Category — Yukon Quest

The Quest starts tomorrow at 11:00AM PST [1PM CST] from Whitehorse with 25 mushers and 14 dogs per musher. The two fastest mushers for the two versions of the race are in the field. Hans Gatt, who has won the Quest four times, holds the record for the Fairbanks to Whitehorse trail of 9 days and 26 minutes. Sebastian Schnuelle, 2009 winner, holds the record for this year’s trail of 9 days, 23 hours, and 20 minutes.

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

It’s time for the Yukon Quest and this year it goes from Whitehorse to Fairbanks, the hard course. Don’t expect the race times to be close to last year’s pace because the worse bit of the trail is at the end when you go West, and the teams and mushers are tired.

Whitehorse 2089 feet [637 meters] Start
Braeburn 2326 feet [709 meters] 100 miles [161 km] 4 Hours + Start Offset Stop
Carmacks 1722 feet [525 meters] 77 miles [124 km]
Pelly Crossing 1558 feet [475 meters] 73 miles [117 km]
King Solomon’s Dome 4002 feet [1220 meters]
Dawson 1050 feet [320 meters] 202 miles [325 km] 36 Hour Stop
American Summit 3920 feet [1195 meters]
Eagle 880 feet [268 meters] 147 miles [237 km] 4 Hour Stop
Circle 597 feet [182 meters] 159 miles [256 km]
Central 435 feet [133 meters] 74 miles [119 km]
Eagle Summit 3685 feet [1123 meters]
Mile 101 2250 feet [686 meters] 33 miles [53 km]
Rosebud Summit 3640 feet [1109 meters]
Chena Hot Springs 750 feet [229 meters] 42 miles [68 km] 8 Hour Stop
Fairbanks 440 feet [134 meters] 45 miles[72 km] Finish

It is around 1000 miles [1600 kilometers].

The trail between Central and Chena Hot Springs checkpoints is really a nasty piece of work, going up and down two mountains at the end of the race. In the even years it is out of the way early while mushers and teams are fresh.

The race starts on Saturday.

The Yukon News has a nice article about Hans Gatt, who just won the Quest, and will be running in the Iditarod [March 6^th]. In addition to making the sleds used by most of the top long-distant mushers, the transplanted Austrian is a nice guy who was there at the finish line to welcome in Jocelyne LeBlanc when she arrived to accept the Red Lantern.

There are rumors that this is the last year that Hans will compete in the long-distant races.

Another winter sport is taking a lot of grief from people – curling. The sport started in Scotland in the 16^th century, so it was exactly designed for crowds, but it isn’t the seemingly simple sport that people assume. Nothing demonstrates that more than “The Shot” [YouTube video] made by Jennifer Jones in 2005. There is a graphic of it in her Wikipedia page.

What people don’t see unless they understand the sport is the necessity to calculate vector forces, as in billiards, and to adjust them by altering the friction of the ice in front of the stone as it moves. The sweepers are making the ice smoother or rougher to adjust the speed and rotation of the stone. It is a sport of finesse, not brute strength. You can’t be good at it if you failed high school physics, because it is really dependent on being able to use the laws of motion to get 40 pounds of granite to follow the path you need.

Here’s a nice site for the basics, using animation, and, as usual, Wikipedia tells you more than you probably want to know.

The Red Lantern goes to Jocelyne LeBlanc who, like first place Hans Gatt, is from Whitehorse. Jocelyne finished the race in 13 days 8 hours and 28 minutes. She has been racing since Dawson with only 7 dogs, but they were all going home.

Overall a very fast race, taking a day less than last year, with 22 of 24 teams finishing. Last year only 18 of 29 teams finished. Unfortunately the race was marred by the first death of dog, Bags on the Terry Williams team, since 2007.

The second biggest problem for the teams was plastic runners. Gerry Willomitzer scratched because of a problem on his sled, and both Cindy Barrand and Jennifer Raffaeli were penalized 30 minutes for getting help to fix their runners.

