I hope you enjoy this!
Music: Stanhope by Scotty MacLeod
Yukon Quest Banquet and Prize Giving
Last night the Yukon Quest community in Fairbanks came together to celebrate the 30th running of the “the race that all long distance mushers and fans must experience.”
Allen received a new award from the Selkirk First Nation to recognise his hard work and endurance for his first place arrival in their community of Pelly Crossing. He was presented a wonderful pair of beaver fur gloves (right) made by a local aboriginal artist. Thank you to the Selkirk First Nation – they are beautiful and a very special memento of his race and especially Pelly Crossing.
The crowd heard some great stories about the trail, including one from Allen about when he was a couple of hours into the last leg from Two Rivers to Fairbanks – he’d been ski-poling hard and the dogs loping along nicely when he looked behind him and saw what looked like a headlight. Allen said it scared him that Hugh was catching him so he ski-poled harder and encouraged the dogs more! An hour or so later he looked behind him again and the light was still there until it dawned on him that what he was seeing was the reflector tape of the trail markers. That might explain why his run from Two Rivers to Fairbanks was so fast!
Other mushers said some super things about Allen and the SP Kennel family and expressed how much they believed Allen really deserved this win. Congratulations to all the other mushers and prizewinners: Normand Casavant for the Veterinarian’s Choice, Brent Sass for Sportsmanship, Scott Smith as Rookie of the Year, Darrin Lee for the Spirit of the North award, Hugh Neff for the Dawson City award and Dyan Bergen for the Red Lantern. It was a great night and thanks must go out to the Yukon Quest Board, staff, vets, volunteers and fans for making it such a great race!
Allen receives the Yukon Quest Champion trophy
Hear some snippets from Allen’s speech:
The crowd at the YQ Finish Banquet
Golden Harness For The Golden Girl
On Saturday night in Fairbanks Quito received the Yukon Quest Golden Harness award. The award is “presented in honor of the loyalty, endurance and perseverance of the Champion Lead Dog throughout the race” and that is surely the case with Quito!
Aliy and Allen both spoke about Quito. Aliy started off saying “Quito is truly a rock star”. “She’s six years old, she’s done three Yukon Quests and four Iditarods, and she probably has a lot more in her.” She explained that “Quito is non-stop and she’s kind of a dog that doesn’t do it for you, she does it for herself and that’s probably what makes her more special than anyone else.”
Allen also told the crowd about her two litters and that we’ll get a whole lot more dogs just like her that never want to quit! “Because there’s no quit in Quito!” Woohoo!
Because of the excitement of the evening Quito was a bit reluctant to eat the raw steak especially prepared for her by the Carlson Centre head chef so we brought a doggy-bag home and she will get to enjoy it in the peace and quiet of the yard later today.
Iditarod: Live Video Chat With Aliy Zirkle!
Meet The Mushers: Fairbanks
Friday night in Fairbanks was the Yukon Quest Meet the Mushers event. Hundreds of people turned out to congratulate the finishers and get prized signatures and photos.
Allen’s Talks About His Champion Team
I sat down with Allen and asked him about his team of Yukon Quest Champions!
Firstly he said he was really proud of his team and how they responded to all the challenges in the race. Some have been there before, many times, others haven’t had as much experience and he said they all performed really well.
Video of The Champs Crossing The Line
Here’s another great video of the team coming into Fairbanks on Monday morning.
This is by Jaime Schwartzwald, Sports Director at KXD News 13. For those of you in Fairbanks, watch for an interview with Allen on Channel 13 sometime later this week.
The Champs Stretch Out
Two days after winning the Yukon Quest, Allen and the team, and a few 300 milers, went for an easy five mile run around the local trails. This gave the dogs a chance to stretch out after taking a couple of days off.
It’s important to keep the dogs moving, even just a little bit, until they are ready to step it up again for that next big race that’s coming soon…
The two teams in these pics are: with Allen – Quito, Ranger, Scruggs, Scout, Chica, Nacho, Tatfish and Biscuit and with Moira – Beemer, Honda, Puppet, Olivia, Boris and Willie. I.V. and Scooter went on a ten mile run with Meghan later.
