SPK Dog Log

ID: McGrath and Nikolai

March 6, 2018 by SPK Crew

It’s 11pm Tuesday evening.

RETURNED DOG UPDATE:

I have had confirmation that the team mate Aliy left in Nikolai was Felix. He developed sore shoulder on the run over to Nikolai and although we don’t believe it to be a serious injury, she would not have wanted to risk further injury by taking him onwards. He works really hard in that wheel position, right in front of the sled and probably just tweaked it in the snow. It’s possible Aliy may move Scooby back into the wheel position but we’ll keep an eye out for some video to see what configuration she is running.

I still do not have confirmation on the dog that Allen left in Rohn. As mentioned in a previous post, he or she will have been flown forwards to McGrath awaiting further transportation back to Anchorage. I have seen news reports that the weather has closed the airport there so it could be a while before we see them back here. Both Felix and our unidentified mate will be taken care of in the checkpoint by a small army of volunteers and vets.

Scruggs and Ginger lead Molly on a walk around the local trails

Ginger is doing well. We set up a lovely portable dog house with fresh straw and a drop line in Barbara’s fenced back yard but she has spent almost the entire time since we’ve had her inside, either on the dog bed, on the couch or on my bed. She’s quite content. We went for a walk around the local trails with Molly and Scruggs this morning which perked her up a lot.

RED TEAM UPDATE

Aliy and her 15 team mates pulled into McGrath at 10:53pm with a run time from Nikolai of 7 hrs, 45 mins. They stopped for just two minutes before heading onwards for another 18 miles to Takotna. Running in the cooler nighttime temperatures may, hopefully, mean the trail “sets up”, i.e. hardens up a bit from the slushy mess it seems to have been during the day.

It is about now that mushers will be thinking about taking their mandatory 24 hour rest. Teams must make three compulsory stops: one 24 hours stop at any checkpoint of their choosing, an eight hour stop on the Yukon River at either Shageluk, Anvik, Grayling, Eagle Island or Kaltag, then a final mandatory eight hour stop at White Mountain, 77 miles from the finish line in Nome.

I know that Aliy sent resupply bags for a 24 hour stop to several different checkpoints so that she would have options on where to stay. This means that if Plan A is not possible due to weather or trail or team health she knows she has other options.

When mushers start taking their long stop you will notice the leaderboard changing rapidly. As some mushers take their rest early and other teams wait till further down the trail it can look like the front runners have fallen behind. Once everyone has the green “24 hour” tick next to them on the leaderboard things start to get back to rights. This will happen again when they take their eight hour breaks on the river also, so really it is not until everyone has “two ticks” that we get a good picture of where teams stand.

A major difference between the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest is that, unlike the Quest where handlers can take over the care of the team, the mushers are on their own in this race. Therefore they will figure out a rest / eat / stretch schedule for their team and manage their own naps in between.

I captured a screen shot of our team in the latest Insider “Run Dogs Run” video as they ran through Rainy Pass.

The faces you can see clearly are Commando (L) and Spark (R) in lead, Cayenne behind Commando, Kodiak (L) and Dutch (R), half of Clyde’s blonde face and Chipper’s big smile.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

Allen and his team travelled at a good speed on the trail to Nikolai and pulled in there for a rest at 8:18pm. We believe he will stay there at least four hours, maybe more. It is unfortunate that we don’t get to see much coverage of mushers in the middle / back of the pack as we are missing those sweet faces!

I found an “Aliy Cam” from 2011 of the team coming into Nikolai. The weather conditions will have been vastly different today for Allen but it will give you an idea of the terrain in the area.

We took a look at Allen’s run/rest stats using the analytics function of the GPS tracker and up until Nikolai he has rested the team around 23 hours, with a total elapsed time of approx 52 hours. If he were to rest the team four hours, as we expect, he would have a 0.48 run/rest ratio, meaning he is resting almost as much as he is running.

For those of you who love to delve into the detail, the analytics can tell you all sorts of interesting things!

Dogs

Dog Fan Club – Gold and Scout

March 6, 2018 by SPK Crew

Congratulations to Amelia Kerrigan, who is a fan of GOLD and Ann and Tom Shillington who are fans of SCOUT.

GOLD is an up-and-comer at the kennel and expect to see his name in racing teams next season. He is a big, strong boy who just needs to grow into himself a little bit. He most enjoys playing with his sisters Bronze and Prata, who live either side of him in the “back 40” – where all the youngsters and yahoos live.

SCOUT has done it all! He is a multiple Copper Basin and Yukon Quest winner and has come second in the Iditarod. He is enjoying his retirement now and enjoys telling the rest of the yard just how special he is. He did not put his paw up to train for the race this year.

