SPK Dog Log

As the teams arrive into Mendeltna for their final rest the top teams have made themselves known. It’s very exciting!

Nic Petit is out front and Wes said his team looks great! Allen and Ryne are oh-so-close together – in fact check out their run times for checkpoints in the table below. Next is Dan Kaduce running this year in memory of Joel Switzer, then Sven Haltman in his return to racing, having had six seasons off. Pretty great showing in his comeback!

Aliy and Red Team are currently in 6th position.

Note: these positions may change once the official website has updated with check-in times. Usual disclaimer applies.

Each team has run a different strategy rest-wise so at this final checkpoint they have differing requirements to meet the 18 hour minimum.

Allen says all his team mates are doing well but will look forward to some rest here. They will rest for at least three hours before embarking on their 63 mile final leg to the finish line.

Aliy did camp the team for just over an hour about mid-way through the leg. They are doing well but are tired because while she camped it snowed around four inches which made the remaining trail a bit of a slog.

Chevie will likely be left with the handler team in Mendeltna as she developed a sore wrist on the way over and needs massage and rest. She has been a little superstar up until now though and Aliy is really pleased with how well she did.

Aliy will often use this race to try different combinations of dogs out and she came into the checkpoint with Chena and Driver in lead. Driver? Good boy!

Not long now before they are off on their final leg – a “sprint” to the finish.

In what would have been an interesting logistical exercise for the handler team, Allen and Aliy left Sourdough two minutes apart. They’re currently travelling fairly closely together.

The Black Team has now completed their mandatory six hours (plus differential). Everyone in the top 10 has ticked that off and now the teams will have differing requirements for rest at the final checkpoint in Mendeltna to meet the 18 hour minimum requirement. Remember, too, that it is only a minimum requirement and some teams may choose to rest longer due to the conditions.

Allen still has 11 team mates with him for the run to Mendeltna.

Allen’s daughter Jennifer and Aliy’s sister Kaz captured these shots that give you a great insight into Allen’s checkpoint routine. After seeing to the dogs (putting straw down, giving meat snacks, removing booties, settling them into rest) he melts snow to make water for the dogs’ big meal and also his own. He has a quick bite to eat himself – this is a freeze dried meal stirred with a stick! He tidies his camp site then beds himself down into a sleeping bag and bivvy sack for a sleep next to his wheel dogs!

Aliy rested her team four hours before leaving the checkpoint at 7:45pm. She still has 11 dogs with her for the 75 mile run ahead. With such a young and inexperienced team don’t be surprised or alarmed IF her tracker stops mid-way. She may decide to stop and camp to break such a long leg into two.

Here’s a couple of pics of the Red Team coming into the Sourdough checkpoint. Chena and Tinder are leading the way and looking great!

Aliy collects her drop bags and has a quick chat to Ryne.

Wes said that Aliy has moved Perky into swing. Yep, you read that right. She said she wanted a cheerleader up there and he was the most enthusiastic. Wes also mentioned Five and Cayenne, how they were slamming into their harnesses ready to go! This race will rock the worlds of some of the youngsters, in a good way. As I mentioned before, the CB300 is great proving ground and they will have learned so much already.

Both Allen and Aliy will be aware that we are with them overnight, watching the tracker and cheering them on. Refresh, refresh, refresh…

It looks very much to me like Allen and the Black Team will take their mandatory six hour layover (plus 74 minutes time differential) at Sourdough. I’m pretty pleased with my estimate of 12:30pm for their arrival, their official time into the checkpoint was 12:29pm making their run time for the leg 4 hours, 32 minutes.

They should leave the checkpoint at 7.43pm to head over the Mendeltna.

Allen said his run from Meiers Lake was remarkably unremarkable – apart from all the snow making the trail wet and slow. He was breaking trail for much of the leg which slowed the team down significantly. They will have a good rest in Sourdough though and will be rearing to go again.

L-R: Handler crew in Sourdough, Black team resting in the warm, snowy conditions. (Pics by William)

Aliy and the Red Team arrived into Sourdough checkpoint at 3:45pm, behind Ryne and in front of Ed and Amanda. Their run time was 4 hours, 31 minutes so she was delighted with that! The Red Team has eight hours of rest left to split between the last two checkpoints. I’m not sure how she will split the rests so we’ll just have to wait to find out!

