haven’t already won this season or if you are a new member your name will be in the next draw. NOTE: you can win more than once if you are a fan of more than one dog!

Click the button below for instructions on how to join:

Click this button below to take you directly to the Dog Fan Page.

Good morning all!

Not a lot to tell you this morning as both teams are now into Takotna and it looks to us like they are both taking their 24 hour rest.

Aliy and the Red Team got in to the checkpoint at 9.59pm last night and, with their time differential of 144 minutes added, they will leave sometime around 12.23am tomorrow morning.

Allen and the Black Team arrived into Taktona earlier this morning. As I write this the Current Race Standings have not been updated with their arrival time but looking at the tracker we think it was around 4.45am(ish). With their time of 160 minutes they will leave approximately 7.30am tomorrow morning.

It will be so nice for them both to see each other and the dogs, and have some time together to discuss the race.

Of course, other mushers and their teams continue to run the race but we are all taking a break from the tracker for a while to get some other chores done!

RED TEAM UPDATE

Aliy and the Red Team pulled into Takotna checkpoint at a squeak before 10pm this evening as the third team in. We managed to see part of the live broadcast but it was pretty dark by that stage and we didn’t get to see much at all except Mismo’s big body still in lead. We’ll keep an eye out for an Insider video that might show us some more.

She will rest the team here and she may even make this her mandatory 24 hour stop. Emily Schwing from KNOM spoke to Aliy in Nikolai and she says she will get as far as Takotna then make her decision.

When we pack the drop bags we pack for a number of contingencies and different race plans and Takotna was one of her possible 24 hour checkpoints. For 24 hours we send out a whole 40b sack of dog food, lots of meat and fish snacks, blankets and fresh jackets for the dogs, a change of clothing for the mushers and some seam sealed human meals for them to enjoy. We also snuck a few other unexpected goodies in the bags to surprise them such as popcorn and dried plantains.

Teams have three compulsory stops in the Iditarod. They must stop for 24 hours and can do that at any checkpoint they choose. When they take this they also make up their time differential so everyone is on equal footing after the start back on Sunday. The musher that went out last will take 24 hours exactly, then next one will take 24 hours and 2 minutes, next is 24 hours and 4 minutes and so on. There is a compulsory eight hour stop at any of the checkpoints on the Yukon River so they can choose between Ruby, Galena, Nulato and Kaltag. The final compulsory stop is for eight hours at White Mountain – about 75 miles from the finish.

Check out these cool pics of the Red Team moving towards McGrath checkpoint earlier today (click on red link). On the Insider video of the team coming through McGrath we saw she’d moved the dogs around again. Mismo and Kodiak were still in lead but she moved Scout and Dutch into swing, Willie was with Scruggs, Chipper with Chemo, Waylon and Izzy were running together, Schmoe got time on his own then the back four were still the same with Commando and Sandy then Felix and Clyde in wheel.

Screen shot from Insider video in McGrath as she “high fives” some fans

In the video we could see the vet talking to Aliy and asking if she had any issues with any dogs she wanted looked at but she said there was nothing she’s concerned about and that they are all good. She then took some time to sign an autograph for a young fan and give some “high fives” between the check-in point and the out chute. As she was leaving the checkpoint she yelled back “Thank you McGrath! as the dogs bounded back down the river.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

Allen and his team are on the trail towards McGrath after resting for almost 5.5 hours in Nikolai. He still has 15 team mates with him. At this stage there is not much else we can tell you about the team as we haven’t seen any pictures or videos from further back in the pack. If you see something do please let us know!

Congratulations to Wesley and Ama who have won this week’s draw. Wesley and Ama are fans of of Sandy.

Sandy is currently on the way to Takotna checkpoint in the Iditarod. She got the call up to the A team this year after completing the race with Allen last year. She has had a fantastic season and Aliy was very excited to take her on the race. We are all rooting for Sandy and are looking forward to seeing her at Nome.

Today’s bonus draw prize is a copy of this month’s ‘Alaska” magazine signed by Aliy and Allen along with some other kennel goodies! A familiar face graces the cover: Honda! Honda is part of the car litter and his brother Scout is running with Sandy (and Aliy). He has retired to Oregon with Jeanne and a bunch of other SPK dogs.

Remember we have lots of extra draws during the race including McGrath and Shaktoolik checkpoint drop bags and some Iditarod Race Guides signed by Aliy and Allen.

If you haven’t already won this season or if you are a new member your name will be in the next draw. NOTE: you can win more than once if you are a fan of more than one dog!

Click the button below for instructions on how to join:

Click this button below to take you directly to the Dog Fan Page.