Category — Yukon Quest

Dallas managed to hang on and win by 33 minutes over Sab with Ken coming in third. Dallas is also the first “rookie” in, although he is a veteran of the Iditarod. The Official Finish time is 11:05PM AKST [2:05AM CST] for an elapsed time of 10 days 11 hours and 53 minutes and an average speed of 5.7 mph.

Ken came in with 7 dogs pulling and one in the sled because of a muscle cramp, but he picked up four ounces of gold as the first team to reach Dawson and finish the race. Hugh was the first into Dawson and Hans was second, but lost it when unable to finish.

Tamara Rose has a problem. She is down to 7 dogs, the minimum required to continue racing. If she loses another one, she will have to scratch. [Correction: you can technically continue with 6 dogs, but the question is: can you climb Eagle and Rosebud with 6?]

Hank DeBruin and his Siberian Huskies Johannes Rygh has the Red Lantern back at Circle.

Hank has the Red Lantern back, and Johannes Rygh has been withdrawn at Circle.

Kelley Griffin’s trip to the Finish was delayed for 30 minutes by a herd of caribou blocking the trail. Better caribou than moose.

The Quest has a lot of video up at Youtube of this year’s race. If you would like to see a really pretty dog team of purebred Siberian Huskies they have Mike Ellis and his huskies arrive in Mile 101 for a sunny rest.

That was “the thrill of victory”, but a day earlier in the same area, they have Sebastian Schnuelle climbs Eagle Summit. Note that he isn’t riding, he is pushing to get it up the hill. Also watch the dogs. They want to pull the sled. What happened to others was that the dogs wanted to turn their backs to the wind and dig into the snow, which is their natural survival instinct. Also note that it is Sab who needs the rest, not the dogs.

Fairbanks

1 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
2 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
3 Ken Anderson (18)
4 Brent Sass (22)
5 Kelley Griffin (1)
6 Allen Moore (24)^I

Beyond Mile 101

7 Jodi Bailey (17)^R

At Mile 101

8 Mike Ellis (5)
9 David Dalton (23)

At Central

10 Tamara Rose (12)^I
11 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
12 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Beyond Circle

13 Hank DeBruin (19)^IΦ

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

The bad news this morning is that another dog has died. Geronimo, on Hugh Neff’s team died at Eagle Summit. He was a 3½-year-old male and cause of death is awaiting a necropsy.

Both Hugh Neff and Dan Kaduce have withdrawn from the race. They sought outside help and were transported by vehicle to Mile 101.

The current leaders are taking their mandatory 8-hour stops before the race to Fairbanks.

The weather for the second half of the race has been brutal. If you look at pictures of the leaders you will see what looks like sunburn, which is the lowest level of frostbite on their faces and hands.

Hugh and Dan’s teams refused the climb up Eagle Summit. When Hugh had to leave Walter behind, he lost his “weather leader”. Walter is one of those dogs that would want someone to open a window for him on a Hurricane Hunter. Sab, Ken, and Dallas Seavey have leaders like that, and they went over the mountain.

Gwen Holdmann writes about climbing summits in her article, The Mental Factor, on the Yukon Quest site.

Update at 11:50PM CST: Must have been a GPS glitch, because now Sab and Dallas are shown side-by-side. No more drama for tonight.

Update at 11:40PM CST: From the GPS it looks like Sab has missed a turn in his rush to catch Dallas. Nothing in this race has gone they way anyone thought.

Update at 11PM CST: The order of the leaders is unchanged and they are spaced 5 miles apart. They are going to have to feed and rest the dogs at least once, and it will happen soon, as there is still about 25 miles to go. I definitely won’t be able to stay up for the end.

Update at 8PM CST: From the GPS the order at the front is Dallas, Sab, and Ken.

Update: Ken Anderson has been assessed a 30-minute penalty for not checking out at Mile 101. Ken apparently forgot that 101 is a checkpoint this year, and not just a dog drop, as in the past. He has to stay at Chena for 8½ hours, not just 8.

Beyond Chena Hot Springs

1 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
2 Ken Anderson (18)
3 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
4 Brent Sass (22)

At Chena Hot Springs

5 Kelley Griffin (1)

Beyond Mile 101

6 Allen Moore (24)^I

At Central

7 Jodi Bailey (17)^R

Beyond Circle

8 David Dalton (23)
9 Mike Ellis (5)

At Circle

10 Tamara Rose (12)^I
11 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
12 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
13 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Beyond Slaven’s Roadhouse

14 Hank DeBruin (19)^IΦ

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Hugh Neff left Central about 20 minutes before Hans arrived, so his lead is down to the rest time Hans takes, which will probably be about 4 hours, because there is overflow on the trail between Circle and Central. Water and -40° F/C is not good for living things, so you have to warm up and dry off.

