Signing in at McGrath Checkpoint – Tuesday 9:19pm
As a warm storm moves North, mushers are moving into 24 hour layovers in the Middle Kuskokwim area of McGrath, Takotna, and Ophir. Temperatures were above freezing as far north as Nome, with other coastal communities reaching close to the 40’s.
Luckily today, mushers were largely immune as they mushed in the last remnants of cooler air and clear skies they may see for awhile.
Pete and the Team arrived into Mcgrath just a few minutes after Dallas Seavey in 10th position at 9:07pm and left 2 minutes later with all 15 dogs in harness.
There are 7 teams within an hour of each other that are inbound to Takotna at this hour. It is still a bit unclear who is actually leading the race because of the differential from the staggered start. The last team out of the Starting line has no differential. Teams at the front of the pack have time added to their layover by the amount of mushers they are in front of the last musher. Martin Buser had over two hours added to his 24 hour layover.
Aaron Burmeister was the first of the Mushers into Takotna where a majority of Teams will spend their 24. Veteran Kaiser Fans remember that the Food, especially the pies, is outstanding, but the question of the night is where teams will layover. Speculation exists that some mushers may keep going towards Ophir to give them more even run legs on the way to the Yukon River checkpoint of Anvik.
I have a few photos coming in from McGrath as I write this, so Stay Tuned!!
