It’s been a busy day on the trail for the 2018 Kuskokwim 300. With all of the activity and photos and all of that, what’s been GOIN ON??
It’s a seriously tough trail and several Teams have decided that it was in their best interest to leave the trail and scratch from the race. So far four Teams, including Smyth, Burmeister, Sass, and Holmes are back in Bethel safe and sound. (Updated)
On the trail, Pete and his Team are leading the pack at this point, but unfortunately Pete’s tracker has also decided to scratch so we only know what we hear from the trail. Pete and the Team were into Bogus Creek at 9:55pm. He left with a 40 minute lead over Joar Liefseth-Ulsom who was just completing the last of his 6 hours of mandatory rest.
Teams will face one more 4 hour break in Tuluksak before the run to the Finish Line in Bethel. Pete was 29 minutes faster than Ulsom on the run from Bethel to Tuluksak. He took 2 hours 16 minutes to run up to Bogus, which when I spoke with him, he mentioned was in exceptional condition. The best section of the trail by far.
If the Team was in Bogus Creek at 9:55pm, that would put them back into Tuluksak at, say a bit past Midnight. Let’s say 12:15 for fun. Add a 4 hour rest allowing the Team to leave at 4:15 and a 5 hour run back to the finish. Pete should be back in the easy chair in time to watch the NFL Playoffs!!
Of course, like we will see shortly in an interview I got, anything can happen on this race and there really is still almost 1/4 of the race ahead.
In any case, the Team looked great in Bethel and although Pete had to leave 2 in Tuluksak, that still gives him 9 dogs in harness on the way back to Tuluksak.
Mushing Weather tonight-
…Dangerous Wind Chill Values of -40 F or lower for Sunday night...
Tonight, a disturbance dropping south along the coast will bring a reinforcing blast of cold air to the region. This may create dangerous wind chills of -30 to -40 F.
A 30 percent chance of snow before midnight. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around -14. Wind chill values as low as -35. Light northwest wind becoming north 10 to 15 mph after midnight.
