SPK Dog Log

Overnight Jeff and his nine team mates “did Eagle”.

They arrived at 11:38pm and saw out their mandatory six hour rest plus time differential, where they make up for the staggered start and everyone is back on even ground.

Jeff’s checkpoint routine will likely have been to snack the dogs immediately as they arrived then give them straw to make beds. He’ll then have taken booties off, put sleeping jackets on then set to making water for their big meal later.

Mushers carried fuel with them for melting snow into warm water. The water is used to soak kibble and meat snacks then just before feeding Jeff will have added a second type of kibble for crunch and calories before dishing it out after their nap. Hopefully Jeff got some food and sleep himself during the rest.

His checkpoint leaving routine starts about 1.5 hours before leaving time when he would have fed the team their meal, packed his sled back up then bootied and dressed the dogs. He timed it just right as they left exactly on time.

There are no “drop bags” sent ahead of the team for resupply, nor “return bags” to send equipment and food home, so they have carried everything with them from the start line. The trip home should be a little quicker with a bit less weight in their sled.

At 5:54am they took off again to retrace their steps back to Fortymile then Dawson. The trail from Eagle to Dawson is a little over 100 miles so, even though there is no mandatory stop at Fortymile, it is possible he will stop the team for a rest there before continuing on to the finish.

They are still holding steady in 9th position.

There is not much I can tell you about how Jeff and the Red and Black Team are moving along the trail, to be honest. With his tracker malfunctioning I am just guessing and extrapolating from the information we have. We estimate they will arrive into Eagle about 11-11:30pm (Yukon time). Teams have a mandatory six hour stop in Eagle but can choose to stay longer if needed.

Earlier in the afternoon they pulled into Fortymile at 3:48pm in 9th position where they stayed exactly two hours before heading out to Eagle.

I know Jeff was excited to go to Eagle, after handling the whole way for the Yukon Quest but not being able to go to that checkpoint as it is not on the road system.

The trail between Fortymile and Eagle differs from the Quest in that teams do not go over American Summit, they stay on the river the entire time. Teams will cross the border into the USA just before the village of Eagle and mushers are to be prepared to clear customs as they arrive in Eagle and again when they finish the race in Dawson.

We know from following several races for several years that trackers sometimes just do not update and there is not that much that race officials or tracker people can do about it. It could be that Jeff is carrying straw on top of his sled and it is blocking the tracker, or that it has fallen into his sled bag and cannot ‘ping’, or the batteries are not fully functioning. Regardless, we just have to do it “old school” (although not completely old school when there were no websites, more like: “recent school”) and watch for the standings to be updated with their arrival time.

Jeff and his team left Dawson City this morning and are on their way to Fortymile!

We captured a few screen shots from the live feed and Jeri got a couple pics, in-between handler duties.

Jeff left the line with Commando and Daisy in lead, Willie and Kodiak in swing, Perky is running on his own, McCaw and Amber with QT and Bruno in wheel.

Jeff and the R&Bs are home safe.

They did not finish the race; Jeff thought it best for the dogs to come straight home from Angel Creek checkpoint. The dogs were tired from the challenging trails and temperatures were dropping fast. For most of the race it hovered around -10 but overnight it got to around -30.

Everyone is fine and having a sleep-in this morning. We are really proud of Jeff and his team. They have all achieved and learned a great deal over the last couple of days.

There’s more to think about than just the physical aspects to dog mushing. Mental aspects play a huge part: keeping your dog team positive and moving forward, not just for the current race but for their future, is essential. There was one particular turn on the way home that the team struggled with on Leg 2 and that part of the trail was repeated right near the end of Leg 4. The team would be asked to turn away from the kennel and Jeff believed that would just be too mentally tough on the young team at that point in the race.

Daisy was Jeff’s rockstar. Decaf, despite his name did not run out of energy. We will get more details soon.

We are happy to have everyone home safe.

Photos by Padee McCrery

Red Team Update

Aliy and her Red Team have arrived into Angle Creek Lodge checkpoint at 8:37 this morning. This piece of trail is mostly on the Yukon Quest Trail from the Pleasant Valley Store. Some of these dogs will be running it again in just a couple of weeks!

Teams must complete a minimum of 10 hours of rest plus time differential (the extra time needed to offset the staggered start). The Red Team has already completed seven of those hours so will need to stay at least 3.5 hours in Angel Creek. With such a long, hilly leg to finish, however, don’t be surprised if she stays a little longer. The fresh snow will make the uphill portion of the trail more of a slog than it already was.

Aliy left Perky with the handler team at the Store. He has a sore wrist and is better to come home for some rest. He had done so well up until that point and she would like him to be fit for upcoming races.