Amelia and Ann & Tom have won a signed Iditarod poster in today’s Dog Fan Club Draw along with a glam shot of your dog and some other kennel goodies!

We will get that out to you asap (it may be after the race once we are back at the kennel).

We will have more random Dog Fan Club coming up for the Iditarod so keep an eye out for that over the next couple weeks.

Thank you all so much for your continued support of the SP Kennel Dog Fan Club. To check out more information about each athlete including race history and fan club members go to our “The Dogs” page and click on each athlete.

To join the Dog Fan Club go to the “Get Involved” page or click on the button below:

Join the Dog Fan Club

Races

ID: Out and Into Nikolai

March 6, 2018 by SPK Crew

Its 5pm Tuesday, March 6th.

RETURNED DOG UPDATE

We know Aliy has dropped one of her team mates in Nikolai. As yet we do not know who it is or why so thanks for your patience as we wait for more information. We also have not received Allen’s team mate back from Rohn. It is likely they will be flown fowards to McGrath which is more of a hub airport, before getting back to Anchorage. We will keep you updated as we hear more but the weather is sure to be having an impact on getting planes back to Anchorage.

RED TEAM

At 11.00am this morning, Aliy and her 16 team mates arrived into Nikolai. She was in good spirits in an Insider interview where they asked about her run, while she was doing her checkpoint arrival chores. Dietrich Nikolai captured some drone footage of the team arriving to the checkpoint and you can see Aliy working very hard behind the sled, double ski-poling as the snow is steadily falling.

It sounds like there was some sections of overflow towards the end of the run, after about “Buffalo Camp” where the trail drops onto a mostly level plain for the rest of the way to Nikolai. Mushers were reporting good snow conditions leaving Rohn and travelling over the Burn area, but as the teams neared Nikolai there was much more snow making it a bit of a slog for the leading teams. Aliy talked about standing on top of her sled as they passed through sections of foot deep overflow in moguls, likely caused by snowmachines travelling the trail.

The weather may be causing some mushers to rethink their original race plans as doing long runs in deep, wet snow can sap the dogs’ energy and slow down their run. There is a delicate balance for front runners in their decision making from here – whether to stay in front and have to break trail or let someone else get ahead and hope they break the trail for them. There are pros and cons to each of those scenarios and only the mushers know how their dogs are doing to know which option to choose.

Aliy rested her team for a little over four hours before heading out again towards McGrath just after 3pm. Right now there are eight teams in front of them.

Here’s a few screen shots from the Insider Video of Aliy and team leaving moving through Rainy Pass yesterday. Check it out here.

Commando and Kodiak are in lead, looking confident

The team negotiates the exit trail at Rainy Pass

BLACK TEAM

Allen and 14 team mates broke-up the leg from Rohn to Nikolai into two, stopping his team just after half way, at mile 224. They stayed there around four hours before getting back on the trail for Nikolai. They are currently about 25 miles from the checkpoint and moving through the Burn area nicely.

I think about it every year, but around this time of the race I get reminded of the part in the Lord of the Rings when Frodo and Samwise are on their way to Mordor. Sam stops, looks around and says “If take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.” At various points up the 300 mile mark this will apply to Allen’s rookies who have only ever run 300 miles in a race, at the most.

We expect to see the Black Team in Nikolai maybe around 8-9pm this evening and he will likely rest the team there for a while.

ID: Our Sponsor Family – Verizon

March 6, 2018 by SPK Crew

A major member of our sponsor family is Verizon Alaska. Friday evening before the race the crew went to visit the offices in downtown Anchorage to share some fun stories, great pizza (some may say: the best in the country) and home-made treats, and fellowship.

Allen talked about his championship Yukon Quest run and his team then Aliy introduced, via powerpoint, her team for the race. It was a real family affair with a number of small children listening – they were full of great questions like “Why did you call Scooby: Scooby?” and “What time will you finish the race?”

Not only does Verizon sponsor us, they have provided all our smart devices and GoPros to bring you great coverage of the race! And thank you to Will, Ian and Rebecca for helping get our teams to the start line!

We thank the Verizon Family for being part of our journey.

Races

ID: Red Team Start Photos

March 6, 2018 by SPK Crew

Pictures by Barbara Swenson and Moira

Races

ID: Nikolai and Rohn

March 6, 2018 by SPK Crew

Its 7.30am Tuesday

Firstly, we see Allen has left one team mate in Rohn. At this stage we do not know who it is or why so thanks for your patience as we find out.

