Richie and his Team just arrived into McGrath and quickly set right out on the trail. He spent a little more than 6 hours on the 48 mile run and has about 20 miles until the Takotna checkpoint and a 24 hour layover. He arrived at 11:53 and departed just 3 minutes later after dropping a dog.
Richie would feel quite at home in McGrath, as it is very similar to Richie’s hometown of Aniak as it has Stores and Roads and feels less like a village that a town like Akiak where Mike Williams Jr. lives.
This is mainly because both Aniak and McGrath were refueling points for aircraft and minihubs for mail in the old days.
McGrath is a neat place, and in the early days it was THE place to take the 24 hour layover. Nowadays, Teams are faster and reaching McGrath faster and taking the break later.
Donlin Gold is a big supporter of our mushers out in the YK Delta and Sue Gamache with the company scored a seat into McGrath to watch the teams. She called me a bit ago and we chatted about Richie and his team. He had a small cheering section as he went through the checkpoint.
Listen in-
Thanks Sue!!
