So the VSP are talking about the ‘joke’ that a Santorum supporter made, but don’t seem to be aware of its rather mean-spirited origin [mostly because they think yesterday is ancient history. Of course, for people with the attention span of a Golden Retriever, it is].

There were a whole series of anti-Catholic jokes about the stand on contraceptives back in the 1960s, and “an aspirin clenched between their knees” was the response to ‘What do Catholics use instead of The Pill?”

Another was “What do you call people who use the Rhythm Method?” … “Parents”

This is almost as bad as Arlen Specter quoting a speech by Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello to defend Clarence Thomas, apparently unaware that Iago was the villain of the play who engineered the downfall of his black commander.

Brian made it in just after midnight local, and Misha was an hour later. They aren’t updating the official standings for Marcelle and Michael so I’m working from Live Tracking.

It looks like the weather is trending back to normal, i.e. below freezing for the next few days, which makes running during the day easier. There is just under 11 hours of daylight, and the moon is a waning crescent.

Update: OK, KUAC explains the situation: technically, the race should end 60 hours after the winner arrives, but the Race Marshal is extending the limit to allow Marcelle and Michael to continue and be eligible for the Red Lantern if they wish. There is no official support, beyond their handlers at the checkpoints, but local people are doing what they can. They both chose to continue.

KUAC made the point that Michael has been very concerned about running in the dark through the trees, because neither he, nor his dogs have any experience moving through trees.

Standings as of 9:15PM CST [Live Tracking]:

Michelle is about 15 miles out of Carmacks, while Michael has arrived at the checkpoint.

At Whitehorse
16 Brian Wilmshurst (11)^R
17 Misha Pedersen (5)^R
Beyond Carmacks
18 Marcelle Fressineau (15)^R
At Carmacks
19 Michael Telpin (24)^R

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, 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.

I Get No Respect

Pbbbt…

[Editor: Tonto doesn’t think much of my suggestion that she get off the car.

Friday Ark