Update at 11:59PM CST. The Red Lantern is the last thing to be settled. Since Jocelyne LeBlanc is from Whitehorse, scratching wouldn’t have made much sense, dispite having to leave half her team behind.

At Whitehorse
17 Bart DeMarie (14)^R
18 Peter Fleck (24)^R
19 Jennifer Raffaeli (16)^R
20 Katie Davis (6)^R
21 Pierre-Antoine Heritier (19)^R
22 Jocelyne LeBlanc (8)^R

Official Yukon Quest links: Live Tracking, Current Standings, and Current News.

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Update at 10:00PM CST. Mike Ellis established another record for his purebred Siberian Husky team. Although Kelley Griffin had the last team with a payday at the end, people are still arriving.

Cindy Barrand brought in 13 of her original 14 dogs, but she and Jennifer Raffaeli both got 30 minute penalties for help with sled repairs.

Update: Terry Williams became the second scratch of the race when he pulled out at Carmacks. Just before his arrival, an 8-year-old dog, Bags, died. The initial autopsy indicates that the dog had a heart defect that wasn’t audible during screening. The dogs exhibited no signs of problems during three vet checks performed during the race. Williams was running a conservative race at the back, learning the trail, more than striving to win.

At Whitehorse
13 Mike Ellis (18)
14 David Dalton (3)
15 Kelley Griffin (15)
16 Cindy Barrand (9)^R
17 Bart DeMarie (14)^R
18 Peter Fleck (24)^R
19 Jennifer Raffaeli (16)^R

Beyond Braeburn
20 Katie Davis (6)^R
21 Pierre-Antoine Heritier (19)^R

At Braeburn
22 Jocelyne LeBlanc (8)^R

Official Yukon Quest links: Live Tracking, Current Standings, and Current News.

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the 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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Update at 11:30PM CST. Abbie and Normand finished the top 10 last night, and the last teams left Pelly early this morning. Jocelyne LeBlanc is down to 7 dogs on her team, which will definitely slow her down, and Pierre-Antoine Hertier seems to be having some difficulty on the trail out of Pelly, so the Red Lantern is far from certain.

At Whitehorse
9 Abbie West (1)^R
10 Normand Casavant (10)
11 Sam Deltour (4)^R
12 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
13 Mike Ellis (18)
14 David Dalton (3)
15 Kelley Griffin (15)

Beyond Braeburn
16 Cindy Barrand (9)^R

At Braeburn
17 Bart DeMarie (14)^R
18 Jennifer Raffaeli (16)^R
19 Peter Fleck (24)^R

Beyond Carmacks
20 Katie Davis (6)^R

[Read more →]

Update at 11:45PM CST. Zack, Ken, and Sonny finished with times that also broke last year’s record. Joshua Cadzow is the first Rookie in. Good weather and a fast trail led to these times and the low attrition rate.

At Whitehorse
4 Zack Steer (2)
5 Ken Anderson (17)
6 Sonny Linder (20)
7 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R
8 Brent Sass (12)
9 Abbie West (1)^R

Beyond Braeburn
10 Normand Casavant (10)
11 Sam Deltour (4)^R
12 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
13 Mike Ellis (18)
14 David Dalton (3)

At Braeburn
15 Kelley Griffin (15)

Beyond Carmacks
16 Cindy Barrand (9)^R

[Read more →]

Update at 8:00PM CST. Hans Gatt has won his fourth Yukon Quest with a new record, arriving 9 days 1 hour 38 minutes after the start of the race. [Official race time and new record: 9 days and 26 minutes.] Lance Mackey is on track to be second and Hugh Neff third.

At Whitehorse
1 Hans Gatt (13)
2 Lance Mackey (11) +1:03
3 Hugh Neff (23) +2:43

Beyond Braeburn
4 Ken Anderson (17)
5 Zack Steer (2)

At Braeburn
6 Sonny Linder (20)
7 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R
8 Brent Sass (12)
9 Abbie West (1)^R

Beyond Carmacks
10 Normand Casavant (10)
11 Sam Deltour (4)^R
12 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
13 David Dalton (3)

[Read more →]

The current record of 9 days 23 hours and 20 minutes, was set last year by Sebastian Schnuelle on Day 11. At the rate the leaders are going they could knock almost a day off that record.

