Good Afternoon Race Fans!
As you read this story, just hum to the great Buck Owens tune, Together Again! Pete and Richie are traveling together again!
Something Pete saw early this morning made him decide the Team was going to need more rest. Running with Ryan Redington wasn’t a problem, but not taking rest that he is used to must have taken a toll on the him and the Team. Always on a musher’s mind is the health and well being of the Team. A good long rest to get back on track is always a good thing.
In the meantime, Richie Diehl was on the trail to Elim after a 4 hour break in Koyuk. Richie arrived into Elim took a nice break in Koyuk and continued on the trail and checked into Elim at 12:06. A friend is a welcome sight on the trail and after Richie spent an hour or so snacking his Team, the duo left the checkpoint together, Richie at 14:18 dropping one dog and Pete at 14:22 with his 8 dogs in harness.
While all this was happening, musher Matt Hall was steadily making progress towards Elim as well. Not to be discounted at all, Matt’s runtime into Elim was a full 23 minutes faster than Richie that had the fastest time of the three front runners. Matt took 4 hours rest in Koyuk and did not stop in Elim but to check in and return to the trail.
The excitement is far from over in this race. I would suggest that even first place isn’t a done deal, however Ryan Redington should have about a 5-6 hour lead on the next group. Driving my insecurity of a Redington finish is how little accumulated rest his Team has had since Unalakleet. It is a really nice dog Team, but stress could be an issue for the Team leaving the 8 hours in White Mountain. It has happened before, so let’s just see what happens here.
The race for second is a barn burner, however, after Pete’s long rest. Any one of the three traveling together could make a play for the finish line. All Teams are running 8 dogs except Richie with 7. There won’t be any time to gain in the checkpoint, so it will just be a sprint race of sorts to the finish. Mushers will want to allow their Teams to work a little faster than they are do during the initial parts of the race as there are so few miles to go, but at this point there really isn’t much more a Team can do. They have been pacing for many hundreds of miles and are pretty much set into a groove.
With regard to the finish, the faster years show a 9 hour run from White Mountain to Nome. Ryan should be getting into White Mountain by 4 and leave by midnight. That will put the leader into Nome about 9-11 tomorrow morning. The group of three following for 2-3-4 should be arriving about 5-6 hours after that.
What a race it’s been for 2023!
The excitement isn’t over, so join us as we wish Pete well on his last 100 miles to Nome!
Go Team Kaiser!!
