SPK Dog Log

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