Yukon Quest 2019 – Day 6
The leaders are across the border into Alaska.
The leading rookie, Martin Apayauq Reitan, is an Inupiaq [Native Alaskan] / Norwegian musher. His dad, Ketil Reitan, has finished 7 Iditarods. In addition to the Quest, Martin has also signed up for his rookie run at this year’s Iditarod. He’s 21 and started mushing at 4.
The Current Standings at 9:00PM CST (7:00PM PST):
Beyond Dawson
1 Brent Sass (3)
2 Michelle Phillips (8)
3 Hans Gatt (2)
4 Allen Moore (26)
5 Paige Drobny (23)
6 Denis Tremblay (1)
7 Matt Hall (7)
8 Ryne Olson (21)
9 Torsten Kohnert (5)
10 Nathaniel Hamlyn (11)
11 Martin Apayauq Reitan (10)R
12 Jessie Royer (18)
13 Cody Strathe (28)
14 Jason Biasetti (27)R
At Dawson
15 Curt Perano (29)
16 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
17 Olivia Webster (15)R
18 Deke Naaktgeboren (25)R
19 Rob Cooke (30)
20 Andrew Pace (19)
21 Dave Dalton (12)
22 Isabelle Travadon (9)R
23 Misha Wiljes (17)
24 Jim Lanier (13)R
25 Chase Tingle (22)R
26 Hendrik Stachnau (20)R
27 Laura Allaway (24)R
28 Remy Leduc (4)R
Beyond Pelly Crossing
29 Jimmy Lebling (6)R
30 Lisbet Norris (14)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.
6 comments
Started mushing at 4 years old! Wow. He’s definitely a force to be reckoned with then, and no wonder he signed up for both races. This dude is READY!
I noticed that Michelle Phillips appears to be hanging in there near the front which is fun to see. Looks like Paige Drobny may have scratched which is a shame since she was hanging in there with the leaders fairly well, but it sounds like her dogs weren’t happy. There are about four teams within five miles of each other at the front.
And Jim Lanier is still hanging in there! Go Jim!
Olivia Webster scratched after a female went into heat and a couple of her males got into a fight as a result. Paige is doing the mandatory stay at Eagle, but I didn’t see anything about possible scratch on the YQ Facebook page. Normally people will scratch at Dawson or Circle because there are no roads to Eagle, so transportation is expensive.
Michelle belongs up front. She has earned her position. I’m a bit surprised that Jessie Royer isn’t running higher, but she may be bringing up some new puppies.
Jim almost never scratches, and this is a bucket list item.
Oh man, that fighting over a female thing has ruined a lot of good men…er…dogs. Wonder why they didn’t just drop the female and keep going? I would think that Olivia would still have had enough dogs left to go on, and without the female it seems like they would all calm down after that. But I guess they know a lot more about these things than I would.
Interesting comment about Jessie Royer. After watching for several years, I’m beginning to see how teams and mushers aren’t always running with the idea of winning. It’s all about developing the dogs and teams for the future.
Hope all the dogs come out of this happy and healthy this time. That’s the most important thing.
Blood was spilled, so there were at least two males injured by testosterone poisoning. Either of the two may have been critical to the team performance, i.e. leader, wheel dog. Sled dogs are closer to wolves than regular dogs, and the fight may have changed the dominance order in the pack. They were on the trail when this happened and Olivia had to get them back to Dawson.
Lisbet has been ‘orphaned’ by Jimmie Lebling scratching. She may choose to scratch at Dawson rather than attempting the Dawson to Circle segment totally alone.
>”Sled dogs are closer to wolves than regular dogs.”
My dog Whisper is half Siberian husky. She has the white face, blue eyes, black nose and black eye rims of the breed. For the most part, she will listen to me, but the operative phrase is “for the most part”. As the food source for the household, I tend to carry a lot of authority with her in most situations, but she is extremely independent and ultimately she makes up her own mind. Which is why I don’t let her around other people/children/dogs as much as I do Blue because I can’t depend that she will ALWAYS listen to me. Blue was her puppy, and he looks like his father was probably a full blooded blue tick. He is very well behaved and always looks to me for how to respond to any situation. Good thing because he’s an 85 lb tall dog that could look scary to some people if they’re not dog people and don’t know better.
So, yeah, those breeds do behave differently. When I give her a command, I can often see her look at me and consider it. It’s just that short split second of thought before she responds. If a person isn’t familiar with dogs, they might miss it, but I know. I’ve had many dogs over the years, and she’s the only one that took that second to make her decision (and no, I don’t beat my dogs to get them to listen to me, lol). It’s a bit irritating, but I suspect that it’s a survival instinct in those dogs, so I just don’t let her off leash around people, etc.
That constant dominance testing can be really annoying. You’re right not to trust her because Sibs do a “survival check” when asked to do anything. On a team you only need to control the leader, but one-on-one they keep checking to see if you are really the boss. Beautiful dogs, but a lot of overhead.