Wow. Last year the Yukon Quest was finished in record time with good trail and great weather. This year the weather turned on them - not unusual for the Quest - and provided many challenges to surmount and made Devan feel much better about staying home. The first half of the race was reasonably "easy" with mild temperatures and good trail. Once the mushers headed for the Alaska border, however, Mother Nature tried to turn them back hitting them with extreme cold temperatures and wind to boot. Hans Gatt, three time winner of the event, was pinned down on American Summit for many hours drenched in sweat and was rescued by Brent Sass whose team literally pulled Han's team over the summit. Hans, who generally carries minimal extra clothing, was hypothermic and was very fortunate Brent and his lead dog Silver arrived when they did.
Once the wind died down the temperatures plummeted to as low as -60 Fahrenheit and areas of overflow developed on the rivers and creeks which the trail follows. Many a musher and dog received an unwelcome dip in the cold waters of Alaska, some suffering frostbite as a result. Hans frost bit three fingers and was forced to scratch from the race.
The wind returned to confront the mushers as they approached the notorious Eagle Summit, an extremely steep climb - imagine New Hampshire's Tuckerman's ravine and think about driving a dog team up it - which has ended the finishing dreams of many. Hugh Neff who had led the race 700 miles from the start to Central, was summarily stopped in his tracks by the wind and hill causing an upheaval in the leadership of the race. Dallas Seavey, an Iditarod veteran, and rookie to the Quest would take full advantage of Hugh's trouble, and go on to win the race as the youngest to ever win the race.
Tamara, running seven of our youngsters, experienced all of the above and determinedly drove her team through all of it. She started the race with a terrible cold which forced her to take more rest early in the race than she may have planned, arriving in Dawson 18th out of the 23 starters. Wind on the Yukon River nearly caused her to scratch in Dawson, but she overcame that reluctance and continued on facing the cold and later the wind on Eagle Summit and finished in 10th place!
We were very proud of the race she ran and the dogs who made it home to Fairbanks. Weasley finished in lead followed by Wizard, Screamer, Skor, and Hooch. Muggles was dropped in Circle with a sore wrist and Grumpy in Dawson with a sore front end. Tamara said she was concerned about Hooch - running only her second race - during the first half but was very pleased how she managed the second half. All the dogs looked great at the finish but I think Hooch was the happiest, just bouncing around with unspent energy.
Misha also finished her Quest - the 300 - in fine form. She started the race in 22 position, arrived at the first checkpoint in 21st, second checkpoint 10th, and third and final checkpoints 7th! Resting more early in the race really paid off with a solid finish. She dropped two dogs - Tundra was tired and Jeff had a sore wrist - but they recovered quickly so all twelve are ready to roll for the Iditarod.
Now that the Quest is done we move on to final Iditarod preparations. Last week we shipped out over 1500 pounds of dog food and other supplies which will be distributed to the various checkpoints on the trail. This next week we will take 24 dogs to have pre-race ECG's (checking their hearts which we know are super-sized!) and draw blood to confirm their overall health and readiness for the race. Of course, now that all of my dogs are home from the Quest I need to get on the runners and decide who will be in my 16 for the race - always a complicated decision for me. I will need a solid core of leaders - Teva, Phoenix, Pistol, Athena, and Weasley are likely - and an enthusiastic, well conditioned group of team dogs to support them. So, I better get off this computer... time to run!
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