Aliy is enjoying her race at her pace. There are several teams in front that are setting much faster times but Aliy plans to complete it at a slower, steady pace with the rest of the racing season in mind. We are expecting them to finish anywhere between 8-10pm tonight.

R&B Team Update

Jeff is on the trail towards Angel Creek. He still has his 11 team mates with him with Daisy and Ginger leading them. He said Daisy was his standout for the previous leg. He had a few issues coming from the Lodge to the Store as the trail looped around our local trails which confused some of the dogs. They couldn’t understand at some points why they turned Gee instead of Haw to go home, or why they got so close to the kennel then turned away. It is good training, especially or the youngsters, to mix it up a bit like that – and Jeff did do some training runs precisely with that in mind.

The R&Bs have completed eight hours of rest already so it is clear Jeff will be resting significantly more than the minimum mandatory. We have a training camp set up at the top of the “Firebreak” that the final trail runs right by; we expect he will stop there to rest also. Aliy told the teams about it at the mushers meeting so there may be others up there camping with him.

Thanks to the overnight handler crew of Wendy, Jeri, Mark and Padee.

We got both teams away safely from Chatanika Lodge and they headed into the hills for a 45-ish mile run to Two Rivers Lodge. This leg runs right by the Fort Knox goldmine, heading south and winding through a mountainous area. There are plenty of ups and downs, through Heritage Hills then on to Two Rivers Lodge. This part of the race is not over our local trails so is new to a lot of the dogs.

Red Team Update

Aliy and the Red Team arrived into the Lodge at 4:48pm with a run time of 4 hours, 48 minutes (that calculation was easy, I didn’t even need a calculator or to count on my fingers for that one!). Everyone snacked, slept and ate well. They stayed for three hours before heading off towards the Pleasant Valley Store. She was really pleased with the team, especially her youngsters.

Aliy left Chevie with the handler crew – she had appeared to be over her soreness from the CB and she completed a good stretch-out run in the days in between. This first leg with it’s hills, fresh snow and hard trail underneath seemed to aggravate it. She is back to the kennel and is getting some TLC and time off.

R&B Update

Jeff and his R&Bs had a great run over unfamiliar trails to arrive at the Lodge at 5:51pm for runtime of 5 hours, 41 minutes. With so many youngsters, Jeff will be taking a very conservative approach to his race plan with a slower pace, plenty of rest and maybe even a camp on the final leg.

The whole team slept really well at Two Rivers; when we arrived after seeing Aliy off even Decaf was asleep! Jeri said that as soon as the team arrived M “assumed the position” and she didn’t move, even to eat her dinner and have her booties put on.

Jeff said Gold and Bronze were rockstars and he was really happy with how everyone in the team had run.

Olivia is back at the kennel with us. Her right rear leg is sore, perhaps from stepping in a moose hole or such. She rested and ate with her team and now is back at her house telling Nacho that she is the shizzle.

As you can see, Willie is doing just fine! He spent some time inside this evening hanging with brother Scout, Quito and Tig.

Keep right up to date on the TRDMA website where the checkpoint times are being updated regularly. Make sure you also check out their Facebook page for pics, videos and news. Thanks to the volunteers keeping those pages current, we appreciate you!

Thanks also to the road crossing volunteers. Friday evening is a busy time for traffic to and from Fairbanks and crossing Chena Hot Springs Road can be tricky, so we appreciate them all for keeping our teams safe.

While Aliy and Allen were driving home from Glennallen they interviewed each other about their races and teams, especially for you. We thought it would be fun instead of me transcribing into words that you could hear it yourself!

Allen and the Black Team:

Aliy and the Red Team:

Feature image by Margaret Wirtenberg

We’re excited to put together two teams for this race. It is mostly over our local trails and it’s our home club so we are always keen to support the race. Huge thank to the TRDMA volunteers for their hard work to put a trail in. We did think it would be slick and fast because we had RAIN yesterday but today that precipitation turned into snow so we are hoping that will slow the trails a little and make it more mushable.

The race starts at Chatanika Lodge at 12 noon on Friday with the first leg of around 45 miles to the Two Rivers Lodge. The trail then heads another 45 miles to the Pleasant Valley Store (PVS) and on to Angel Creek Lodge 20 miles later. The final leg is more than 70 miles, returning (the long, steep way) back to the PVS.

Aliy will leave the chute first wearing bib 1, Jeff will be wearing bib 6.

Our handler team varies from checkpoint to checkpoint. Jeff’s wife Jeri will handle the whole race for Jeff. Allen, Padee and Moira will support both teams at the start; Wendy, Kaz and Padee will be at the Two Rivers Lodge, Wendy will do the overnight shift at the Store and Padee will be with Jeri at Angel Creek. We’ll probably all be at the finish line.

Both teams will be full of youngsters with some older, experienced heads. We’ll post team rosters once they are finalised.