Yukon Quest Thread

[emwcee]

I thought I'd start a general Yukon Quest Discussion Thread, so we could share general thoughts throughout the race. I am excited to see Jessie Royer in the lead so far. I know she was first out, so that gives her an advantage, which will eventually be made up. But as far as I'm concerned, she can just keep the lead the whole time. It sure would be cool to have a woman win the Quest again.

[elsietee]

Trackers -

Was looking at the tracker, trying to figure out who was on break and who was still moving and found a quick way to do it - click on "Mobile View" and it takes you to a table that shows musher mileage and current mph. You can sort it by any of the columns, but if you sort it by route mile, it shows you who's stopped near who.

Currently Brent is up front, but just stopped, and Paige is about to take the lead.


Edited to add: this doesn't work on the phone, since it cuts off the "mph" column

[libby the lab]

Let the season begin- I secured Duck Fart ingredients today!

[elsietee]

Checking in before I go to bed. These are the "standings" a bit before midnight Yukon time.

Hugh Neff 92.4 mi
Yuka Honda 85.1 mi
Allen Moore 77.7 mi
Paige Drobny 76.2 mi
Brent Sass 75.9 mi
Matt Hall 75.2 mi
Katherine Keith 73.3 mi
Torsten Kohnert 71.8 mi
Ed Hopkins 70.1 mi
Dave Dalton 69.3 mi
Ryne Olson 67.6 mi

• Hugh is in Braeburn, having done a mammoth 92 mile/10+ hour run straight there. It looks like he stopped a couple of time to snack the dogs.
• Yuka Honda seems to be racing - something I've never seen her do before. She stopped for only 3:15 at around 48 miles/5.5 hours and set off again in second place.
• Allen, currently in third went for 7 hours, rested for 3 hours
• Paige ran for about 6.5 hours, rested 4 hours and is in fourth
• Brent ran just shy of 6 hours and rested four hours (which seems nicely cautious)
• Matt Hall ran 6 hours and then rested a little less than 3 hours (hmm - overly short resting? I don't know if his initial "speed" at Copper Basin 300 was from speed or short rest. But it didn't work for him)
• Kat Keith ran 6.5 hours (but seemed to take a long time - 15 mins? - at the second-sled-drop at 12 miles) and rested 3 hours
• Torsten ran 5 hours and rested 3.5
• Ed Hopkins only ran 5.5 hours - and then rested nearly 4.5... he's a stand out in that respect
• Ryne ran 6, rested 4+

The rest of the field do not appear to be racing.

Of note, Jessie ran 5.5 hours and appears to have rested 7 hours?... not sure if her tracker's acting up or what. Her tracker woke up and moved 1.6 miles at 2.8 mph... Hoping she isn't having some kind of problem? She's back at 56 miles, with only Ed and Laura behind her.

Edited to add - she now appears to be moving normally. Wonder if she broke something and needed to stay longer to make repairs?

[elsietee]

Hugh said in his interview in Braeburn that there wasn't a lot of snow on the first part of the trail.
He says his dogs were nuts during the day, but kicked it into gear at night, so that's why he did his longer run - to try and mellow them out. It didn't work - he has a dog in heat.

[elsietee]

Heartily recommend Matt Hall's FB page - https://www.facebook.com/SmokinAceKenne ... ref=SEARCH - being run, I believe, by his girlfriend Amanda(?). Good commentary on the entire race.

[fladogfan]

Thanks elsie, always good to wake up with info waiting to be read.

@6:26am EST most of the pack is in Braeburn or soon will be.
Brent Sass is at mile 116.0 running 8.8mph
Allen Moore mile 106.4 not running 0.0mph
Brian Wilmshurst mile 100.6 9.1mph
Hugh Neff mile 95.8 8.0mph
Laura Neese and Ed Strielstra should soon be in Braeburn and the rest are already there.

JeanieB when you get here today I hope you have some time to explain how busy the first checkpoint is with both the 1000 and 300 teams coming and going.
3 of the 300 teams have arrived in Braeburn, Aliy, Marcelle and Michelle.

[fladogfan]

Heartily recommend Matt Hall's FB page - https://www.facebook.com/SmokinAceKenne ... ref=SEARCH - being run, I believe, by his girlfriend Amanda(?). Good commentary on the entire race.

Thanks elsie. It's good.

[Moose]

From the SmokinAce FB page, four hours ago:

We're starting to hear a few harrowing stories circulating the checkpoint as mushers roll in about a technical section of trail. Apparently there was a steep bank with cut out trail that was preceded by a blind S-curve. Hit wrong, it sent the team, sled down & musher barreling down a 200' embankment riddled with trees. Matt came up to this section with a couple other mushers to find a musher struggling to right his team and sled and climb back up to the trail. This is why you devoted mushing heads saw all the trackers go idle for about 15-20 minutes 15 miles out of the start shoot. Once Matt and the other mushers were able to get the other team back on track, they were able to tip toe through this dicey section of trail. The Smokin' Ace's luckily came out of it unscathed.

[elsietee]

yes - this was the area up near the Tahini Bridge - the place we thought they were dropping off their second sleds. So much for that theory.

(apparently they dropped off their second sleds after a mile from the start).