Five of this year’s Iditarod competitors have been nourished by the waters of the mighty Kuskokwim. The second longest river in Alaska, maybe not as well known as the Yukon, but home and sustenance to those of us who live in Southwest Alaska.
Pete was the first of the group to reach Nikolai in 2nd position. Pete split his run between Rohn and Nikolai into two runs as did Joar Leifseth-Ulsom who arrived 90 minutes in front of Team Kaiser.
Last night we saw Nicolas Petit make a long run into Buffalo Camp where Pete caught him and rested as well.
I have been wondering about Petit’s long run short rest strategy and as he passed through Nikolai, it is apparent that is his plan for now. He began moving at 5:30am this morning which would put him with one break before McGrath or Takotna and possibly his 24.
Many Teams will take a good break here in Nikolai and then make one run into Takotna to take the 24 hour mandatory break. The trail should be outstanding as residents travel between the communities on the same trail. It should be packed down and fast.
Strategy is a gamble in this section of the trail. There are several places to take the long break– McGrath, Takotna, Ophir, and even Iditarod. Each has it’s good and not so good points. Takotna is very popular because its very cozy. McGrath used to be “the place” to take the long layover, but it began to be too early in the race. It will be interesting to see what Teams will do this year. After the 24, the trail and weather will begin to be challenging with apparent warm temperatures in the forecast.
Upon arriving into Nikolai it looked like Pete had one dog in the sled. This could be by design, or we may have a small issue that might require leaving it here. New to 2019 is that the maximum dogs in a Team are now 14. That is two less than last year, so mushers must be conservative to some extent. In the Kuskokwim 300 dogsled race, the maximum was dropped to 12 dogs and there was no difference and in fact I tend to think it is as fast or faster now in terms of winning times. Mushers do need to be cautious though as we are only a quarter of the way into the race.
Here are some photos that I screen grabbed of Pete and the Team. It was amazing to watch them rolling in the snow and so happy! Totally beautiful to watch.
Go Team Kaiser!
