SPK Dog Log

Allen and his Black Team are in White Mountain currently seeing out their eight hour rest. They arrived there at 3.44pm this afternoon so can leave at 11.44pm tonight so another sleepless night for the SP Kennel Crew! Thankfully we know conditions are not as crazy as on Monday night although the wind is still blowing and it has been lightly snowing for most of the day here in Nome.

We’ve been hard at work preparing for their arrival; down at the dog yard and in the kitchen. We have steaks for the team at the finish line and we’ve got one for Allen too (yep, the same steaks!).

Meghan prepares steaks for the team

We weren’t inside the finish chute when Aliy and her team came up Front Street but we stormed the gate once we knew they were close!

It’s not much but here are some snippets; it will give you an idea of the reception she received and the hubbub in the chute.

It’s 10.00am Alaska time.

Allen still has 12 team mates with him and they left Elim at 9am. A look at his GPS analytics shows he’s back on his regular run/rest schedule that he kept up throughout the race.

The next checkpoint for them is White Mountain where they take an eight hour rest before the final push to Nome.

We’ve calculated their arrival in Nome to be early afternoon on Thursday. We can’t wait!!

It’s 9.45pm Alaska time.

We’ve been tracing the tracker all afternoon watching Allen, the Black Team and a bunch of other mushers navigate the Blueberry Hills and the coastline up to Koyuk. This was a particularly difficult piece of the trail for the front runners but hopefully the weather conditions made it a little more navigable. We’re really happy to see them all travelling in a group across the treacherous trail and it looked like they might have swapped around the leading position between them a few times to give each other a break.

Take a look on the current standings and see the ten mushers arrived into Koyuk within 50 minutes of each other.

Ryne found this fantastic picture of the Black Team from the start of the race in a National Geographic article (click the pic for the link). We hope to see more pictures of them and we are busting a gut to hear how the four rookies are faring in the toughest race of their lives.

L-R: Scooter, Mismo, Boris, Izzy, Outlaw (rear) and Felix

Dropped dog update: Schmoe, Chemo and Scruggs are back in Anchorage.

They’ve already had a few days rest out at the Unlakleet checkpoint so are feeling great and I’m sure looking forward to seeing their mates.

Chica has completed her race and is now in Nome with the rest of her team. She caught up on some sleep during the day and is feeling just fine (left: Aliy gets the A-okay for Chica from the vets).

She enjoyed her steak dinner very much!

If you are asking the question: “Why did Aliy stop in Safety?” she answers it when Emily Schwing from KUAC in Fairbanks conducted a short interview with her just after she finished the race. The Alaska Dispatch caught it on film. Watch it; bring tissues (click the pic below to watch).

Two of my favourite quotes: I asked them (the team) to go and they said “You’re crazy! Okay.” and “Sure, yeah, hind-sight, blah blah blah. Second’s pretty good”.

Listening to this interview will give you an idea how close Aliy came to not being able to continue on the race. Their reaching Safety (literally) was the difference between finishing and not. This entire race has been difficult and Aliy told us she kept in mind since Willow a quote from a movie she and Allen saw: “expect the next day to be harder than the last”. This conclusion to the race has proven this to be an appropriate catchphrase for this year’s race.

I would also recommend you read Joe Runyan’s latest post for the Iditarod website. He says “Although she certainly must question her stop in Safety, I would offer that she did exactly the right thing. Conditions were marginal, and in a dog race, prudence is the code. Her 2nd place finish was a triumph.”

During our latest visit to the dog yard a few of them woke to say hi. Others, not so much. In case you are wondering: the wind is not blowing in Nome right now. It’s mild and calm. Go figure.

Boondocks napping, sleepy puppy Clyde

Mac rests his heavy head; Sissy can’t quite believe what she just did!

Meghan tends to Willie, Nacho is still flirting

Olivia looking like a supermodel, Pud the Stud

Quito takes her rest seriously, Little Lion-Heart Waylon in his day-bed (he’ll be back in bed tonight)

Good morning!

Meghan is back from the dog yard; everyone ate a huge meal and they’ve gone back to bed. We won’t hear too much from them for a few days as they rest. We’ll go down every couple of hours to check on them and I’ll take the camera down there later – right now all you’ll see is the outline of dogs under straw, jackets and blankets. BTW we saved a steak for Chica, she’ll get it when she arrives in Nome.

I’ve found several great media stories about the events of last night that describe better than I could what happened. I’ve linked a few here.

The Iditarod website for Sebastian Schnuelle’s blog. Keep watching the Official Iditarod website and Facebook page for developing news and updates.

Anchorage Daily News (click the pic to link)

The Alaska Dispatch (click the pic to link)

KTUU Channel 11 (click here)

Radio KUAC – Emily Schwing’s reports.

Radio KNOM in Nome.

Fairbanks Daily News Miner.

I’m sure there are many others but they all tell the same story.

It’s 11.30am Alaska Time.

Allen and his 12 team mates are still in Skatoolik. They have been there since 5.37pm yesterday evening and they are with a bunch of other mushers and their dogs waiting out the conditions until it is safe to continue.

They’ll be okay in the safety of a checkpoint. Mushers pack contingency food and supplies in their drop bags for just this reason and if they are there even longer than that they can get food from local sources. It’s not uncommon to wait out bad weather. The dogs will have plenty of straw and blankets and/or jackets and out of the wind they will be comfortable. You can bet that after having 18 hours rest these dogs will be ready to get back on the trail!

A check of the current standings and tracker assures me that mushers have been leaving other checkpoints this morning so that means conditions must be improving. The weather forecast shows winds easing over today and tomorrow with temperatures today of 0-10F above.

We’ll keep you updated.