Category — Yukon Quest

Today was a ‘massacre’ in the 300. Simi Morrison ((58), Dave King (57), and Jake Berkowitz (61) scratched at Carmacks. Jim Bruton (69) was withdrawn, probably for failing to make progress. The stunner was a rookie mistake by Marcelle Fressineau (63) that got her disqualified. She didn’t get the mandatory vet check at Braeburn.

Michelle has a lead over Aliy as they once again vie for the win with 50 miles to go.

The Current Standings at 4:00PM CST (2:00PM PST):

Beyond Pelly Crossing
1 Michelle Phillips (54)
2 Aliy Zirkle (55)
Beyond Carmacks
3 Alex Serdjukov (68)
4 Martine Le Levier (53)
5 Timofei Gynuntegin (51)
6 Olaf Thurau (56)
7 Claudia Wickert (60)
8 Gaetan Pierrard (64)
9 Kim Franklin (59)
10 Alexandra Rochat (62)
11 Peter Reuter (65)

The race on with the ‘usual suspects’ at the front: Allen, Hugh, and Brent. The Pelly Crossing checkpoint marks the first quarter of the race – only 750 miles to go.

Update: Scott Smith (15) and Tamra Reynolds (6)^R have scratched at Carmacks ‘for the good of the teams’ – the puppies weren’t happy. With the extreme temperatures, many sled dogs are smarter than their musher about survival and won’t run, preferring to lay down in a tight circle with their tails over their faces.

Tony Angelo (10)^R and Matt Hall (25) have also scratched

The Current Standings at 10:00PM CST (8:00PM PST):

Beyond Pelly Crossing
1 Brent Sass (2)
2 Hugh Neff (26)
3 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (18)
4 Jeff King (9)
5 Allen Moore (1)
6 Cody Strathe (4)
7 Ray Redington Jr (19)^R
8 Ed Hopkins (20)
9 Lance Mackey (8)
10 Rolland Trowbridge (13)^R
11 Normand Casavant (3)
12 Torsten Kohnert (14)
[Read more →]

Alyssa Quale scratched at Braeburn, possibly because of the extreme cold on the trail coupled with wind chill.

The 300 data isn’t updated very often.

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

At Carmacks
1 Michelle Phillips (54)
2 Aliy Zirkle (55)
Beyond Braeburn
3 Marcelle Fressineau (63)
4 Timofei Gynuntegin (51)
5 Martine Le Levier (53)
6 Alex Serdjukov (68)
7 Gaetan Pierrard (64)
8 Claudia Wickert (60)
9 Kim Franklin (59)
10 Alexandra Rochat (62)
11 Jake Berkowitz (61)
12 Simi Morrison ((58)
13 Olaf Thurau (56)
14 Peter Reuter (65)
15 Dave King (57)
Beyond Whitehorse
16 Jim Bruton (69)

Lots of changes this morning as the people who are taking the 6-hour stop in Carmacks blew through Braeburn. The real order will be obvious after Carmacks.

The Current Standings at 10:00PM CST (8:00PM PST):

Beyond Carmacks
1 Hugh Neff (26)
2 Jeff King (9)
3 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (18)
4 Allen Moore (1)
5 Brent Sass (2)
At Carmacks
6 Matt Hall (25)
7 Cody Strathe (4)
8 Scott Smith (15)
9 Ray Redington Jr (19)^R
10 Ed Hopkins (20)
11 Lance Mackey (8)
12 Dave Dalton (11)
13 Torsten Kohnert (14)
14 Brian Wilmshurst (17)
15 Nicholas Vanier (5)^R
16 Mike Ellis (22)
[Read more →]

At the end of the first day the only change from the start positions is Jeff King’s arrival in Braeburn. The tracking shows a lot of change, but those changes won’t be reflected until the teams arrive at the checkpoint.

The Current Standings at 11:00PM CST (9:00PM PST):

At Braeburn
1 Jeff King (9)
Beyond Whitehorse
2 Allen Moore (1)
3 Brent Sass (2)
4 Normand Casavant (3)
5 Cody Strathe (4)
6 Nicholas Vanier (5)^R
7 Tamra Reynolds (6)^R
8 Damon Alexander Tedford (7)^R
9 Lance Mackey (8)
10 Tony Angelo (10)^R
[Read more →]

The YQ 300 also started today in Whitehorse, at 3PM PST [5PM CST]. This race only goes to Pelly Crossing with a finishing 50 mile loop.

Starting grid:

1 Timofei Gynuntegin (51)
2 Alyssa Quaile (52)
3 Martine Le Levier (53)
4 Michelle Phillips (54)
5 Aliy Zirkle (55)
6 Olaf Thurau (56)
7 Dave King (57)
8 Simi Morrison ((58)
9 Kim Franklin (59)
10 Claudia Wickert (60)
11 Jake Berkowitz (61)
12 Alexandra Rochat (62)
13 Marcelle Fressineau (63)
14 Gaetan Pierrard (64)
15 Peter Reuter (65)
16 Alex Serdjukov (68)
17 Jim Bruton (69)

Melissa Schenke (66) & Jacob Heigers (67) scratched in Whitehorse.