Apparently Hans and his team fell through thin ice and were completely soaked. Sab got them out and started a fire to dry everyone out before they all continued to Central.

Hugh had to leave his lead dog, Walter, behind in Central, which will make climbing the “twin peaks” even harder, but Hans and Sab have a lot of warming up and drying to do.

It is snowing in Central, and if there is blowing snow on the climb up Eagle Summit, things can go wrong quickly.

Update Midnight CST: Now they are saying that both Dan and Hugh and their teams are at Mile 101. I have to get some sleep, and give them time to figure out what is going on.

Update 11:30PM CST: Dan Kaduce (10) has gone back to Central by vehicle effectively withdrawing.

Ken Anderson didn’t stop at Mile 101 but went up Rosebud immediately.

Sab is resting at Mile 101.

Still nothing official on Hugh Neff.

Update 10:30PM CST: Dan Kaduce has gone to the Steese Highway and flagged down a vehicle and gone to Central. Officials at Mile 101 have sent snowmobiles and supplies to Hugh’s location, and Central is sending vets after being contacted by Dan.

There is definitely a problem, but no one is certain exactly what the problem is.

Update 10PM CST: Sab is the new leader, having made it to Mile 101.

Update 9PM CST: Hugh Neff is hunkered down with Dan Kaduce. Sab has managed to make it over Eagle Summit and is on his way to Mile 101.

I have a feeling that Dan Kaduce has joined Brent Sass and Sab in the running for this year’s Sportsmanship Award, because I don’t think Hugh would still be hunkered down if there wasn’t a problem.

Update 8:30PM CST: It still isn’t clear where Hugh Neff is, but from the working GPSs it looks like the group at the mountain have started the ascent and are taking turns breaking trail. The race marshal at Mile 101 has sent a snowmobile out from there which tends to make me believe that no one has made it over the summit. The snowmobile can hopefully break a trail over the mountain, but if the winds are kicking up, it won’t last long. The machine has been out over an hour and hasn’t reported anything.

Update at 7:30PM CST: Eagle Summit has been attempted without success. It is apparently impassable. It is not clear where Hugh Neff is as his GPS isn’t working at the moment, but Dan Kaduce tried it and had to turn around.

As I mentioned in my YQ 300 post, in the 2009 Quest Yuka Honda spent 32 hours going from Central to Mile 101, most of that time getting over Eagle Summit. We can hope that everyone is safe and warm while they wait for the winds to calm down.

Update 4PM CST: Hans Gatt (13), four time winner of the Quest, has scratched at Central. After the disaster at American Summit, and the “swim” in Birch Creek, Hans has had enough. Originally he wasn’t going to enter the Quest, but decided to at the last minute. After what he has been through so far, attempting the Eagle Summit under current conditions [The highway between Central and Mile 101 has been closed by drifts] would be too much.

[As a result of the “dunking”, Hans has frostbitten hands and can’t take care of the dogs.]

As “Sab” Schnuelle said earlier: “One minute you’re running a race and the next, you’re in a survival situation – that’s the Yukon Quest.”

Update Noon CST: Joshua Cadzow (16) has scratched at Circle. The puppies weren’t feeling well.

Update: Didier Moggia (7) has returned to Eagle and scratched. [Apparently every female on his team went into heat, which makes for a great Valentine Day story but doesn’t help the team concentrate on pulling a sled.]

Official standings below the fold [Read more →]

Hugh Neff got into Circle after midnight my time and set out again this morning as temperatures in the -40s settled in over interior. [Note: -40° F = -40° C]

In the current conditions people tend to move in groups as a matter of survival. While you see dogs riding around in the Lower 48 with their heads out the window, sled dogs as a group are not fond of running into the wind, especially at low temperatures. One of the keys to Lance Mackey’s success has been lead dogs that didn’t mind the wind and would run into it.

In addition to the biological component, the race reporting is suffering from equipment that doesn’t like the weather any more than the people. The Quest sites have been suffering periodic outages as 21^st century tools attempt to work with 19^th century infrastructure.

