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Aliy First to the Coast

March 11, 2012 by

Aliy arrived at Unalakleet at 7:28 am AST. She and the dogs looked good coming into the checkpoint, though Aliy did look like it had been very cold out there on the trail. Unalakleet is reporting temperature of -35 degrees. That means that spots on the trail were likely much colder.

Being the first to arrive in Unalakleet, Aliy received the Gold Coast Award presented by Wells Fargo. Scotty Watkins, Nome’s Wells Fargo Branch Manager and Aliy’s son in law, presented her with a beautiful gold cup, $2500 worth of Nome gold and a Van Zile print. SP Kennel will be paying for dog food with gold this summer!
Dallas Seavey arrived in Nome 51 minutes after Aliy and Burmeister shortly after.
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Day 7 – Iditarod 2012 – Portage Trail

March 11, 2012 by
March 10, 2012 10:30 pm AST
Aliy and the Red Team left Kaltag after a 5 hour 41 minute rest at the checkpoint. She dropped two dogs before heading out on the trail. It is easy to start to try to put her run into a category, where she is in relation to the other top runners, but use caution. She has done nothing on the race that the “experts” have expected and will probably continue to do so! Reports from the trail say that Scooter was one of the dogs dropped, but there was no information about the other dog.
John Baker, Mitch Seavey, Aaron Burmeister, Dallas Seavey and Jeff King are all close on her tail. At present Aliy is 9 miles ahead of Baker, 10 miles ahead of Burmeister (with 15 dogs), 11 miles ahead of M. Seavey and 15 ahead of D. Seavey. King seems to be falling off a bit. She seems to be gaining and losing time at any musher at any given minute. It’s enough to make a person crazy!
The Kaltag Portage trail is one of Aliy’s favorite parts of the race. She feels awed by the people and animals that have uses this trail for a millennia. This trail has been used by the inland Athabaskan Indians and the coastal Inupiat for trade. It kind of puts the world into perspective.
Here is a link to the Aliy Cam video of the Portage Trail 2010 if you would like to see where Aliy and the Red Team are right now.
Ryne just keeps plugging away. She arrived at Galena at 3:29 pm AST with her 13 dogs. I expect she is booting the dogs now and will be heading out soon. If the weather holds, a friend will be flying out along the trail tomorrow. Maybe we will get some news.
All of Ryne’s drop dogs are back in Anchorage and in excellent condition. Honda was picked up about a half hour ago. He was dropped for a sore shoulder in Cripple, but isn’t even limping now. Meg and Viper from the Red Team also arrived in Anchorage this evening. They are all eating well and look good.
Doug, Allen, Bridgett, Scotty and Timber are all in Unalakleet awaiting Aliy’s arrival. We should have some good information in the morning.
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Mini-Quiz for SPK Fans!

March 10, 2012 by

KNOM in Nome has been doing a great job — I think — of covering the race and providing timely, useful information. I was just listening to a couple of clips and noticed — finally! — the photo in the banner:

How quickly can you SPK fans recognize and name those dogs! Put your answer in the comments and show your stuff!

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Off the Yukon

March 10, 2012 by

Aliy cruised off the Yukon River and into Kaltag at 11:14 am AST. There is an excellent video of her coming in and the dogs look FABULOUS. She commented that she wished she looked as good as the dogs. “I’m about to fall over asleep!”

The dogs looked like they got an excellent parking place, though there doesn’t seem to be much wind. The trails were hard and fast and obviously agreed with the Red Team. They will likely take a good rest before heading out on the Portage Trail to Unalakleet. I can’t say how long that rest will be. Only Aliy know that at this point.
We have SP crew heading out to key positions on the trail. Hope to hear from them sometime tomorrow.
Joe Runyon article very positive this morning. Here’s a link.

http://iditarod.com/6am-sat-nulato-zirkle-takes-control-of-race-catch-me-if-you-can-by-joe-runyan/

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Day 6 – Iditarod 2012 – The Mighty Yukon

March 10, 2012 by
March 9, 2012 11 pm AST
Aliy and the Red Team arrived in Galena at 3:53 pm AST and declared her 8 hour Mandatory Yukon River Rest. She and the dogs looked great coming in. Head Checker and fellow musher Jon Korta greeted Aliy with a hug and an excellent parking place.
Aliy said the trail was a bit punchy and slower than she had hoped. It was a good time for the dogs to have a nice long rest. We hope to hear from her before she leaves this evening. She can pull the hook at 11:53 pm AST.
As we know, Aliy is running her own race and at the moment, it is unlike any of the other top mushers’. The Seaveys are running their own race as well. It appears that Aliy gained time on Mitch with her run into Galena, but lost some time to Dallas. What this will mean in the end is anyone’s guess. Both Seaveys will need to stop again along the river before Kaltag. Aliy may or may not.
Temperatures will become a player tonight, possibly dropping off to 40 below on the river as the leaders head to Nulato. This should firm up the trail, but will be harder on the dogs and especially the mushers.
Ryne is continuing to cruise along. She arrived at Cripple at 8:05 am AST with 14 dogs and rested there for a little over 6 hours. She did drop a dog before heading back out on the trail. Ryne and 13 dogs headed out towards the Yukon River at 2:06 pm AST. I wish I had more information to share with you about them, but Iditarod media seems to be focusing entirely on the leaders of the race this year.
At this point, we know that the dog Aliy dropped in Ruby was Viper. The Anchorage Daily News reported that Aliy said he was getting too thin. We don’t know who Ryne left in Cripple though. Meg should be back in Anchorage this evening. Doug is helping the Iditarod pick up a large number of dogs flying in tonight.
As a quick final note, I have been receiving a lot of comments and emails about the Iditarod’s coverage of Aliy on the race. I felt like I needed to respond to this. First, I would like to point out that the video coverage by Bruce Lee have been excellent. He seems to be really trying to give an overall view of the race. There are several videos on the Iditarod Insider of Aliy and the dogs.
As Aliy’s sister, I do get frustrated in the lack of coverage of her by Iditarod’s print journalist, but Aliy is speaking for herself with her race and her dogs. Many other news outlets are hearing her. With the large number of comments we at SP are getting, I am sure the Iditarod is getting more. Perhaps they will ask why the musher who has been in the lead much of the race and who, even when resting, hasn’t fallen out of the top 5 was the only top musher not discussed today.
Just remember, Aliy isn’t doing this for headlines. She is just running her race to the best of her and her dogs abilities.
FUN LINKS:
A good article about Aliy in Galena:
Allen wore a camera for the Ceremonial Start in Anchorage for APR. Here is the link to it.

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News From Ruby

March 9, 2012 by

After resting on the trail between Cripple and Ruby, Aliy and the Red Team stopped in Ruby long enough to pick up some supplies and drop a dog. It looked like she and the dogs rested about 4 hours on the trail.

Laureli Kinneen, the trail reported for Nome’s radio station KNOM, called Bridgett after seeing Aliy pass through the checkpoint. Laureli said that the dogs were wagging their tails and were ready to go! Laureli asked Aliy about her schedule since it is so different than the other top mushers. Typical Aliy, she said she is running what is best for the dogs!
Laureli didn’t know anything about the dropped dog. Although we can guess that it is Rambler, it could easily be any other dog. Let you know as soon as we get information.
Many people have been asking about the ALIY CAM. We hope to get a video card from Aliy in Unalakleet.
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