Will from Verizon captured these pics of Aliy feeding her team their second breakfast in Meiers Lake prior to departure.

L-R: Chevie, Driver and Chena; Five waits and watches

L-R: Perky strikes a pose, Cayenne, Scooby and Bruno watching the dinner coming

Here is my latest spreadsheet (the usual disclaimer applies) showing that although the Black Team was first into the checkpoint their cumulative run time puts them in 3rd= position with Dan Kaduce overall. The Red Team is sitting in seventh position currently.

The run to Mendeltna Lodge is long at around 75 miles. The trail crosses over a number of lakes including Fish Lake, Crosswind Lake and Lake Louise. After the lakes come another climb to about 3,100ft elevation.

Once the handlers have cleared the camp spots of straw, trash and returned drop bag supplies they will head to Glennallen and catch some sleep before travelling to Mendeltna to greet the teams for the penultimate time.

It will be a long night for everyone! Is it just me or does the 60 second auto-refresh on the tracker seem not quite quick enough?

Allen and the 11-strong Black Team were the first team to arrive at Sourdough checkpoint at roughly 12.30pm this afternoon. Their run time for the 35 miles from Meiers Lake was around 4.5 hours. Hot on is heels is Nic Petit!

Aliy and 11 team mates left Meiers Lake checkpoint right on time at 11:14am after seeing out their mandatory six hours plus time differential. As I write this they are moving along nicely about 22 miles from Sourdough.

Here is an snap from the Meiers Lake checkpoint of their leaderboard. Again, these are not confirmed official times but will give you an idea and help work out run times until the official website times have been updated.

Several mushers have completed their mandatory stops in Meiers Lake; Allen and Nic are still to do theirs. There are only two checkpoints left for them to complete it – Sourdough or Mendeltna so we’ll keep an eye on that.

This is where other mushers could leap frog in front of Allen and Nic if they have done their long rests already. Remember it is the total cumulative time that counts not “who is winning right now”.

Dog Update

Allen left Amber and Aliy left Jefe with the handler crew in Meiers Lake.

For both dogs, it is a precautionary measure as they both pulled up sore after running through the deepening snow enroute from Chisto to Meiers Lake. Allen and Aliy would not have wanted to turn soreness into injury so thought it best for Amber and Jefe to stay behind.

They’ve each had a big warm meal, a massage and are now resting in their comfy straw-filled dog boxes on the truck. They gets to finish the race in Hollywood with the handler team.

There is not much in the way of cell coverage at Sourdough so we won’t hear from the handler crew for a while. I’ll update when possible.

Allen and his team mates have left Meiers Lake checkpoint after around five hours rest. Not sure of official leaving time yet as times have not been updated on the website yet. As mentioned in my last post there is a climb soon after the checkpoint. You will see from the screen shot below how close the contour lines are in this section… steep hills! The next checkpoint of Sourdough is around 40 miles from Meiers Lake.

Aliy and her crew are still resting in the checkpoint. She had a few options for rest here so just a heads up: don’t be alarmed if you see they have been there more than the mandatory six hours. The time differential to equalise the staggered start is added to the mandatory layover so she must add another 58 minutes to her six hour rest, wherever she takes it. If that is the case here, all going according to plan they should leave the checkpoint at 11:14am. Or, they may leave sooner and take the mandatory rest elsewhere.

As promised here is the updated current top 20 list by cumulative run time – again, these are my numbers based on the website checkpoint times so they’re not official time elapsed. Sven and Nic are rabbits out front with Dan, Gerry and Michelle close behind Allen. Watch out for that Ryne Olson also!

You may have noticed Chemo’s happy, smiling face on the landing page of the Copper Basin website. Earlier today I had an email from Mary Beth and Elizabeth who sent these two pics through. “Chemo is so removed from competitive sled dog racing that after a 15 minute fun run he just wanted to take a nap. He ran to the couch before I could even take his harness off….all this while sled dogs were screaming to go over the live stream! What a difference a year makes in the life of a retired sled dog!”

Both teams are now into Meiers Lake Roadhouse Checkpoint!

