Yukon Quest 2011 – Day 11
The bad news this morning is that another dog has died. Geronimo, on Hugh Neff’s team died at Eagle Summit. He was a 3½-year-old male and cause of death is awaiting a necropsy.
Both Hugh Neff and Dan Kaduce have withdrawn from the race. They sought outside help and were transported by vehicle to Mile 101.
The current leaders are taking their mandatory 8-hour stops before the race to Fairbanks.
The weather for the second half of the race has been brutal. If you look at pictures of the leaders you will see what looks like sunburn, which is the lowest level of frostbite on their faces and hands.
Hugh and Dan’s teams refused the climb up Eagle Summit. When Hugh had to leave Walter behind, he lost his “weather leader”. Walter is one of those dogs that would want someone to open a window for him on a Hurricane Hunter. Sab, Ken, and Dallas Seavey have leaders like that, and they went over the mountain.
Gwen Holdmann writes about climbing summits in her article, The Mental Factor, on the Yukon Quest site.
Update at 11:50PM CST: Must have been a GPS glitch, because now Sab and Dallas are shown side-by-side. No more drama for tonight.
Update at 11:40PM CST: From the GPS it looks like Sab has missed a turn in his rush to catch Dallas. Nothing in this race has gone they way anyone thought.
Update at 11PM CST: The order of the leaders is unchanged and they are spaced 5 miles apart. They are going to have to feed and rest the dogs at least once, and it will happen soon, as there is still about 25 miles to go. I definitely won’t be able to stay up for the end.
Update at 8PM CST: From the GPS the order at the front is Dallas, Sab, and Ken.
Update: Ken Anderson has been assessed a 30-minute penalty for not checking out at Mile 101. Ken apparently forgot that 101 is a checkpoint this year, and not just a dog drop, as in the past. He has to stay at Chena for 8½ hours, not just 8.
Beyond Chena Hot Springs
1 Dallas Seavey (3)I
2 Ken Anderson (18)
3 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
4 Brent Sass (22)At Chena Hot Springs
5 Kelley Griffin (1)
Beyond Mile 101
6 Allen Moore (24)I
At Central
7 Jodi Bailey (17)R
Beyond Circle
8 David Dalton (23)
9 Mike Ellis (5)At Circle
10 Tamara Rose (12)I
11 Jerry Joinson (21)R
12 Johannes Rygh (6)R
13 Kyla Durham (14)RBeyond Slaven’s Roadhouse
14 Hank DeBruin (19)IΦ
The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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.
