Yukon Quest 2016 – Day 10
Hugh has about a three-hour lead for the last 90 miles into Whitehorse, which is not comfortable with Brent and Allen behind you having completed a solid rest.
The Winners are: the nine puppies pulling Hugh Neff from Fairbanks. Brent cut Hugh’s lead in half, but couldn’t make up the last hour and a half. Allen will be in at about 7:30PM CDT.
The Current Standings at 9:00PM CST ( 7:00PM PST):
Finished At Whitehorse
1 Hugh Neff (22)
2 Brent Sass (9)
3 Allen Moore (4)
Beyond Braeburn
4 Matt Hall (15)
5 Ed Hopkins (3)
At Braeburn
6 Torsten Kohnert (12)
Beyond Carmacks
7 Tom Frode Johansen (19)R
At Carmacks
8 Yuka Honda (6)
9 Seth Barnes (17)R
10 Mike Ellis (2)
Beyond Pelly Crossing
11 Dave Dalton (8)
12 Luc Tweddell (21)
At Pelly Crossing
13 Laura Neese (1)R
Beyond Dawson
14 Andrew Pace (18)R
15 Cody Strathe (14)
16 Paige Drobny (5)
17 Rob Cooke (20)
18 Tore Albrigtsen (11)R
19 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (23)R
20 Gaetan Pierrard (7)RΦ
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 clicking on the sled dog or selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.
4 comments
Sitting here watching the snowfall turn to sleet and freezing rain, so it seemed an appropriate time to check up on the Yukon Quest! In looking at the Quest site, I noticed that they have live tracking for the public which is nice. I believe the Iditarod only offers that under their paid subscription.
Just checked and Hugh Neff is now about 17 miles ahead of Brent Sass, two-thirds of the way from Carmacks to Whitehorse (if the live tracking is really “live”). That’s still a ways to go, but it’s looking good for him. Hugh’s been running the Quest now for several years and always does well, but has never won, I don’t believe. I think he’s pretty careful with his dogs.
This is the time of year that slows down here a bit, and I like to enjoy my week or so of following the Iditarod. Most often I only have time to get the tail-end of the Yukon, but it’s a great race.
Despite the lack of snow at the start, this has been a fast race . The three former champs finished 1,2,3. Hugh’s all out rush to Braeburn paid off. Brent cut it in half, but just couldn’t make it all up. I think Allen was saving his team for the Iditarod as he is finishing with 13 of his 14 dog team. Hugh crossed the line with 9 and Brent 10.
Sooner or later they are going to have to change the date of the Iditarod because of the trail conditions.
Sooner or later they are going to have to change the date of the Iditarod because of the trail conditions.
This brings up an interesting question. Several people enter both races, so considering the toll that a 1000 mile race takes on the dogs and people, how much time is needed for them to recoup? It’s only a couple of weeks before the Iditarod starts as it is, so I expect that they would probably have to choose one or the other if they moved the date earlier.
The Quest was moved to the beginning of February a few years ago to give teams more time to rest between the two races. If you have both races start at the same time, the Iditarod could have a major problem if they need to use Fairbanks like they did last year. Fairbanks has a long term commitment to the Quest. The Iditarod would have to shift to January, but even January is iffy any more.
It is a mess, and denying that it is a problem isn’t helping.