Gerry Willomitzer (5) decided to scratch because he couldn’t get the plastic runners [like skis] to fit properly on his sled. The runners are designed to slide on and slide off, so you can change them for different conditions. Apparently Gerry had either a bad set of runners, or his sled is warped, but in either case going on would have worn out the dogs for no good reason.

Many of the top mushers use the $3K+ aircraft aluminum sleds built by Hans Gatt, currently running third. This is not an inexpensive sport to enter, especially when you consider feeding up to 14 dogs for two weeks, as well as the $200/dog for harness, coat, and booties.

Update at 11:30PM CST. The leaders are evenly spaced across 59 minutes. This is the endgame. They are at Braeburn for the mandatory rest stop, and then the sprint to Whitehorse. The leaders are more than a day ahead of pre-race predictions.

At Braeburn
1 Hans Gatt (13)
2 Lance Mackey (11)
3 Hugh Neff (23)

Beyond Carmacks
4 Zack Steer (2)
5 Ken Anderson (17)

At Carmacks
6 Sonny Linder (20)

Beyond Pelly Crossing
7 Brent Sass (12)
8 Abbie West (1)^R
9 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R

At Pelly Crossing
10 Normand Casavant (10)

[Read more →]

Update at 11:30PM CST. Gerry Willomitzer, a personal favorite, became the first musher to scratch from the Quest. He left Dawson and then returned. apparently the team didn’t want to race. Hans had a 40 minute lead on Lance and Hugh after Scroggie Creek. Lance and Hugh are running together and Hans is 40 minutes behind.

Beyond Pelly Crossing
1 Lance Mackey (11)
2 Hugh Neff (23)
3 Hans Gatt (13)

Beyond Scroggie Creek
4 Ken Anderson (17)
5 Zack Steer (2)
6 Brent Sass (12)
7 Sonny Linder (20)

At Scroggie Creek
8 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R

Beyond Dawson
9 Abbie West (1)^R
10 Normand Casavant (10)
11 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
12 Sam Deltour (4)^R
13 Kelley Griffin (15)
14 David Dalton (3)
15 Mike Ellis (18)
16 Cindy Barrand (9)^R

[Read more →]

Update at 11:30PM CST. Hans Gatt left as soon as he was able, knowing that Hugh Neff would be leaving 2½ hours later, and Lance Mackey 20 minutes after that. The times are adjusted to eliminate the staggered starting times, which is why Hugh gets to leave before Lance.

Beyond Dawson
1 Hans Gatt (13)
2 Hugh Neff (23)
3 Lance Mackey (11)
4 Zack Steer (2)
5 Ken Anderson (17)
6 Brent Sass (12)
7 Sonny Linder (20)
8 Abbie West (1)^R

At Dawson
9 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R
10 Gerry Willomitzer (5)
11 Normand Casavant (10)
12 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
13 Sam Deltour (4)^R
14 David Dalton (3)
15 Kelley Griffin (15)
16 Mike Ellis (18)
[Read more →]

Update at 11:30PM CST. The “half-time” has begun with the leaders resting until tomorrow morning. Sleep will be the number one item on the agendas of the mushers and dogs, because it has been in short supply on the trail to Dawson, and will be in shorter supply on the rush to Whitehorse.

At Dawson
1 Hans Gatt (13)
2 Lance Mackey (11)
3 Hugh Neff (23)
4 Zack Steer (2)
5 Ken Anderson (17)
6 Brent Sass (12)
7 Sonny Linder (20)
8 Abbie West (1)^R
9 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R
10 Gerry Willomitzer (5)
11 Normand Casavant (10)
12 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
13 Sam Deltour (4)^R
14 David Dalton (3)
15 Kelley Griffin (15)
16 Mike Ellis (18)

[Read more →]