Category — Yukon Quest

This morning they are leaving the road behind and hopping on the Yukon River when they leave Circle. Hopefully the Yukon is frozen hard and not too bumpy. There are no roads until the other side of the American Summit in the Yukon Territory.

The Current Standings at 10:00PM CST ( 7:00PM AKST):

Beyond Circle
1 Michelle Phillips (11)
2 Brent Sass (15)
3 Allen Moore (4)
4 Cody Strathe (2)
5 Torsten Kohnert (9)
6 Nora Själin (6)^R
7 Ryne Olson (8)
At Circle
8 Jason Campeau (3)
9 Denis Tremblay (5)
10 Richie Beattie (1)
11 Pat Noddin (13)^R
12 Dave Dalton (10)
13 Chase Tingle (14)
14 Rob Cooke (12)
Beyond Central
15 Olivia Webster (7)^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.

Two over Rosebud stopping at the cabins on Steese Highway before heading up Eagle. Teams use 14 puppies on the Quest and the check points are few and far between, so the sleds are carrying more food weight than the Iditarod.

The Current

Standings at 10:00PM CST ( 7:00PM AKST):

Beyond Central
1 Brent Sass (15)
2 Michelle Phillips (11)
3 Allen Moore (4)
4 Jason Campeau (3)
5 Nora Själin (6)^R
At Central
6 Cody Strathe (2)
7 Torsten Kohnert (9)
8 Ryne Olson (8)
Beyond Mile 101
9 Denis Tremblay (5)
10 Richie Beattie (1)
11 Pat Noddin (13)^R
12 Dave Dalton (10)
13 Rob Cooke (12)
14 Chase Tingle (14)
At Mile 101
15 Olivia Webster (7)^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.

The race sneaked up on me by starting on the 1st. This year is the easy route with the Rosebud & Eagle climbs occurring while teams are still fresh. Only 15 teams running this year.

The Current Standings at 11:00PM CST ( 8:00PM AKST):
At Two Rivers
1 Jason Campeau (3)
Beyond Fairbanks
2 Richie Beattie (1)
3 Cody Strathe (2)
4 Allen Moore (4)
5 Denis Tremblay (5)
6 Nora Själin (6)^R
7 Olivia Webster (7)^R
8 Ryne Olson (8)
9 Torsten Kohnert (9)
10 Dave Dalton (10)
11 Michelle Phillips (11)
12 Rob Cooke (12)
13 Pat Noddin (13)^R
14 Chase Tingle (14)
15 Brent Sass (15)

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.

Fairbanks 440 feet [134 meters] Start
Two Rivers 1550 feet [472 meters] 72 miles [116 km]
Rosebud Summit 3640 feet [1109 meters]
Mile 101 Steese Highway 2250 feet [686 meters] 42 miles [68 km]
Eagle Summit 3685 feet [1123 meters]
Central 435 feet [133 meters] 33 miles [53 km]
Circle City 597 feet [182 meters] 74 miles [119 km]
Eagle 880 feet [268 meters] 159 miles [256 km]
American Summit 3920 feet [1195 meters]
Dawson City 1050 feet [320 meters] 147 miles [237 km]
King Solomon’s Dome 4002 feet [1220 meters]
Pelly Crossing 1558 feet [475 meters] 202 miles [325 km]
Carmacks 1722 feet [525 meters] 73 miles [117 km]
Braeburn 2326 feet [709 meters] 77 miles [124 km]
Whitehorse 2089 feet [637 meters] 100 miles [161 km] Finish

The total distance is approximately 1000 miles [1600 kilometers]

[Two Rivers is also called Chena Hot Springs.]

[Read more →]

The Awards Banquet was held Saturday night.

Brent Sass was the big winner as he took First place, the two ounces of gold for being first into Dawson, The Vets Award for dog care for bringing all of the puppies he started with to Fairbanks. His lead dogs, Jeep & Sluice, took the Golden Harness for their race conduct.

Hans Gatt came in second and won handmade beaver mittens from the Selkirk First Nation for being first into Pelly Crossing.

Remy Leduc won the Challenge of the North Award, beaded beaver mittens, for exemplifying the spirit of the race.

Rob Cooke won the Sportsmanship Award, a beaver lined hat, primarily for his action on Eagle Summit.

