Andy Pohl and Kristy B
That was a lot of dogs in the chute - 10 each.
Andy:
"Q: How was the honeymoon?
A: Hah! We're waiting to get to the golden sands of the beaches in Nome.
Q: Was it fun to run with your wife?
A: Yes, I wouldn't do it with anyone else. I think the highs and the lows going through the whole process of running the trail - through the good weather, the bad weather, the sleep deprivation... best of all was travelling with my wife, Kristy Berington. "
Kristy:
Anna there to greet her - "Good job Kristy!"
K: "Andyand I have the same pace and do everything similar whether they're just small things that aren't easily compatible, but we knew going into it that we were just travelling and enjoying it, and using it as our honeymoon.
Q: And a good way to see if it's going to work? <laughs>
K: Oh yah - and the dogs like him too, so ...
I'm really proud of Anna for how well she did with our A team. "
* * * *
Charlie Bejna
One of his lead dogs got scared coming in and stalled and they nearly balled up, but the others got him going again.
They were sleepy dogs.
"We had trouble the whole way. I had some dogs come into heat, and some dogs that liked to chew ganglines and neck lines and tug lines, and then I had sled problems [there was a vid of him mid-race trying to piece his leg back together after it broke] ... and then deep snow. It seemed like every day was a challenge. And we finished and that was our main goal".
* * *
Aaron Peck:
"You'd come into checkpoints not knowing how long you were going to be there, or if you'd even get to leave... It was ups and downs for sure"
He had at least one baby at the finish, who rode on the front of his sled over to the dog yard.
* * *
Emily Maxwell:
So bundled up, it took her several minutes to take off all her hats.
"They did great! OMG, I'm so freaking proud of them!
...a few times we were on the right side of the weather and a few times the wrong side. We were stuck at Don's Cabin for something like 13 hours. But we were with other friends who are mushers, so it was fine. The dogs got some rest anyway.
It's so beautiful out there. And after 4-5 days, you're really in tune and "with" the dogs, it was a really good feeling"
* * *
ANdy Nolan:
"It was pretty bad. We got lost a couple of times, but made it through"
(shell shock?
)
* * *
Cody:
"It was a pretty cool year. We had lots of challenges and some of them the dogs did great at, and others we learned what we need to work on.
After Shak, out on the sea ice, there was no trail and it was pretty wild - and the dogs just excelled. It was pretty awesome. Great to see the leaders work through that stuff".
* * *
Martin:
"If you looked at my incredible times, they were unprecedented - they were unprecedentedly slow. I thought I was driving siberians again. It was pretty incredible. I have no idea what happened. I was consistent once we hit the coast - consistently slow. "
* * *