Anna pulled her snow hook and hit the trail out of Nikolai (race mile 263) Tuesday evening. She had 13 dogs in harness. I believe she rested a little over 5 hours in checkpoint, largely as expected, but I'm still waiting for Iditarod official standings to update with this detail. Anna plans to travel straight through to McGrath where she’ll take another 4-5 hour rest. Around 8:30pm Tuesday night, GPS has her traveling at nearly 8 miles an hour and 275 miles along the trail and in 18th place.
We’re two days and a few hours into the 52nd Iditarod, and we still have all 38 teams racing on the trail to Nome. Jessie Holmes is closing in on McGrath (race mile 311), with Travis Beals, Ryan Redington, and Dallas Seavey not too far behind. The back of the pack is all out of Rohn and is shaping up to perhaps be a race within the race. Of our 38 teams, the last 13 out of Rohn were all rookies, and they all left within a 6 hour span. It’s great to see so many rookies in this year’s race and the fact that they’re largely traveling together is neither surprising nor discouraging.
Kristy said that Anna called her briefly on a sat phone as she was getting ready to head out of Nikolai. Kristy reported that Anna was feeling good, especially after getting a little bit of sleep during this last rest stop. And knowing the Gorge and Burn are behind her! The dogs looked good, although perhaps they’re not scarfing down food quite as aggressively as Anna would ideally want. She may add a little bit more rest on the remaining runs to Ophir to see if that has any impact. And she is still planning to take her 24 in OPH.
The weather conditions looks pretty mild over the next couple of days, which is always welcome news. It’s arguably a bit warm for the dogs, with high temps in the mid 20s and lows in the single digits Fahrenheit. Winds have been mild and precipitation low. That looks to continue for the next day or two. Then things are predicted to cool down a bit for Friday and Saturday, with highs in the teens, lows below zero, and winds picking up slightly.
It may be a little later in the day Wednesday before I can make my next post, so if you’re jumping out of your skin for more on the Iditarod and Seeing Double, here’s some stuff you can scour. These are some of the primary sources I turn to (besides the twins directly) when figuring out what’s going on.
Iditarod.com
Check weather sources - use your favorites or the Iditarod Weather Center.
ADN.com
AlaskaNewsSource.com
AlaskaPublic.org
You should also definitely consider the following podcasts!
Kristy chatted with Mushing Alaska on Monday morning.
Both of the twins talked to High Quality Fun in mid January.
And take a look at the below pictures I got on Insta from a fan who was at the restart! Great shots, Ellen! (@ellaella20 on Instagram).
Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 5: Jump by Van Halen.
(This song spent 5 weeks as #1 on the charts, starting the day after they were born. And the single was certified gold in April 1984. It's a bit of an anthem for the twins.)
We’re two days and a few hours into the 52nd Iditarod, and we still have all 38 teams racing on the trail to Nome. Jessie Holmes is closing in on McGrath (race mile 311), with Travis Beals, Ryan Redington, and Dallas Seavey not too far behind. The back of the pack is all out of Rohn and is shaping up to perhaps be a race within the race. Of our 38 teams, the last 13 out of Rohn were all rookies, and they all left within a 6 hour span. It’s great to see so many rookies in this year’s race and the fact that they’re largely traveling together is neither surprising nor discouraging.
Kristy said that Anna called her briefly on a sat phone as she was getting ready to head out of Nikolai. Kristy reported that Anna was feeling good, especially after getting a little bit of sleep during this last rest stop. And knowing the Gorge and Burn are behind her! The dogs looked good, although perhaps they’re not scarfing down food quite as aggressively as Anna would ideally want. She may add a little bit more rest on the remaining runs to Ophir to see if that has any impact. And she is still planning to take her 24 in OPH.
The weather conditions looks pretty mild over the next couple of days, which is always welcome news. It’s arguably a bit warm for the dogs, with high temps in the mid 20s and lows in the single digits Fahrenheit. Winds have been mild and precipitation low. That looks to continue for the next day or two. Then things are predicted to cool down a bit for Friday and Saturday, with highs in the teens, lows below zero, and winds picking up slightly.
It may be a little later in the day Wednesday before I can make my next post, so if you’re jumping out of your skin for more on the Iditarod and Seeing Double, here’s some stuff you can scour. These are some of the primary sources I turn to (besides the twins directly) when figuring out what’s going on.
Iditarod.com
Check weather sources - use your favorites or the Iditarod Weather Center.
ADN.com
AlaskaNewsSource.com
AlaskaPublic.org
You should also definitely consider the following podcasts!
Kristy chatted with Mushing Alaska on Monday morning.
Both of the twins talked to High Quality Fun in mid January.
And take a look at the below pictures I got on Insta from a fan who was at the restart! Great shots, Ellen! (@ellaella20 on Instagram).
Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist…
Song 5: Jump by Van Halen.
(This song spent 5 weeks as #1 on the charts, starting the day after they were born. And the single was certified gold in April 1984. It's a bit of an anthem for the twins.)