The Start is at 1:00PM CST (11:00AM PST) in Whitehorse, Yukon. The teams leave at 3 minute intervals, which is adjusted at the first mandatory stop. This means that the current positions aren’t meaningful until the last team finishes that stop.

The starting grid:

1 Allen Moore (1)
2 Brent Sass (2)
3 Normand Casavant (3)
4 Cody Strathe (4)
5 Nicholas Vanier (5)^R
6 Tamra Reynolds (6)^R
7 Damon Alexander Tedford (7)^R
8 Lance Mackey (8)
9 Jeff King (9)
10 Tony Angelo (10)^R
[Read more →]

The race starts next Saturday, February 7^th, in Whitehorse.

Whitehorse 2089 feet [637 meters] Start
Braeburn 2326 feet [709 meters] 100 miles [161 km]
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] 24 Hour Stop
American Summit 3920 feet [1195 meters]
Eagle 880 feet [268 meters] 147 miles [237 km] 6 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]
Two Rivers 750 feet [229 meters] 42 miles [68 km] 8 Hour Stop
Fairbanks 440 feet [134 meters] 45 miles[72 km] Finish

[Read more →]

They held the banquet on Saturday night and handed out the awards, most of which were known.

New this year is the presentation of custom-made knives to the first three finishers. Like some of the other awards, they are really useful to mushers.

Allen Moore was the big money winner, taking not only the share for first place, but the four ounces of gold nuggets for being the first team into Dawson that finished the race. The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation gave him a hand-made beaver hat, and Northwestel donated $1000 in his name to the charity of his choice, the Yukon Special Olympics.

Allen’s lead dog, Quito, received a custom-made golden harness and steak for her efforts.

Matt Hall was the second biggest winner, with custom knives for both his third place finish and a special version for being rookie of the year. He also took home a stained glass panel of the Quest’s Sitting Dog for the Challenge of the North Award, and $1000 in veterinary services for the Vet’s Choice Award.

Brian Wilmshurst was the last musher to cross finish line, but he won the Sportsman Award and took home a pair of hand-crafted gauntlets.

Since Brian wasn’t 8 hours behind Jerry Joiner, Jerry got the Red Lantern. Jerry joked that he had a couple of used sleds that he would sell cheap.

Since the race distributes the prize money to the first 15 teams, everyone who finished got a bit of cash back.

[Read more →]

They turned out the lights at Braeburn when Jerry Joinson left at around 4:30AM PST this morning with the Red Lantern. Eight hours will be added to Jerry’s finish time, so Jerry was pretty much assured of the Red Lantern if he finished.

Hank and the Siberians made it in at just before 8AM local with 11 puppies still pulling the sled, while Brian is making the final run with only 7 puppies still willing to haul the sled.

Mandy is leading the troika with 5 miles between the teams. She is running Brent Sass’s rookie team and doing a fine job bringing in 8 of the original 14 dogs. She is also the fourth of the five rookies who started the race to make it to the end – a good year for rookie mushers.

Mandy made it to the finish at about 2:40PM PST. It looks like Jerry will be next in, but after the 8-hour penalty he will end up with the Red Lantern.

Brian was the last finisher at about 3:45PM PST, but the penalty puts Jerry in last place. The race is over.

Standings at 5:50PM CST (3:50PM PST):

Finish
1 Allen Moore (8)
2 Hugh Neff (14)
3 Matt Hall (3)^R
4 Ken Anderson (6)
5 John Schandelmeier (17)
6 Torsten Kohnert (13)^R
7 Curt Perano (16)^R
8 Hank DeBruin (18)
9 Mandy Nauman (11)^R
10 Brian Wilmshurst (9)
11 Jerry Joinson (4) Φ

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

Curt Perano is about 20 miles out from finishing his race, which has been fairly solitary. Hank DeBruin and the Siberians are showing that they like the hills are are 20 miles from Braeburn and an 8-hour rest. The final troika have stopped for a rest about 20 miles behind Hank.

The temperature on the trail is warmer today which will help move things along.

Standings at 10:30PM CST (8:30PM PST):

Finish
1 Allen Moore (8)
2 Hugh Neff (14)
3 Matt Hall (3)^R
4 Ken Anderson (6)
5 John Schandelmeier (17)
6 Torsten Kohnert (13)^R
7 Curt Perano (16)^R
Beyond Braeburn
8 Hank DeBruin (18)
At Braeburn
9 Mandy Nauman (11)^R
10 Jerry Joinson (4)
11 Brian Wilmshurst (9)

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

Curt Perano is the only team not moving at 9AM, he’s camped on the trail midway between Carmacks and Braeburn. The Final Four are beyond McCabe’s Creek headed for Carmacks.

