SPK Dog Log

Woohoo! Congrats to Bridgett, Junior, Chipper, Cayenne, Five, Champ, Clyde, Cayenne, Jefe, Decaf and Felix for their strong finish – and Kodiak, Driver and Perky for their important contribution. They crossed the finish line in Kotzebue at around 1:20am in 12th place.

We will hear more from Bridgett later in the morning but for now, she and Scotty will be seeing to the dogs – fixing them a nourishing and hydrating meal, massaging feet and muscles, then bedding them down for a long sleep before Bridgett settles in to do the same.

Driver and Perky arrived back to Scotty earlier in evening and are doing great. We are hoping the team will make the flight back to Anchorage later on Monday morning where Aliy and Moira will greet them and drive them home.

Thanks for following along with us! We’ll have more pics and stories to follow.

Bridgett and her team are on the final leg to Kotzebue! They left soon after Fabio Berlusconi and are currently 47 miles from the finish. Teams up to now have completed this run in 6-15 hours so we hope for something in the middle! We heard that Bridgett has been enjoying running with Fabio and Dempsey Woods and it looks like she will be near them on this final leg also.

Check out the swamp/marshland they are currently moving over. That will surely make for some bumpy mushing.

She has nine team mates with her. We believe Driver and Perky are not on the team and will make their way back to Kotz with race vets and volunteers. Both were struggling in the heat – they are both big dogs that put a lot into their work and were feeling the effects of the warm, soft conditions and needed to finish early. They will be fine with some rest.

We saw from a video from Noorvik on the Kobuk 440 FB page that Bridgett is in her wind-block gear (the white pants and top) so we can assume it has been windy on the trail today. She had Junior and Chipper in lead, Five and Champ in swing, Clyde and Cayenne, Jefe and Perky with Decaf and Felix in wheel. We believe Driver was resting in the sled as they arrived.

So, one more evening of refreshing a tracker then you can all retire your refresh fingers for the season!

Bridgett and team have left Selawik checkpoint just after 8am this morning after a six hour break. The standings haven’t been updated yet so we’re not sure if she still has all 11 team mates with her. As I write they are about 20 miles from Noorvik 2 and are likely to stop there for a break.

We’ve had word through from Scotty that it is around 13F in Kotzebue today with no wind, an absolute blue bird day. The dogs are doing fantastic – Junior is a standout in particular. Bridgett is enjoying the race, the villages and the people and is in a great mood for these final two stretches to the finish later today.

Some pics through from Scotty:

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We’ll be keeping an eye on the tracker all day.

Bridgett and her team are doing fantastic! We’ve had messages through from Scotty that they are in great spirits, resting lots as it is quite warm, and enjoying the race trail. Kodiak was the dog Bridgett left in Ambler, he wasn’t coping so well in the heat and not enjoying it as much as Kodiak can, so he’ll be enjoying lazing around in the arctic sunshine waiting to see the rest of the team again before their flight home in a couple of days.

The Kobuk 440 Facebook page and Twitter admin are posting lots of updates so keep an eye on those – there’s pictures, live videos and more.

Martin Apayauq Reitan caught this cool pic of the team and posted on his Facebook page – along with a bunch of others of the team. Apayauq, apart from being a talented dog musher is also a very talented photographer – check out his website!

In a few pics it looks like she had Five and Junior in lead, Chipper and Cayenne in swing, Clyde and Champ, Perky and Jefe, Driver, with Decaf and Felix in wheel. As I write she and the team are resting in Ambler for their second stop there. Here’s the link to the GPS tracker, in case it isn’t already open in your tabs.

For the first time in SPK history we have a team racing in the Kobuk 440. Bridgett, Allen’s daughter, will take a team of SPK athletes to Kotzebue to compete in this spring race – “The toughest race above the Arctic Circle”.

The race starts on April 4th in Kotzebue, then to the checkpoints of Noorvik, Kiana, Ambler, Shungnak, Kobuk, Ambler (2nd pass), Selawik, Noorvik (2nd pass) and finish in Kotzebue. There is a minimum of 20 hours rest at designated checkpoints but, as with any race, more rest can be taken anywhere if required.

Unfortunately, for part of the same period we (Aliy, Allen and Moira) will be on a spring mushing expedition up north so we won’t be able to cover the race as closely as we have other races, so we recommend you follow along on the Kobuk 440 website and Facebook page. There will be free GPS trackers for the race and the leaderboard will be updated regularly.

We will share the race roster with you as soon as it is finalised. There are a bunch of dogs that are putting their paws up to have one more race and the squad will be narrowed down to 12 in the next few days.

Scotty, Bridgett’s husband will travel to Kotzebue to handle for the team and will send us through updates when he can.

We’re excited to have one more race to follow! Go Team!!!