Posts from — February 2016

Year of the Red Fire Monkey

Chinese New Year
[Spring Festival]

[Note: The new year begins on the new moon and that occurs today in the US. Because of the International Date Line, it is the 9th in China.]

The 300 starts six hours after the Quest to separate the two races, but the fastest 300 teams, like Aliy, will often pass the slowest Quest teams.

Out of Fairbanks this was the start order, but with a 3 minute separation between teams Aliy is going to spend more than an extra hour at the mandatory stop at at Central.

1 Aliy Zirkle (51)
2 Otto Balogh (52)
3 Chase Tingle (53)
4 Joanna Jagow (54)
5 Benjamin Good (55)
6 Jason Mackey (56)
7 Olaf Thurau (57)
8 Ryne Olson (58)
9 Mary Helwig (59)
10 Dr. Joe Carson (60)
11 Patrick Mackey (61)
12 Jessie Holmes (62)
13 Maliko Ubl (63)
14 Fabian Schmitz (64)
15 Shaynee Traska (65)
16 Melissa Stewart (66)
17 Tim Muto (67)
18 Stephanie Ehlenfeldt (68)
19 John Dixon (69)
20 Lia Amundsen (70)
21 Giordano Tarara (71)
22 Josh Skerritt (72)
23 Meredith Mapes (73)

The former winners have jumped to the front and are climbing Eagle. This is looking like a a slow course. The temperature is cold enough, but there is not enough snow to cushion the trail.

The Current Standings at 7:00PM CST (4:00pM AKST):

Beyond Central
1 Brent Sass (9)
2 Allen Moore (4)
3 Matt Hall (15)
4 Ed Hopkins (3)
5 Hugh Neff (22)
At Central
6 Torsten Kohnert (12)
7 Dave Dalton (8)
8 Yuka Honda (6)
9 Luc Tweddell (21)
10 Cody Strathe (14)
11 Paige Drobny (5)
12 Mike Ellis (2)
13 Rob Cooke (20)
[Read more →]

The race has started, but it is going to be rough because of a lack of snow on the trail and jumble ice on the rivers. It is going to be hard on the sleds, the dogs, and the mushers.

The Current Standings at 8:00PM CST (5:00PM AKST):

1 Laura Neese (1)^R
2 Mike Ellis (2)
3 Ed Hopkins (3)
4 Allen Moore (4)
5 Paige Drobny (5)
6 Yuka Honda (6)
7 Gaetan Pierrard (7)^R
8 Dave Dalton (8)
9 Brent Sass (9)
10 Hank DeBruin (10)
11 Tore Albrigtsen (11)^R
12 Torsten Kohnert (12)
13 Tony Angelo (13)^R
14 Cody Strathe (14)
15 Matt Hall (15)
16 J. Jay Levy (16)^R
17 Seth Barnes (17)^R
18 Andrew Pace (18)^R
19 Tom Frode Johansen (19)^R
20 Rob Cooke (20)
21 Luc Tweddell (21)
22 Hugh Neff (22)
23 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (23)^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, 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.

Fairbanks 440 feet [134 meters] Start
Two Rivers 1550 feet [472 meters] 72 miles [116 km]
Rosebud Summit 3640 feet [1109 meters]
Mile 101 Steese Highway 2250 feet [686 meters] 42 miles [68 km]
Eagle Summit 3685 feet [1123 meters]
Central 435 feet [133 meters] 33 miles [53 km]
Circle City 597 feet [182 meters] 74 miles [119 km]
Eagle 880 feet [268 meters] 159 miles [256 km]
American Summit 3920 feet [1195 meters]
Dawson City 1050 feet [320 meters] 147 miles [237 km]
King Solomon’s Dome 4002 feet [1220 meters]
Pelly Crossing 1558 feet [475 meters] 202 miles [325 km]
Carmacks 1722 feet [525 meters] 73 miles [117 km]
Braeburn 2326 feet [709 meters] 77 miles [124 km]
Whitehorse 2089 feet [637 meters] 100 miles [161 km] Finish

The total distance is approximately 1000 miles [1600 kilometers]

[Two Rivers is also called Chena Hot Springs.]

[Read more →]

Still waiting on an electrician to show up so I can finish that apartment, which is annoying. The Yukon Quest starts this weekend and Mardi Gras and the Chinese New Year are next week.

I need to actually get an entire day on which I can do exactly what I want to do, even if it is just reading a book, or doing nothing 🙂

It’s Groundhog Day and some of the militant marmots object to being disturbed.

The CBC offers the most complete coverage and tell us that Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia and Punxsutawney Phil from Pennsylvania think winter is over as the latest winter storm is getting ready to dump snow in the center of the US. Winnipeg Willow got fed up with the process and died in January to avoid being annoyed.

FYI: this is approximately the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. It is called Imbolc among the Celts, which is why people are interested.

I’ve been repairing an apartment for a new tenant, so I haven’t been on the computer much. Frankly, I was more interested in reading about a fluffy, over weight penguin chick, a snowmobile riding dog, and Dutch police training eagles to take out drones,[all on CBC] than the Iowa caucuses [on everywhere].

February 1, 2003

Commander:
Rick Douglas Husband, Colonel, USAF

Pilot:
William C. McCool, Commander, USN

Payload Commander:
Michael P. Anderson, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Mission Specialist:
Kalpana Chawla, PhD
David M. Brown, MD, Captain, USN
Laurel Blair Salton Clark, MD, Captain, USN

Payload Specialist:
Ilan Ramon, Colonel, Israel Air Force