Hank and the Siberians arrived at Carmacks just before 1PM CST. The Quest Facebook page is using a picture of the team for their banner. The temperature on the trail between McCabe’s and Carmacks was -50°F – only mad dogs and mushers… After leaving McCabe’s both Jerry and Brian camped for a while to await the sun and warmer temperatures.

Ken and John should be at the finish around 2PM CST. Everyone is now moving, but there have been delays in the tracking – not even electrons want to move when it’s this cold.

Ken and John made it to the finish, in that order, and Hank, Mandy, and Brian are at Carmacks.

And then there is Jerry Joinson – would you believe he broke another sled. He is definitely the Red Lantern, because he is going to get 8-hours added to his arrival.

This year’s race will definitely fall in the category of ‘memorable’.

Standings at 11:30PM CST (9:30PM PST):

Finish
1 Allen Moore (8)
2 Hugh Neff (14)
3 Matt Hall (3)^R
4 Ken Anderson (6)
5 John Schandelmeier (17)
6 Torsten Kohnert (13)^R
At Braeburn
7 Curt Perano (16)^R
Beyond Carmacks
8 Hank DeBruin (18)
9 Brian Wilmshurst (9)
10 Mandy Nauman (11)^R
At Carmacks
11 Jerry Joinson (4)

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

Bashful, a member of Dave Dalton team, died on the trail yesterday. The cause of death hasn’t been determined. Dave scratched at Pelly.

Cody Strathe pushed the Assistance button on the tracker about 26 miles outside of Braeburn early this morning. The RCMP are heading to the area. Cody is automatically withdrawn from the race. John left Carmacks more than 8 hours after Cody and is still about an hour away from Cody according to the tracker.

UPDATE: The RCMP have reported that there are no ‘health issues’ with Cody or his team. This is confirmed by the fact that both John Schandelmeier and Ken Anderson have passed Cody’s position without stopping. I’m guessing he hit something and the sled is matchsticks. Most sleds these days are built primarily from aircraft aluminum, and it isn’t very flexible at -40°.

Update: I was wrong. and then wrong again. OK, Cody finally got to tell us what happened. Two of his eight dogs stopped and he tried moving with two dogs in the sled basket and only 6 pulling. The effort caused him to sweat, the sweat turned to ice, and he figured out that this was not going to work, so he called for help. That was very much the right call for him and the dogs.

At temperatures in the minus 40s, things can go very bad, very quickly, even with people, dogs, and equipment that are designed/experienced with the environment.

Standings at 11:30PM CST (9:30PM PST):

Finish
1 Allen Moore (8)
2 Hugh Neff (14)
3 Matt Hall (3)^R
At Braeburn
4 Ken Anderson (6)
5 John Schandelmeier (17)
6 Torsten Kohnert (13)^R
Beyond Carmacks
7 Curt Perano (16)^R
Beyond Pelly Crossing
8 Jerry Joinson (4)
9 Hank DeBruin (18)
10 Brian Wilmshurst (9)
11 Mandy Nauman (11)^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 selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Allen won the Quest at 5:12AM CST. Allen was probably going to win if Brent hadn’t had the accident. His team was just faster than Brent’s, and after an 8-hour rest they would be ready. Allen won the race to Carmacks and Braeburn, and made up the two and a half hour lead that Brent had coming out of Dawson.

Brent will win the Quest. He has a great team. If the way is clear to climb American Summit, 2015 will probably be his year. This year, on this course, Allen’s team was faster.

That said, the race among Allen, Brent, and Hugh made this a great race for fans.

Update: The back of the race is at Scroggie Creek with Jerry Joinson the only one ready to move at -40°F/C. Curt and Dave are at Stepping Stone waiting for the sun. John and Ken are moving, while Hugh is walking his puppies to the finish line, since no one is closer than Carmacks and his pack is probably still annoyed about his giving their snacks to Brent’s team yesterday.

The ‘Final Four’ are moving together. Today on the trail the order was Jerry, Mandy, Hank, and Brian. Hank caught up with them going over Solomon’s Dome outside of Dawson. I expect they will shift to race mode between Carmacks and Braeburn to avoid the Red Lantern.

Standings at 11:59PM CST (9:59PM PST):

Finish
1 Allen Moore (8)
2 Hugh Neff (14)
At Braeburn
3 Matt Hall (3)^R
Beyond Carmacks
4 Cody Strathe (10)
5 John Schandelmeier (17)
At Carmacks
6 Ken Anderson (6)
7 Torsten Kohnert (13)^R
Beyond Pelly Crossing
8 Curt Perano (16)^R
At Pelly Crossing
9 Dave Dalton (5)
Beyond Dawson
10 Jerry Joinson (4)
11 Mandy Nauman (11)^R
12 Brian Wilmshurst (9)
13 Hank DeBruin (18)

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