RED TEAM

As anticipated, Aliy camped her team for five hours at Tin Creek, between Rohn and Nikolai checkpoints at mile 209. It was a popular place to stop as Ray, Ryan, Mitch and Jessie were all stopped around that same area as they arrived with Joar just one mile back.

They are now on their way to Nikolai where they are currently about 30 miles out. They just passed Sullivan Creek and the trail continues to wind generally west-northwest, in and out of treelines to the Salmon River fish camp. From the camp the trail is normally flat and fast, running through woods with occasional cuts across open swamps, sloughs, and lakes. A couple of miles before Nikolai teams drop back down onto the South Fork of the Kuskokwim.

As it’s been a couple of days since we have seen them, so to remind us all of their sweet faces, here is a video Aliy took of her team on one of their last training runs before the Iditarod.

BLACK TEAM

Allen and 14 team mates are also headed towards Nikolai having rested nearly four hours in Rohn. They are about 70 miles out. It is possible he will camp the team along the trail.

The weather forecast for the area is calling for some snow showers and a high of 30F. The latest trail report from the Iditarod team is:

6:00 AM here in Nikolai and there is still a light snow coming down as we await the teams arriving here this morning. Looking at the Iditarod tracker it appears that the teams are still moving along the trail at a pretty good pace but they will be hitting more of the fresh snow as they near the checkpoint. There’s not enough additional snow overnight to make a huge difference in the trail conditions from yesterday.

We did learn being here in Nikolai that only the first 20 miles of the trail headed down river to the next checkpoint of McGrath has been used by locals for most of the winter. Locals have been utilizing another trail to McGrath because areas of the river weren’t frozen up earlier this winter. That means that some of the trail heading west of here won’t have as firm a base as the mushers have been traveling over. Our Iditarod team is here awaiting the mushers and we will be posting videos on the Insider as they arrive in Nikolai.

Races

ID: Through Rohn and Rainy Pass

March 5, 2018 by SPK Crew

Its 9.45pm Monday evening, Alaska time.

RED TEAM

Aliy and the Red Team are eight miles beyond Rohn checkpoint at mile 196.

Since completing the Happy River Steps earlier today the team rested on the trail for five hours before “blowing through” Rainy Pass checkpoint. As she passed through Rainy Pass she will have stopped to pick up more supplies for the next leg of the race.

You can clearly see these breaks on the analytics view of the GPS tracker. This view shows speed, rest times and has an elevation line to follow.

They then went through Rohn, again stopping only to get supplies. We expect Aliy will stop to camp her team somewhere before Nikolai checkpoint.

For those unfamiliar with Aliy and Allen it is common for them both to camp outside of checkpoints so don’t be alarmed if you see the tracker stopped in-between. I know that Aliy avoids staying in Rainy Pass during the day, if possible, due to the number of airplanes and people that travel there, particularly on a gorgeous sunny day like today. She will often take her camping supplies (straw, food and heet to fuel the cooker to make water) and stop the team where it is quieter. They get a better rest that way.

The trail from Rainy Pass to Rohn had the teams travelling through the infamous Dalzell Gorge:

The trail runs in the open on the tundra of Ptarmigan Pass from Rainy Pass Lodge to the mouth of Pass Creek, which it then follows northwest up to the summit of Rainy Pass itself. Then there are several miles of sometimes steep downhills and often tight, twisting trail through scrub willow southwest along Pass Fork to Dalzell Creek. The trail then drops into the infamous Dalzell Gorge for a few miles and finally onto the Tatina River for the last five miles to Rohn. – Don Bowers Jnr

After Rohn the trail heads to Nikolai. For 20 miles teams travel along the South Fork of the Kuskokwim River then through the Buffalo Chutes to Farewell Lakes. Once there teams head up onto the Farewell Burn where they travel 35 miles across the Burn itself to Sullivan Creek, and then 20 miles north from Sullivan Creek past Salmon River to Nikolai.

Aliy is still currently running with 16 team mates.

BLACK TEAM

After their four hour stop in Skwentna the team went on another 40 miles to Finger Lake where they stopped for 3, 3/4 hours. It was here that Allen left Ginger due to a sore shoulder. They travelled a further 30 miles, through the Happy River Steps to Rainy Pass where they rested for six hours.

This may sound like a lot of rest for Allen but remember, he is running a team of youngsters. He is giving his team lots of rest and running shorter runs to get them into a good run/rest routine. As the race progresses he will push them a little longer and take shorter rests to give them a small taste of “hard”, then back off again before it gets too much for them. This is Allen’s strength when he runs this “Junior Varsity” team – he can read them well and knows just how far to take them to give them exposure to the trail whilst keeping it a positive experience for them.

He still has 15 athletes with him and next checkpoint for them is Rohn.

Races