Good Morning Race Fans!
Welcome to the final Stretch!! Tomorrow this time we should be at the Burled Arches in Nome awaiting Team Kaiser to cross the Finish Line!
Early this morning after a good long 6:49 break to refresh after a long arduous journey through blizzards and wind, Team Kaiser left Koyuk bound for the final mandatory 8 hr break in White Mountain. After dropping a dog at the checkpoint, Pete left for Elim at 1:51am for the 48 mile run.
Weather is unchanged, cold and a chilly, but nothing like yesterday’s blizzard conditions.
This trail will be marked way better than virtually any of the previous Iditarod trail as it is a well used trail for villages headed to Nome.
Pete left Koyuk about an hour after Ray Redington Jr. giving the Team a good long break for the last legs into Nome. He is in a good position to finish in 5th position, but it is pretty early to be even thinking position for a number of reasons. The goal in any race is to finish with a happy Team and is always primary to Pete’s concern. Think back to a finish several years ago where a quick storm and a tired Team had Pete following musher Kelly Maixner through the blowhole into Safety and into Nome. I’ll never forget the sight of four teams with just the light of the headlamps coming into view out of Nome. Paul Gebhardt led Kelly and Pete into Nome. It was quite a story. Rick Swenson won one of his races in a blizzard where only he had made it to Safety while others were stuck waiting in White Mountain.
It’s often easy to thing that once White Mountain is in sight, the race is over… Ask Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle about that one. Dallas Seavey won after Jeff scratched and Aliy was holed up in the Safety checkpoint because of a freak windstorm. Calm when Dallas mushed through, only hours before it was a desperate situation with wind and horrible conditions.
Bottom line? Good Luck Team Kaiser! Winds at your back and concentrate on getting to Nome in fine style!!
Mushing Weather for today:
