Yukon Quest 2017 – Day 9
Matt made his lead official at Circle, but it’s only a half hour. Hugh is 4 hours behind them. Even 4 hours isn’t a comfortable lead with the Eagle & Rosebud climbs coming up.
At 11:30AM CST Hank made it to Alaska and beyond 500 miles.
At 11:30AM AKST it’s -51°F at Circle & Central. OK, that’s cold even for Alaska.
The Current Standings at 9:00PM CST ( 6:00PM AKST):
At Central
1 Matt Hall (20)
2 Brent Sass (14)
Beyond Circle
3 Hugh Neff (9)
4 Ed Hopkins (18)
5 Allen Moore (8)
At Circle
6 Paige Drobny (7)
Beyond Eagle
7 Katherine Keith (19)R
8 Torsten Kohnert (21)
9 Ryne Olson (15)
10 Jessie Royer (1)R
11 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
12 Dave Dalton (13)
13 Rob Cooke (4)
14 Ben Good (3)R
15 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
16 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)R
Beyond Dawson
17 Hank DeBruin (17)
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
Brent Sass has apparently just scratched a little while ago. He had two dogs in trouble and requested assistance. The dogs are in stable condition now according to adn news. No word as to what caused their problem. He could have continued according to the news, but felt that it was not in the best interest of his team. Looking out for the dogs, good man.
This is why a four-hour lead wasn’t a sure thing earlier. It has been really cold in the Yukon River valley which is the trail from Eagle to Central and small things can become big problems. Brent has been having problems which is why Matt caught up with him. At really cold temperatures the puppies’ survival instincts take over and they want to lay down and circle rather than run into the wind. The affected dogs may have been leaders, and without leaders there is no point. I think that Hank may have had to drop leaders which would explain his slow progress.
I see what you mean about a four hour lead. Weird things can happen in those temperatures. Just checked live tracking a few minutes ago (3:30 pm EST) and Matt is just 3 miles from Fairbanks, so it’s smooth sailing now because Hugh is quite a ways behind him at about the 900 mile point. With Allen just a bit behind him, second place is still up for grabs.
Paige Drobny and Ed Hopkins appear to be vying for the 4th place. As usual, it’s nice to see one of the women in the top spots.
But there is still several teams yet to go over those two nasty mountains you told me about. Right now Ben Good and Gaetan Pierrard are bringing up the rear. They’re only a couple of miles apart at this point, but who knows what the two mountains will bring about. It looks like about half of the teams are still heading up that first mountainside.
It looks like Katherine Keith is going to take rookie honors, although Jessie is coming up fast. Katherine is running a team of John Baker’s dogs, so being from Kotzebue, above the Arctic Circle, the puppies like the frigid temps.
Sébastien Dos Santos Borges has been the candidate for La Lanterne Rouge, but he has picked up his pace.