Yukon Quest 2019 – Day 13
The last day of racing. The finish line has been moved because of overflow on the river.
At 10PM CST the Live Tracker isn’t updating, but I think Misha Wiljes has finished. There is a reference to Hendrik Stachnau being penalized 8 hours for something, but I can’t find out what. He was already set to be the Red Lantern, but the penalty makes it doubly so.
The Current Standings at 3:00AM CST (Midnight AKST):
Finished At Fairbanks
1 Brent Sass (3)
2 Hans Gatt (2)
3 Allen Moore (26)
4 Michelle Phillips (8)
5 Matt Hall (7)
6 Paige Drobny (23)
7 Torsten Kohnert (5)
8 Denis Tremblay (1)
9 Jessie Royer (18)
10 Nathaniel Hamlyn (11)
11 Ryne Olson (21)
12 Cody Strathe (28)
13 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
14 Martin Apayauq Reitan (10)R
15 Dave Dalton (12)
16 Deke Naaktgeboren (25)R
17 Jason Biasetti (27)R
18 Andrew Pace (19)
19 Rob Cooke (30)
20 Curt Perano (29)
21 Remy Leduc (4)R
22 Laura Allaway (24)R
23 Isabelle Travadon (9)R
24 Jim Lanier (13)R
25 Chase Tingle (22)R
26 Misha Wiljes (17)
27 Hendrik Stachnau (20)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.
11 comments
Still a lot of teams out there, and I read on the Yukon Quest site that the weather at Rosebud and Eagle summits has really been rough. One of the news items was pretty interesting about how the last group of mushers have been helping each other out:
…”Eagle and Rosebud continued to be disagreeable today, but an inspiring display of musher kinship and the code of the north began in Central as the seven mushers who’d waited out the worst parts of the storm together departed en masse early this morning to conquer the summits. Taking turns in lead to break trail and assisting each other when needed throughout the climb, the Central Seven were undaunted by the steeps and snows of Eagle, and by day’s end it appears they have all but bested Rosebud as well.”…
The writer was calling them the “Central Seven” which are the last seven including Jim Lanier. Apparently Rosebud summit has been awful. Martin Reitan said it was the first time that he had ever had to stop and wait out a storm. Notwithstanding his delay, he ended up with the Rookie of the Year award, so I expect he’s happy with that.
Looking at the Facebook page you told me about, I noticed that a moose crossed the finish line. lol. Looked like he knew exactly where he was going, too. Too funny.
Brent Sass’s now retired lead dog, Silver, is famous for rescuing teams stuck on Eagle Summit when the winds kick up. In 2009 Yuka Honda spent 32 hours getting over that mountain and was so worn out she scratched at Mile 101. In 2011 it almost killed Hugh Neff. The “easy” Quest is in the even years when you get those peaks out of the way while you and your team are still fresh.
When the winds kick up, those peaks and the Steese Highway that runs between them are survival situations. Mile 101 is the marker on the Steese Highway, 101 miles from Fairbanks.
Moose will use the trails made for sled races, which causes collisions between the moose and the teams. That moose may have looked ‘cute’, but all moose are psycho killers, I’m not joking. Moose are way more dangerous than brown bears or wolves.
Yuka Honda has really had some bad luck, hasn’t she? Wasn’t she the one that lost a dog one year in the Yukon Quest? And yeah, I remember Brent Sass and his dogs helping out teams at different times. I had forgotten about Hugh Neff almost dying out there, and I didn’t remember where it was. Scary mountain. They’re a braver bunch than I am. An hour and a half walk with my dogs, and I’m just really proud of myself. Ha!
“moose are psycho killers…”
Lol. I did happen to notice that no one was in sight on the video. So now I know why, Alaskans know to clear out when the moose arrives!
Yuka lost a dog on the 2017 Quest. The necropsy found an enlarged heart and he had eaten a half dozen booties.
You learn to avoid moose, and you definitely don’t honk at them in your vehicle. Moose are the reason you always go armed into the bush. Bears and wolves can be scared off, but moose are too crazy.
Oh my, I had not heard about her dog having eaten all those booties. Poor dog. It’s the part that breaks my heart about these long races. We usually hear that it’s aspiration which I think you once told me is because the dogs are eating too rapidly.
Recently in our area, the rangers had to euthanize a juvenile black bear that was frequenting the Meadows of Dan overlook. Apparently the bear got close to some tourists there and they decided to feed it, and naturally the jerks posted it on Facebook. What else does one do when one feeds a wild bear? The local rangers got wind of it, and did the dirty deed. The posters were SHOCKED, shocked that they would do such a cruel thing, well DUH! I thought it was common knowledge that feeding wild animals put them in danger of being killed. My opinion? They should have euthanized the people who fed him and increased the per capita IQ.
Instead of bears we get morons feeding alligators. You can’t convince people that it is a bad idea to associate people and food in the mind of a large carnivore. Most wild animals avoid humans, which is much safer for both the animals and humans. All too much of what humans eat is bad for animals. The rangers didn’t have a choice: that bear would have looked at humans as a food source. That’s the sort of thing that makes humans so dangerous.
Feeding alligators? Yikes! Now that is certifiably stupid, no doubt about it.
No, you’re right, the rangers didn’t have a choice. It’s silly people trying to anthropomorphize the bears. “Aren’t they so cute!” Like they’re talking about babies or something, these are not teddy bears, people. It’s much more dangerous for the bears to come into contact with people because the bears are almost always going to end up dead as a result of the experience while the humans will only occasionally be dead. Based on that last remark, I expect I gave up which way I lean as to the better outcome.
After they lose their natural fear of humans, there isn’t much you can do with a wild animal – zoo, farm, or euthanize them.
When you camp in bear country you store food away from the camp in a tree somewhere. In Alaska most homesteads have a storeroom that looks similar to a very heavy duty dog house or small log cabin up on a pole. They keep the food away from the people.
We spend too much time and money to protect people who should be removed from the gene pool. Those labels telling people not to use electrical appliances in the bath or shower are a sure sign that a cull is necessary. 👿
Snicker…now that’s the truth. Another one is the time I noticed that dishwashing liquid has a warning that it’s not for internal consumption. What the hell?
Apparently there was someone out there eating the Lemon Joy.
Not long ago there was the Tide pod challenge with supposedly sapient members of the human race eating pre-measured laundry detergent capsules and making videos to prove they were doing it for consumption of others who were just as defective.
😯