Martin Apayauq Reitan took Rookie of the Year honors, a handcrafted scrimshaw knife, for being the first rookie to finish.

Hendrik Stachnau took home the Red Lantern, presented to the race’s last official finisher.

People should remember that more people have climbed Mount Everest than have finished the Yukon Quest.

There is a short piece covering the battles to get over Eagle Summit in this race.

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
[Read more →]

Strange – yesterday the standings and tracker showed Misha Wiljes (17) was beyond Central, but this morning the tracker has her back at Central.

Okay, It becomes clear. There’s a storm currently over Eagle and Rosebud summits and visibility is near zero. Everyone is waiting for the storm to pass. Misha must have turned back rather that camping out in a blizzard. No one is going anywhere until the storm passes.

In addition to weather problems, Misha Wiljes had a five-year-old male dog, Joker, die yesterday. The initial necropsy determined the cause of Joker’s death to be aspiration, i.e. inhaling food, a too common problem with large breed dogs

Update: At 10:30AM CST the weather isn’t forecast to improve until Noon local time, 3PM CST. Brian, Dave, & Martin are the only teams likely to move this morning as Two Rivers and Fairbanks are not affected by the storm. Sled dogs generally refuse to move with wind in their face, and will lay down and curl up to wait out storms.

Update: At 1PM CST the teams at Mile 101 and Central decided to move as groups to get everyone over the mountains. Rob Cooke and the Siberians are leading out of Mile 101 to tackle Rosebud, while Hendrik Stachnau with the Malamutes and Greenland dogs will break trail to Eagle Summit.

Martin Apayauq Reitan is on his way to Fairbanks and first place among the rookies. His brother, Vebjørn Aishana Reitan, was last year’s Rookie of the Year.

Update: At 3:20PM CST the teams from Central are at the top of Eagle Summit.

Because of everything going on, I’m moving all of the updates to a separate post.

Update: Everyone is moving again at 1PM CST. The order is from Live Tracking as the Standings are woefully behind.

The Current Standings at 9:00PM CST (6:00PM 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)8
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)
Beyond Two Rivers
14 Martin Apayauq Reitan (10)^R
15 Dave Dalton (12)
At Two Rivers
16 Deke Naaktgeboren (25)^R
17 Jason Biasetti (27)^R
18 Rob Cooke (30)
19 Andrew Pace (19)
20 Curt Perano (29)
Beyond Mile 101
21 Remy Leduc (4)^R
22 Laura Allaway (24)^R
23 Chase Tingle (22)^R
At Mile 101
24 Isabelle Travadon (9)^R
25 Jim Lanier (13)^R
26 Misha Wiljes (17)
27 Hendrik Stachnau (20)^R
[Read more →]

The Current Standings at 8:00PM CST (5:00PM 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)
Beyond Two Rivers
10 Nathaniel Hamlyn (11)
11 Ryne Olson (21)
12 Cody Strathe (28)
At Two Rivers
13 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
Beyond Mile 101
14 Dave Dalton (12)
15 Martin Apayauq Reitan (10)^R
At Mile 101
16 Curt Perano (29)
17 Deke Naaktgeboren (25)^R
18 Jason Biasetti (27)^R
19 Andrew Pace (19)
20 Rob Cooke (30)
Beyond Central
21 Misha Wiljes (17)
At Central
22 Jim Lanier (13)^R
23 Chase Tingle (22)^R
24 Isabelle Travadon (9)^R
25 Remy Leduc (4)^R
26 Laura Allaway (24)^R
27 Hendrik Stachnau (20)^R
[Read more →]

Looks like Brent is coming in with his entire team of 14 puppies. Brent finished at 3:40PM CST (12:40AM AKST).

