Day 1

Day 1 went great! Every head on pass I had was PERFECT. I was so pleased, and really impressed with everyone's dogs. I had Kozy in single lead. The dogs surprised me; I had to hold them back for much longer than I anticipated, 30 miles, before they settled into the traveling pace I wanted. By then they were a little tired, but I peddled and we maintained our pace.

The line-up today was:

Kozy
Ruby Linnea
Daphnie Tuffy
Wes Frigg
Major Doc

Kozy and Doc are the only experienced dogs in the team. Major has been to a race or two, and Tuffy has skijored with me in Fairbanks, but this was the first time out of the kennel for the rest. The dogs were exposed to all sorts of strange things: photographers, moose, hooligans on snowmachines, and last of all, a terrifying food wagon !

Turning the corner from the starting area into the swamp we flushed a mama moose and two yearlings out of some spruce. They crossed the trail and headed north, away from the team thankfully. The trail was hard and fast and it was so beautiful out there... It was about 0 degrees and clear. Going out, hoarfrost covered everything in the swamps and the rising sun lit up the only the very tops of the trees. A pink morning fog covered parts of Red Shirt lake and the sounds of my team were muffled by the still air and my fur hat. I was alone on the trail for about 20 minutes, and then it was a steady stream of passing and meeting teams all the way to the end.  I had no problems meeting or being passed by teams and the december sunlight was so nice to mush in!

My goal was to finish in under five hours: my actual time was a little over four hours, making for an average pace of 10mph. I'm planning on leaving the little girls at home tomorrow and putting in three fresh big boys: Robber, Goofy and Sleepy. If I can keep my pace up, I will hopefully avoid being passed, but the teams in front of me are about ten minutes ahead, so unless they exhausted their dogs today I doubt I will be moving up in the standings.

Today's Results:

1 Ryan Redington 2:49:29.00
2 James Wheeler 2:55:49.00
3 Ariane Jasmin 2:56:38.00
4 Cim Smyth 3:02:30.00
5 Wade Marrs 3:04:10.00

6 Robert Redington 3:04:43.00
7 Jeff King 3:20:32.00
8 Ken Anderson 3:23:01.00
9 Travis Beals 3:23:18.00
10 Corinne Zurflueh 3:25:32.00
11 Skeeter Stitt 3:33:04.00
12 Ellen Donoghue 3:45:36.00
13 Matt Hudson 3:50:19.00
14 Jane Adkins 3:57:48.00
15 Kristin Bacon 3:57:54.00
16 Kailyn 3:58:13.00
17 Dream a Dream 3:59:59.00
18 Luan Marques 4:00:22.00
19 Anja Radano 4:01:38.00
20 Lisbet Norris 4:11:11.00
21 Christine Roalofs 4:11:44.00

22 Jason Shelley 4:25:22.00
23 Susan Whiton 4:31:52.00
24 Vern Halter 5:04:27.00
25 Marilyn Storey 5:06:20.00
26 Joe Meyer 5:22:25.00
27 Gwen Bogart 5:24:46.00
28 Paul Gauthier DNS

Booting up at daybreak. See Wes hiding under the truck?

Lisbet, Elliott, and JP (Dad) right before the start. 

Talking to Ryan "Green Machine" Redington after the race.