IditaProject Forum

Fairbanks to Nenana; distance of 51 miles, from Pike’s to the Nenana railroad depot. The trail is all on the river. Hard, flat, easy going.
From Nenana on, You’re now following the original 1925 serum run. “ Great Race of Mercy”. 1st a listing of the original mushers is appropriate: “Wild Bill” Shannon, Dan Green, Johnny Folger, Sam Joeseph, Titus Nickolai, Dan Corning, Edgar Kalland, Harry Pitka, Bill McCarty, Edgar Nollner, George Nollner, Charlie Evans, Tom Patsy, Jack Nicolai “Jackscrew”, Victor Anagick, Myles Gonangnan, Henry Ivanoff, Lenard Seppala, Charlie Olsen, and Gunnar Kaasen.

Thanks libby. That explains a lot. Just been looking at gps and many teams are travelling at speeds of 10 mph.

Two mushers resting. Ryan Reddington at 46 and Wade Mars at 42.

Ryan running.

Ramy smith resting at mile 36.

Wade resting at 42.

Justin High resting at 41. Wade resting at 42.

My early observation is the trackers are very sensitive as to when they register rest. I think when they snack dogs we are getting a rest signal???

Ramey Smyth is one of my perennial favorites so I went looking for him on the tracker. What I saw was interesting. As this pack of mushers jockies for position on the trail he has slowed his team way down. Wearing bib number 44 he is now traveling with the 60's. I don't think there is anything wrong and I'm not worried. I think this is some kind of early race strategy and I will be interested to see what he is up to. Over the years he has proven that he is a consumate dogman and has highly tuned instincts when it comes to managing a team. I've seen him do amazing things so this should be interesting.

Dallas is doing something similar. Wearing bib #18 he has fallen back to position 25. The front runners are averaging speeds of 9+mph and Dallas and Ramey are averaging 7+ mph. It looks like they are deliberately slowing their teams and are happy to let other teams pass them. What do you think the temps are on the river in the heat of the day? Will they stop in Nenanna or go through and camp? The next checkpoint is a long way away. My bet is on camping and setting their team's internal clock to run with the natural dogs' rhythm.

My Montana gal is showing her stuff!

Thanks for the observations mamamia. Someone somewhere said the trail was more suitable for running Quest style and that meant slower speeds. Wish I could remember who said that. Only on my first coffee Anyway, maybe Dallas and Ramey are strategising on that comment.