Allen and the Black Team rested at Chistochina for four hours and made the run over with a full team of 12 team mates to Meiers Lake in 7 hours, 50 mins. They were first into the checkpoint at 2:57am and are making great time!

Allen said he had to stop several times to find the trail due to the snow falling. Wes said the dogs look great!!

Aliy and the Red Team also rested for four hours at Chisto. Her 12-strong team took 8 hours, 34 mins to run the 68 miles to Meiers Lake and arrived at 4:16am. With so many youngsters and inexperience on her team she will be extremely pleased with their run time.

You can see by the zoom in of the checkpoint that there is a road crossing; teams have to cross over the Richardson Highway to get to the Meiers Lake Roadhouse.

There are a few road crossings in this race and they are well manned, well managed and well marked for both mushers and motorists.

Volunteers stationed at the road crossings ensure it is safe for the teams to cross before allowing them to proceed. Thanks!

The handler team arrived early and managed to catch a little sleep in Hollywood before greeting both teams, pointing out where their drop bags and straw was stored, helping park the team on the lake and explaining where the water and hospitality area is.

The run over from Chistochina is one of the more challenging legs of the race. You can see from the elevation map (at the bottom of the tracker) that the teams had some climbing to do! The big peak is called “The Hump” with an elevation of 4,085 feet. There is also a large peak right after the checkpoint so dogs and mushers will need a good rest here.

The table below shows the first eight into the checkpoint ordered by their cumulative run times. Remember that the total run time is the figure that matters most in this race, and the GPS trackers don’t really give us a true account of who is in front until everyone has seen out all their mandatory rest time and time differential. I will update the table as more mushers arrive into the checkpoint. (Note: these are my 4:30am calculations so don’t quote me on them!)

Because we likely won’t get to see video for a while due to remote checkpoints coming up, here is a quick video of both teams on their final training runs on Thursday afternoon.

Both teams are safely at Chisotchina checkpoint and resting after their run from Glennallen.

Allen and the Black Team made the 49 mile run in 5 hours which is exactly what he had planned. All the dogs are happy and healthy and settled down to rest quickly after getting their well deserved meat snacks. He has an experienced bunch who know what it means when straw goes down. They will sleep for a few hours then get their a big kibble and meat meal before starting the checkpoint exit routine. Allen will pack up his sled, dress the dogs in booties and jackets and get back on the trail to Meiers Lake.

L-R: Champ and Clyde, Felix and Chipper settle in for a sleep; Clyde helps remove his booties

L-R: Spark and Iron; Dutch and Violet

Aliy and the Red Team ran to Chistochina in 5 hours, 18 minutes which is bang on her target for the team. She had a mishap along the way and her sled has suffered some damage but she is able to fix it and continue on. I don’t have a lot of details about that yet but everyone is perfectly fine; just the sled is a little worse for wear.

L-R: Red Team arrives into Chistochina; Driver, Five, Perky (at back), Cayenne (in front) and Scooby

L-R: Chena and Nomex; Tinder and Chevie (can you tell who is the more experienced of the two?)

At this first checkpoint, when the dogs haven’t run so far and are not so tired, we like to park the team away from others when possible so they get a good rest and not disturbed too much by the teams coming and going around them.

Check out the zoomed in tracker view for the checkpoint (obviously not photographed in the winter!) and see the handler team has parked both teams on one of the outer trails.

They should have a fairly straightforward exit from the checkpoint and a quiet space for the dogs and humans to sleep.

Some mushers will start leaving the checkpoint soon so at this point I thought it a good idea to link you with some articles from Macgellan from previous years. He offers guidance on how to analyse the race and all the run / rest times that you will see. In this race, teams must take a minimum of 18 hours rest spread across the checkpoints in half hour increments. There is one mandatory six hour break where they also make up their time differential caused by the staggered start. The top teams will often take only the mandatory rest hours so the cumulative run time is the number to keep your eyes on. Here is a link to Macgellan’s post from last season explaining it far better than I could. Here’s an excerpt

The weather forecast calls for significant snow over night so the trail to Meiers Lake could be slow and long. Check out the CB300 website for more detail on this 68 mile leg of the race.

Photos by William from Verizon!

Thanks William from Verizon for capturing these quick interviews and scenes from the start line earlier today!

Black Team:

Red Team: