Good evening Race Fans!
A short update for us before a long night on the trail tonight for Pete and the Team.
After a 6 hour or so run, Pete and the Team are near Farewell with a group of mushers he’s been with before– Jessie Royer, Joar Leifseth-Ulsom, and Richie Diehl, among others. Instead of stopping in Rohn, Pete moved up the trail to this point to shorten the run into Nikolai.
This is generally the longest night of the race without checkpoints, but this year Teams will do it again on the return. It will be interesting to see how this race shakes out with a “backwards” trail.
Temperatures in Nikolai are in the mid-20’s, but Insider Video was showing wind into Rohn. Considering how the storm affected Bethel, it began with a bunch of wind and then subsided to warmer temperatures and eventually sunshine. Bethel may be giving us a front row seat to weather conditions, just delayed a day or two. If that’s the case, Teams can expect cooler temperatures and great sunshine as they move onto the Kuskokwim and towards the southwest.
It’s still way to early to see “leaders” of the race, but Nic Petit, Ryan Redington, and Dallas Seavey seem to be laying down the gauntlet for the Teams behind them. It’s always disconcerting to have a leader a ways in front, but right now we are looking at 20 mile leads which are really about 2-3 hours. Considering run/rest strategies, that really isn’t much at all. Fun to see the competition playing out.
We’ll see you in the morning with Tales from the Trail. Early Tuesday is generally when Teams reach the Kuskokwim. The Iditarod is calling this the Gold Loop Trail, but for all intents and purposes, this is the Kuskokwim Iditarod. No Yukon, No Coast, just down and up the Kuskokwim and back up the Alaska Range to the Finish!
Go Team Kaiser!!
