Moderators: fladogfan, libby the lab, mira, mamamia, sc-race-fan
Team Anadyr has decided to scratch from the 2019 Yukon Quest. We believe wholeheartedly this is the best decision for the dogs. The team did AWESOME — they are all healthy and happy, honest and inspiring. But slow. It became apparent from the start the dogs were not properly prepared for the speed and rigors of the trail. My pre-race concern that the dogs were undertrained was validated by slower than normal travel speeds. I want to emphasize these are NOT slow dogs — several have competed in open class sprint races! The fault lies solely with their musher and training (or lack thereof). It has been a real challenge to balance operating my business and training. It’s disappointing to not finish something we worked so hard for, but those feelings are trumped by the knowledge I did right by the dogs. They don’t care about a finish line in Fairbanks; they just want to have fun !
We are happy and proud to end our race in beautiful Dawson City and want to extend a huge thank you to the volunteers and fans who showed up to welcome us in; it was overwhelming. Thanks to the race judges along the trail, especially to Amy and Donna, who were encouraging the entire way. My decision to scratch was in no way influenced by the race — the Yukon Quest organization has been nothing but honest and supportive. Thank you friends and fans for cheering us down the trail - I look forward to reading your comments in the coming days.
Extra big thanks to handlers Nils & Sarah. My biggest regret is not getting to fully use the beautiful shelter they worked so hard to construct ! (We moved the dogs to the truck so they could be with us at our hotel)
Overall, we had a ton of fun on the trail and are looking forward to coming back with a better conditioned dog team !
Allen said the dogs are doing great. They had some difficulty finding the trail to Slaven’s as it was blown-in so his lead was cut a bit because of that. But, the dogs are moving nicely, eating really well and have great attitudes.
Hans Gatt arrived in Circle at 11:47 this morning with a team of 10 after dropping three at Slaven's Dog Drop. Michelle Phillips came tearing into the checkpoint just over 10 minutes later at 11:59 with 11 on the line after dropping one at Slaven's.
Allen left Ironman with us – coming in to Dawson on Monday night Iron had a hitch in his get-along on the back leg / groin area and although Bridgett, Karolyn and Aliy worked on it for 36 hours, massaging and stretching, we ran out of time to get it back to rights. He won’t take long to recover but as Allen said “If I have to think about it at all then it’s a no”.
It was a very conservative ‘drop’ but it is not worth taking him knowing he is not quite right and risk turning it into a major injury. Iron helped the team for 500 miles, he enjoyed the Dog Camp experience and is no longer a Yukon Quest rookie! He will join his YQ200 buddies and head back to the kennel with us in the truck.
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