The Current Standings at 8:30PM CST (5:30PM AKST):

Finished At Fairbanks
1 Brent Sass (3)
2 Hans Gatt (2)
3 Allen Moore (26)
4 Michelle Phillips (8)
Beyond Two Rivers
5 Matt Hall (7)
6 Paige Drobny (23)
At Two Rivers
7 Denis Tremblay (1)
8 Torsten Kohnert (5)
Beyond Mile 101
9 Jessie Royer (18)
At Mile 101
10 Nathaniel Hamlyn (11)
11 Ryne Olson (21)
12 Cody Strathe (28)
Beyond Central
13 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
At Central
14 Martin Apayauq Reitan (10)^R
15 Curt Perano (29)
16 Dave Dalton (12)
17 Jason Biasetti (27)^R
Beyond Circle
18 Rob Cooke (30)
19 Andrew Pace (19)
20 Deke Naaktgeboren (25)^R
21 Jim Lanier (13)^R
22 Chase Tingle (22)^R
23 Misha Wiljes (17)
24 Isabelle Travadon (9)^R
At Circle
25 Remy Leduc (4)^R
26 Laura Allaway (24)^R
27 Hendrik Stachnau (20)^R
[Read more →]

At 9:30PM CST Brent is about 4.5 miles from Two Rivers. He should be in Fairbanks tomorrow.

The Current Standings at 9:25PM CST (6:25PM AKST):

Beyond Mile 101
1 Brent Sass (3)
2 Allen Moore (26)
3 Hans Gatt (2)
4 Michelle Phillips (8)
Beyond Central
5 Paige Drobny (23)
At Central
6 Denis Tremblay (1)
7 Matt Hall (7)
Beyond Circle
8 Nathaniel Hamlyn (11)
9 Ryne Olson (21)
10 Torsten Kohnert (5)
11 Jessie Royer (18)
At Circle
12 Cody Strathe (28)
13 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
14 Martin Apayauq Reitan (10)^R
15 Curt Perano (29)
16 Dave Dalton (12)
Beyond Eagle
17 Jason Biasetti (27)^R
18 Deke Naaktgeboren (25)^R
19 Andrew Pace (19)
20 Rob Cooke (30)
21 Chase Tingle (22)^R
22 Misha Wiljes (17)
23 Isabelle Travadon (9)^R
24 Jim Lanier (13)^R
25 Remy Leduc (4)^R
26 Laura Allaway (24)^R
27 Hendrik Stachnau (20)^R

[Read more →]

The entire field is in Alaska this morning.

The Current Standings at 9:30PM CST (6:30PM AKST):

Beyond Circle
1 Brent Sass (3)
2 Allen Moore (26)
3 Hans Gatt (2)
4 Michelle Phillips (8)
At Circle
5 Paige Drobny (23)
6 Matt Hall (7)
Beyond Eagle
7 Denis Tremblay (1)
8 Ryne Olson (21)
9 Torsten Kohnert (5)
10 Nathaniel Hamlyn (11)
11 Jessie Royer (18)
12 Martin Apayauq Reitan (10)^R
13 Cody Strathe (28)
14 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
15 Curt Perano (29)
16 Jason Biasetti (27)^R
17 Deke Naaktgeboren (25)^R
18 Dave Dalton (12)
19 Andrew Pace (19)
20 Rob Cooke (30)
21 Chase Tingle (22)^R
22 Misha Wiljes (17)
23 Isabelle Travadon (9)^R
24 Jim Lanier (13)^R
At Eagle
25 Hendrik Stachnau (20)^R
26 Remy Leduc (4)^R
27 Laura Allaway (24)^R
[Read more →]

Jimmy Lebling (6)^R and Olivia Webster (15)^R made the decision to scratch at Dawson. Lisbet Norris (14)^R also decided to scratch at Dawson.

The Current Standings at 7:00PM CST (5:00PM PST):

Beyond Eagle
1 Allen Moore (26)
2 Brent Sass (3)
3 Hans Gatt (2)
4 Michelle Phillips (8)
5 Paige Drobny (23)
6 Matt Hall (7)
7 Denis Tremblay (1)
8 Ryne Olson (21)
At Eagle
9 Nathaniel Hamlyn (11)
10 Torsten Kohnert (5)
Beyond Dawson
11 Martin Apayauq Reitan (10)^R
12 Jessie Royer (18)
13 Cody Strathe (28)
14 Curt Perano (29)
15 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
16 Jason Biasetti (27)^R
17 Deke Naaktgeboren (25)^R
18 Rob Cooke (30)
19 Andrew Pace (19)
20 Dave Dalton (12)
21 Isabelle Travadon (9)^R
22 Misha Wiljes (17)
23 Chase Tingle (22)^R
24 Hendrik Stachnau (20)^R
25 Jim Lanier (13)^R
26 Laura Allaway (24)^R
27 Remy Leduc (4)^R
[Read more →]

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
[Read more →]