Excitement is heating up on the trail the morning.
Matt Failor is leading Teams towards the Finish Line and shortly will have the glow of Bethel in his view. Right behind him a battle is has been brewing all night since leaving Tuluksak. But who is in this battle? We know that Pete Kaiser is just a mile behind Jesse Holmes. The “fly in the buttermilk” is that Nic Petit’s tracker is not working and somewhere out in the night he could be part of the action. In fact, I would be surprised if he isn’t part of the action with a Team that has won most races he’s entered.
In the old days of the K300, Kwethluk was the last checkpoint of the race. In fact, many years ago during a race that Myron Angstman won, I had a group of race officials in my vehicle waiting to watch him pass through. We waited and waited and waited. I finally rolled my window down and asked a local if he had seen Myron. “Yeah,” he said, “He passed about 20 minutes ago, but you guys were sleeping and we didn’t want to wake you.” AAAAGGGHHHH!!! We roared out of the checkpoint and headed for Bethel, just sure we were going to miss the finish!!!
Without the Kwethluk checkpoint, it’s a mystery whether Nic is part of the battle for top 3.
Pete and the Team are blazing down the trail. At the rate they are going, I am expecting the Finish to begin happening before 7. Pete is within a half mile of Jessie as they are passing Kwethluk and within 3 miles of Failor.
Time to grab a quick ‘cup-a-joe’ and get out the warm duds and head to the Finish!
Wahoo, I love dogsled racing! Go Team Kaiser!!