The race has transformed from a sprint to a slog since the Alaskan border and the weather change.

Update: 12:30PM CST

Sad News: Sled dog on Brent Sass’ team dies. It was a sudden death on the trail to Slaven’s Roadhouse, and a necropsy will be necessary to find the cause of death. For the moment Brent is continuing, but he may decide to scratch at Circle, which is on the road system.

Update: Brent lost his veteran wheel dog, Taco, just out of Trout Creek after a six-hour rest stop. The wheel dog is second only to the leader on a team. There was no indication of a problem at the stop. Taco was a 6-year-old male from Jessie Royer’s kennel as a puppy. Brent will be continuing.

Earlier, Brent and his team helped Hans Gatt in a very nasty situation: American Summit Rescue.

It is called sled dog racing because the dogs are the athletes. Sometimes a dog simply pushes too hard, beyond the capacity of their heart. They have been working extremely hard breaking trail through the snowdrifts, so they are giving it everything they have, and sometimes, more than they have.

Update: 11:30PM CST

Beyond Circle

1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13) +5 hours 53 minutes
3 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
4 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
5 Allen Moore (24)^I

At Circle

6 Dan Kaduce (10)
7 Ken Anderson (18)
8 Brent Sass (22)
9 Kelley Griffin (1)
10 Joshua Cadzow (16)

Beyond Eagle

11 Mike Ellis (5)
12 David Dalton (23)
13 Jodi Bailey (17)^R

At Eagle

14 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
15 Tamara Rose (12)^I
16 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
17 Didier Moggia (7)
18 Kyla Durham (14)^R
19 Hank DeBruin (19)^I

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Hugh Neff isn’t quite as far ahead as he was yesterday, but his lead is very comfortable.

The weather is a bit better today, but a lot of the trail is drifted over which has led to some cooperative efforts among the teams. The half dozen teams immediately following Hugh are taking turns breaking trail and are clumped together. The same situation applies to the last five teams, who left Dawson last night as a group. Clint Warnke (25) isn’t among them. He decided to scratch at Dawson.

You have to be confident before hitting the stretch between Dawson and Circle, because there are no roads up there. Your choices are sleds or aircraft and communications are limited. Reporting from Eagle was via a packet network on HF ham radio, as even satellite phones are spotty around the Arctic Circle.

Update at 9PM CST

Beyond Slaven’s Roadhouse

1 Hugh Neff (8)

At Slaven’s Roadhouse

2 Hans Gatt (13)
3 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)

Beyond Eagle

4 Ken Anderson (18)
5 Brent Sass (22)
6 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
7 Allen Moore (24)^I
8 Dan Kaduce (10)
9 Kelley Griffin (1)
10 Joshua Cadzow (16)

At Eagle

11 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
12 David Dalton (23)
13 Mike Ellis (5)

Beyond Dawson

14 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
15 Tamara Rose (12)^I
16 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
17 Didier Moggia (7)
18 Kyla Durham (14)^R
19 Hank DeBruin (19)^I

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Hugh Neff is getting to sleep in after reaching Eagle just after midnight. Snow, plunging temperatures, and gusty winds on the American Summit will stop pursuit.

From the Weather Underground forecast:

Periods of snow from Chicken south with snow accumulation 2 to 5 inches…highest amounts near the Alaska Range. A chance of snow north of Chicken. Areas of blowing snow with poor visibility near the Alaska Range. Highs 5 to 10 above. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts to 35 mph near the Alaska Range.

The American Summit is part of the Alaskan Range. With conditions like that and a mandatory 4-hour stop at Eagle for the border paperwork, Hugh can wait in Eagle until the next team arrives, and then leave with comfortable lead and a well-rested team.

Christine Roalofs (9) is making slow progress according to the GPS tracker. She apparently missed a trail marker and had to back-track about five miles yesterday.

Update: 2PM CST- Running tenth out of Dawson, Wade Marrs (15) returned and scratched. He was down to 9 puppies, and the weather has turned very nasty. Still no word on Christine Roalofs.

Update: 4:30PM CST – Finally, Christine Roalofs hit her “HELP” button on the GPS. She was running low on supplies after getting lost and spending a great deal more time on the trail than anticipated. Help was sent, and she was disqualified from the race for accepting it. Her disqualified status won’t be posted until she arrives in Dawson. No idea why the race officials didn’t tell people what was going on hours ago. [Note: Disqualified has been changed to Withdrawn.]

To give you some idea of the conditions on the trail out of Dawson, Jodi Bailey (17) got turned around in the blowing snow during the night, and didn’t realize it until she got back to Dawson. I hope her puppies have a sense of humor, because they are re-running the trail out.

Update: 7PM CST- Although Clint Warnke (25) and Tamara Rose (12) could be on the trail out of Dawson, the Iditarod veterans are choosing to stay in Dawson until the late group of mushers leave. They want to finish the race, and with weather like today, it is better to travel together.

From the YQ Facebook page: Eagle, Alaska – Quote of the day, “One minute you’re running a race and the next, you’re in a survival situation – that’s the Yukon Quest.” Sebastian Schnuelle

Hugh Neff has an almost 10 hour lead because he made it to Eagle just before the front hit and the wind and snow lashed American Summit. Those behind him had to stop and create shelters for themselves and their dogs.

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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Current standing below the fold [Read more →]

The second half of the race began at 3:35AM PST at Dawson when Hugh Neff headed out again. Only the first nine of the teams behind him are within 12 hours of his lead, and Hans Gatt is two hours and 41 minutes behind, but this is the worst part of the trail, and ultimately it is up to the dogs, which is why it is called a “sled dog race”.

It is about 150 miles to Eagle, Alaska on the other side of American Summit. There is a four-hour mandatory lay-over in Eagle, and you hope that you don’t have to drop any dogs, because the only way to get to Eagle in the winter is by dog sled or aircraft, there is no road.

Update 11:30PM CST: Christine Roalofs (9), the current Red Lantern, has apparently stopped for a break about 40 miles from Dawson. The GPS showed her moving earlier in the day, but her position hasn’t changed in the last couple of hours. She left Scroggie Creek with 10 dogs at 8PM CST on the 9^th.

Beyond Dawson

1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13)
3 Ken Anderson (18)
4 Brent Sass (22)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
4 Brent Sass (22)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Allen Moore (24)^I
7 Wade Marrs (15)^I
8 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
9 Dan Kaduce (10)
10 Kelley Griffin (1)

At Dawson

11 Joshua Cadzow (16)
12 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
13 Mike Ellis (5)
14 David Dalton (23)
15 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
16 Clint Warnke (25)^I
17 Tamara Rose (12)^I
18 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
19 Didier Moggia (7)
20 Kyla Durham (14)^R
21 Hank DeBruin (19)^I

Beyond Scroggie Creek

22 Christine Roalofs (9)^R [earlier report of arrival was in error]

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

The first ten are in at 10AM CST and it looks like Hugh Neff has a commanding lead, but it is built on taking less rest than the field. If he can keep it up, he should win, but the worse of the Quest is ahead, and there is no way of knowing how long he and, more importantly, his team can maintain this regimen. Thirty-six hours isn’t a long recovery time.

At Dawson

1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13) +2:41:00 [The initial time yesterday was a typo on the site]
3 Ken Anderson (18) +4:55:00
4 Brent Sass (22)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Allen Moore (24)^I
7 Wade Marrs (15)^I
8 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
9 Dan Kaduce (10)
10 Kelley Griffin (1)
11 Joshua Cadzow (16)
12 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
13 Mike Ellis (5)
14 David Dalton (23)

Beyond Pelly Crossing

15 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
16 Clint Warnke (25)^I
17 Tamara Rose (12)^I
18 Didier Moggia (7)
19 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
20 Hank DeBruin (19)^I
21 Christine Roalofs (9)^R
22 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Update at 6:30PM CST: Michelle Phillips (4) has scratched at Dawson. She was down to 8 dogs, having had to leave 4 dogs at Scroggie Creek.

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

The original “quest” in the Yukon was the search for deposits of placer gold in the waterways. Someone is going to “find” four ounces of placer gold if they are the first team into Dawson. Everyone “discovers” a 36-hour break from the trail to catch up on their sleep, personal hygiene, and laundry. They’ll need it because the toughest part of the trail is ahead with the worst climbs and normally coldest temperatures on the Quest.

All of the teams are on the trail between Pelly Crossing and Dawson, a stretch of over 200 miles, so position reports beyond yesterday’s are pretty meaningless until they starting coming into Dawson. The climb up Solomon’s Dome isn’t that bad, but the descent to Dawson can be tricky, and the temperatures really start to drop on the other side.

