Yukon Quest 2013 – Day 1

The start went off without any major problems with teams leaving at 3 minute intervals between 11AM and 12:15PM PST. The Quest teams favor 14 dogs rather than the 16 that is normal for the Iditarod.

Update at 11PM CST – the decision has been made to change the route between Dawson and Eagle. Trailbreakers have reported that the trail is impassable over American Summit in several places, so teams will stay on the Yukon River. This change shortens the race by about 50 miles.

At 11:30PM CST it is Hugh, Lance, Allen, Normand, Brent, and Abbie in that order according to Live Tracking. Hugh is about 15 miles from Braeburn.

The Standings at 2:30PM CST (12:30PM PST):

Beyond Whitehorse

1 Brian Wilmshurst (1)
2 Markus Ingebretsen (2)^R
3 Rob Cooke (3)^R
4 Hugh Neff (4)
5 Cody Strathe (5)^R
6 Lance Mackey (6)
7 Normand Casavant (7)
8 Kelley Griffin (8)
9 Randy MacKenzie (9)^R
10 Susan Rogan (10)^R
11 Allen Moore (11)
12 Christina Traverse (12)^R
13 Denis Tremblay (13)^R
14 Matthew Failor (14)^R
15 Dan Kaduce (15)
16 Misha Pedersen (16)
17 Abbie West (17)
18 Brent Sass (18)
19 Dyan Bergen (19)^R
20 Jake Berkowitz (20)
21 David Dalton (21)
22 Ed Abrahamson (22)
23 Scott Smith (23)^R
24 Darrin Lee (24)^R
25 Ed Hopkins (25)
26 Crispin Studer (26)

These are the official standings. That means they are official, not that they are correct. Things jump around a lot as people decide to update the standings. This problem is especially bad in the back of the pack, as no one bothers to update those standings when the lead is changing.

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, and the small “R” indicates a rookie.

Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.