SPK Dog Log

The Meet the Mushers event is always a fun, casual time for supporters and fans to meet their favourite mushers, and for the mushers to catch up with each other. Plenty of banter and advice flowed up and down the table but I think all are ready to get out on the trail.

Also on display was the incredibly intricate and stunning banner “Northern Winter Traditions” made by the The Kwanlin Dun sewing group. This was the group that made the treasured finishers’ banners last season. Check out this link on the Quest website that tells you all about it. It will be on display at the Fairbanks Meet The Mushers at the end of the race and is well worth a look because a photo doesn’t do it justice.

Next up on the calendar for the mushers are meetings tomorrow where they will learn the latest trail conditions and logistics for the start, Braeburn and Carmacks. Then we have the starters’ banquet tomorrow evening where bib numbers will be drawn to ascertain the teams’ start time on Saturday. Friday is a final day of rest for the 1000 milers while YQ300 veterinary checks and mushers meetings occur. The countdown is on for Saturday!

The dogs, Aliy and the rest of the handler crew will travel to Whitehorse on Thursday.

It’s less than a week before teams take off from Whitehorse so the kennel is in full swing with final preparations.

Last Saturday the crew took all the drop bags for both races to Summit Logistics where the logistics team will transport them to the checkpoints ready for the teams to arrive. Thanks to the volunteers who helped with the bags, you made it quick and easy for us!

On Friday Dr Rouge from North Pole Vets came out to the kennel to perform the vet checks on 16 dogs.

As a veteran racer Allen has the choice of getting the exams done privately or at the YQ organised event. As Dr Rouge knows our dogs and lives locally she came out to us. The vet check is a thorough exam to ensure dogs that start the race are in tip-top condition and it was at that point Allen had to narrow his selection down to 16 dogs – a difficult choice.

Each dogs’ vaccination records are confirmed and a physical exam is carried out according to strict guidelines. All the paperwork was then submitted to the race vet team for their records and to transfer to the vet books the mushers carry with them.

Today the dogs took their final long run then they will taper off a little through the week so they are ready to rock and roll come Saturday.

The humans are busy packing the trucks with Dawson camp supplies and checkpoint gear and making logistics plans for the unusual first part of the race. There are lots of lists hanging around on the kitchen table… team lists, race plan for YQ1000, race plan for YQ300, accommodation, Dawson packing list, truck list, personal gear lists…

Coverage Guide

We will be covering the Quest a little differently this year. While we will still bring you unashamed SP Kennel-centric coverage it will be much like the Copper Basin where I (Moira) will not be so close to the action for the Black Team for the first part of the race as I am handling for the Red Team in the YQ300. Karolyn will be on deck sending pics and updates when possible.

A reminder that this race goes through Yukon and Alaskan wilderness. We can’t guarantee internet access at the checkpoints – even through the race logistics and comms teams go to great lengths to set up access. At times you might have more information than us as we travel from checkpoint to checkpoint and if you haven’t heard from us in a while we are either travelling or some poor harassed communications volunteer is frantically trying to get the signal back up.

Obviously, the best place to get SPK concentrated stuff is here on the blog. You might follow our Facebook and Instagram also. We will update as much as we can, as often as we can.

The Yukon Quest website is THE place to go for information about the race including race map, rules and history.

Other quick links that are worth pinning to your browser are:

• Yukon Quest Leaderboard for checkpoint times
• GPS Trackers – essential for everyone! Thanks to the Quest and Trackleaders for making these free (link not up yet but check the home page closer to the time).
• Yukon Quest Facebook Page – race updates including any route changes. You’ll also find the amazing images from the visual content team there.

Other musher/kennel websites and Facebook pages will give you excellent info about their teams. Some will discuss strategy, others have amazing visuals and all will give another perspective on the race, other than mine. Always worth a look!

Due to low snow conditions and unstable ice formation on the rivers in the Yukon there have been significant changes to the routing for both the Yukon Quest and the Quest 300. See attached press release here and here (click on red links). This is an ever-changing situation and could change right up until the start of the race so watch the YQ website for the latest details.

Essentially, the trail between Braeburn and Carmacks is questionable and not considered safe for teams to run on. The Race Manager, logistics team and Canadian Rangers have been putting in significant work to make a safe alternative for both races.

As of the time of writing, the Yukon Quest 1000 teams will have the unusual arrangement where they will start the race in Whitehorse as normal, run as far as Braeburn Lodge then get loaded back into the dog trucks and trucked up to Carmacks where there will be a “restart”, 12 hours after they arrive into Braeburn.

Teams can start in Whitehorse with between 8-14 dogs. If teams choose to start with fewer than their full complement at the start, may add the remainder of the team to the line in Carmacks. This contingency is purely out of consideration of safety as with a long string of dogs in front of you on low snow, it can be difficult to brake and hook down when necessary.

The ice bridge in Dawson City has also not formed as needed for such traffic so it is likely the dog camp will be back at the Bonanza RV camp just out of town, as it was last year.

As for the YQ300 – that route is also a bit “up in the air”. As it stands right now the YQ300 teams will run as far as Braeburn, take six hours mandatory rest then return to Whitehorse, via the Coghlan Lake route (similar to the finish of last year’s Quest that sent some of us into panic mode when we thought the teams had gone the wrong way). This route decreases the mileage to around 200 miles. Conditions are constantly being monitored over this section of trail as this reroute would mean sections of the trail are used three times (once for 1000 milers, twice for 300 milers) so there may be further changes needed.

All teams are a little bit in limbo at this point with strategies and handler logistics being hastily reworked but we thank the Quest officials, logistics team and Canadian Rangers for their extensive work to get the rest of the trail in shape and keeping everyone informed.

As Doug Harris said in one of his communications with mushers “you would not be running a long distance race if you couldn’t adapt to changes and challenges such as this“. How many times are you heard a musher say “anything can happen”? Well, anything is already happening and the race hasn’t even started yet!

We will keep you updated of any further changes.