The Fairbanks Daily News Miner has a nice picture of the Aurora Borealis over Braeburn, which has been providing more light at night than the crescent moon.

Update at 4PM: Apparently there have been some computer problems and nothing is coming out of Scroggie Creek. Hugh Neff’s GPS tracker is out of whack and hasn’t been reporting his position for about 14 hours. The race is going through an area of hills and mountains, so communications, other than satellite phones, is fairly nonexistent. [I wonder if I could get Al Jazeera interested in sled dog racing? They seem to be able to deal with these kinds of problems.]

Ken Anderson made it to Dawson with two dogs riding in the sled. The vets are saying that they are seeing a lot of “wrist” injuries, probably from ice chunks on the rivers that have thawed and refrozen.

Finally –

At Dawson
1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13) +3 hours 1 minute
3 Ken Anderson (18)
4 Brent Sass (22)

Beyond Pelly Crossing
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Wade Marrs (15)^I
7 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
8 Allen Moore (24)^I
9 Dan Kaduce (10)
10 Kelley Griffin (1)
11 Joshua Cadzow (16)
12 Michelle Phillips (4)
13 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
14 David Dalton (23)
15 Mike Ellis (5)
16 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
17 Clint Warnke (25)^I
18 Tamara Rose (12)^I
19 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
20 Didier Moggia (7)
21 Hank DeBruin (19)^I
22 Kyla Durham (14)^R
23 Christine Roalofs (9)^R

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

At 9:23PM PST [11:23PM CST] Gerry Willomitzer finished the “Loop” and returned to Pelly Crossing to take the win at the Yukon Quest 300. He was followed just under two hours later by Ed Hopkins with Martin Beck coming in at 5:10AM PST. Gerry spent a total of 2 days, 4 hours, and 12 minutes from his start time [02/05/11 5:12PM] to the finish.

Three teams have scratched : Tom Schonberger at Carmacks, Eric Pourteau at McCabe Creek, and, alas, Genesee Keevil, who left Carmacks and then returned. No word yet as to why, but it was probably unhappy puppies.

Kathleen Frederick is the only one of the remaining mushers who isn’t at or beyond Pelly Crossing, which is a bit worrying because a number of people left Carmacks after she did, and have arrived. It is possible that someone forgot to enter her arrival into the computer, which has happened before with people coming and going at all hours and times arriving on handwritten notes. [Update: She scratched at McCabe Creek.]

Finishers as of Midnight CST:

1 Gerry Willomitzer (57)
2 Ed Hopkins (54)
3 Mathias Beck (70)
4 Aliy Zirkle (64)
5 Susie Rogan (58)
6 Paige Drobny (72)
7 Misha Pedersen (73)
8 Nathan McNee (67)
9 Brian Wilmshurst (60)
10 Jessie Royer (74)
11 Rolf Meili (65)
12 Yuka Honda (56)
13 Oyvind Jakobsen (55)
14 Ryne Olson (62)
15 Fabian Schmitz (59)
16 Megan Routley (63)
17 Jonathan Lucas (71)
18 Maren Bradley (66)
19 Dyan Bergen (52)

Jessie Royer and Rolf Meili were both dinged with 2-hour penalties for failing to properly check out at Pelly Crossing.

Dyan Bergen is the only musher who hasn’t reached the finish line. She has stopped to give her dogs extra rest and is bound and determined to finish. [Update: Dyan made it in.]

There has been the first scratch at Carmacks last night, when rookie Denis Tremblay (2) of Quebec dropped out because his puppies apparently picked up a virus. That’s troubling, because there seem to be a lot of early dropping of dogs.

The early leaders are making their push by reducing rest time rather than running faster. That might win Dawson, but it makes the second half harder, and it is already the pits,

Update at 10:30PM CST

Beyond Pelly Crossing

1 Brent Sass (22)
2 Hugh Neff (8)
3 Hans Gatt (13)
4 Ken Anderson (18)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Joshua Cadzow (16)
7 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
8 Wade Marrs (15)^I
9 Allen Moore (24)^I
10 Dan Kaduce (10)
11 Michelle Phillips (4)
12 Kelley Griffin (1)
13 Mike Ellis (5)
14 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
15 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
16 David Dalton (23)

At Pelly Crossing

17 Clint Warnke (25)^I
18 Tamara Rose (12)^I
19 Jerry Joinson (21)^R

Beyond Carmacks

20 Hank DeBruin (19)^I
21 Christine Roalofs (9)^R
22 Didier Moggia (7)
23 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Allen Dennis (20) has scratched at Carmacks. He was down to 10 dogs, and they don’t seem to have been happy puppies.

