IditaProject Forum

Travis Beals coming into Unk

Hah. I thought the team looked OK coming in - not outstanding, but pretty good. And then he stops to sign in and the dogs are yelling and screaming and jumping in their harnesses. ))

Looks like he stopped for 2.5 hours about 2/3rds of the way from Kaltag, then leapfrogged all the teams ahead of him who rested longer along the way.

And hey - look at Ramey Smyth! I noticed back before Nikolai and he seemed way off the pace - and he just jumped into the top ten.

Nikolai - 21st
ID - 19th
Shageluk - 21st
Grayling - 12th
Kaltag - 16th....
Unk - 10th.

Travis, talking about his lead dog:

They kind of wondered what we were doing there a couple of times, but you give them some love here [and they'll be ok]. And Fidget, she assures me we're going to get there.

Some of the younger leaders I've been using weren't quite as sure of my plans, but Fidget really stepped up. I haven't been running her in lead the whole race for the reason that I knew at some point she was going to be the dog to get it done.



* * * *

Bruce Lee says he's really excited about the whole group - Pete, Ritchie, Linwood.... Could have a real battle leaving White Mtn.

OK, last one and then I'm to bed:

Katherine Keith at Eagle Island:

I'm loving being out here. It's great that we've got so much snow - way better than rocks and sand. We're just plugging along. I'm trying to follow the lead of the dogs for my run/rest schedule that they seem to be preferring and we're having fun.

Says she stopped there because she's never done the southern route and wanted to check out Eagle Island.

Team are doing really well. Very happy with leaders - this little guy who's the misfit of the team, but he manages to drag them all the way across the state singlehandedly. They have great attitude, strong dogs to pull the heavy sled.

I love being out here - the miles you get away from the city, you can shed all the stuff... Great to be out here, enjoying the night sky. And I just get more relaxed as the race goes on. I *am* being competitive, but we're where we want to be. We wait for it all year.

Q: Anything memorable?

I got to use my snowshoes! For the first time in a dog race, so that was extremely memorable - trying to break trail for a couple of snowmachiners <laughs>. That was really fun. It felt kind of old-school.


* * *

Cody Strathe was describing his most challenging run - between ID and Shageluk. He only left ten minutes after Lars, but the trail was blown in as soon as they left the treeline and he couldn't see Lars' tracks. He said they were in white out conditions but the dogs did great finding the markers and finding the trail. He said you'd see them step off the side of the firm trail (under two feet of snow) and drop down, so they'd veer back onto the firmer stuff, and then go off the other side, and veer back again. He said it was amazing to watch, but very hard on the dogs, so eventually he stopped and camped because they were getting tired. He didn't want to, but it was the right thing to do, and he carries food, so he could.

Bit worried about Rob Cooke - he's been stalled about 30 miles past Kaltag for about 18 hours now. From the blips on the tracker, it looks like he might have tried to get them moving after 4 hours, but they only went a short distance before turning back. His tracker is wiggling right now, so maybe he's going to try and get them going again.

He has 12 siberians.

elsietee wrote:Bit worried about Rob Cooke - he's been stalled about 30 miles past Kaltag for about 18 hours now. From the blips on the tracker, it looks like he might have tried to get them moving after 4 hours, but they only went a short distance before turning back. His tracker is wiggling right now, so maybe he's going to try and get them going again.

He has 12 siberians.

Eeek. Not good.

Thx for the post, Elsie.

Bum. It looks like Rob's now making his way back towards Kaltag at 5.4 mph - so under his own steam.

Rats.

oh boo,
I like him, hope all are OK health wise

Oh no. He's sure had a rough race. Have to go somewhere in a bit - missing some action tonight.