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

These are the arrival positions at Braeburn, and all but the last five are back on the trail. While Johannes Rygh is running near the front, I’m a bit concerned that the rookie musher had to leave two dogs behind. Hugh left first, but Sebastian is less than an hour behind with Wade Marrs, Brent Sass, Hans, and Kelly Griffin making up rest of the pre-4AM group.

1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Kelley Griffin (1)
3 Johannes Rygh (6)^R
4 Dan Kaduce (10)
5 Hans Gatt (13)
6 Wade Marrs (15)^I
7 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
8 Michelle Phillips (4)
9 Ken Anderson (18)
10 Brent Sass (22)
11 Dallas Seavey (3)^I
12 Mike Ellis (5)
13 Joshua Cadzow (16)
14 Allen Moore (24)^I
15 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
16 Denis Tremblay (2)^R
17 Tamara Rose (12)^I
18 Clint Warnke (25)^I
19 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
20 David Dalton (23)
21 Didier Moggia (7)
22 Hank DeBruin (19)^I
23 Allen Dennis (20)
24 Christine Roalofs (9)^R
25 Kyla Durham (14)^R

Updates below the fold
[Read more →]

They’re off, heading up the Yukon River to Braeburn.

The weather for the previous week around Whitehorse has not been good, with temperatures above freezing. This increases the risk of thin ice and causes a choppy surface as the ice breaks up and re-freezes. Fortunately the temperatures have dropped back down to the more normal single digit range, so there is less of a threat of dogs overheating. The dogs prefer to work below 20° F [-7° C].

They will have about 6 hours of sun left today. as the days are at 8¼ hours, increasing at about 5 minutes per day. The moon won’t be much help as it is a waxing crescent.

It’s about 100 miles [160 kilometers] to Braeburn where there is a two hour mandatory stop. [Update: there has been a rule change and the stop is now four hours and an adjustment for the start time. It means that the last team to leave Whitehorse only has to wait 4 hours, but the first team must wait 5 hours and 12 minutes, the extra hour and 12 minutes being the initial time advantage. After Braeburn, with this change, the first team in the next checkpoint is definitely the race leader. Previously the adjustment was added at Dawson.]

If you have a favorite team, the best resource is the YQ Live Tracking link on my sidebar, as the teams are carrying GPS markers.

I will be updating the daily post, rather than issuing individual posts.

Six hours after the Yukon Quest starts, a second race gets under way, the 300 mile race from Whitehorse to Pelly Crossing. When I saw Allen Moore’s name on the Quest starting grid I wondered if his wife, Aliy Zirkle, might be running in the 300. Aliy is the only woman to win the Quest, she did it in 2000, and has been trying to win the Iditarod ever since.

Allen and Aliy’s kennel is actually running two teams in the 300, probably as a warm up for the Iditarod, and to help her select her team for the race. And Aliy’s isn’t the only familiar name in the race. Longtime Iditarod mushers Jessie Royer and Gerry Willomitzer are also in the race, probably for the same reason as Aliy, warming up, without tiring out, their Iditarod teams.

But there were some lesser known names that were familiar to me, that I don’t expect to see at the Iditarod.

From a 2009 Yukon Quest post: “Yuka Honda (24), the Japanese school teacher, scratched at the Mile 101, another victim of Eagle Summit. She spent nearly 32 hours on the trail from Central to Mile 101 getting over the mountain. She made an attempt to climb Rosebud, but had to turn around.”

Ms Honda’s experience is why it takes almost a day longer to go from Whitehorse to Fairbanks than in the reverse direction, and no doubt is why she is in the 300 instead of the Quest. That Eagle Summit – Rosebud climb at the end of the race is brutal.

But the real surprise was another individual I talked about on that same Quest: “But the best is the reporter for the Yukon News who has been covering the Quest, Genesee Keevil, who plays the stand-up bass with Sasquatch Prom Date, a local band.”

Ms Keevil isn’t writing about the races, she is participating with a team of “waifs and strays”. I will miss her interesting take on sled dog racing. Actually, I’m a bit annoyed by the way the Canadian media seems to ignore the sport. There was a lot of coverage in 2009, but not much since.