It's not even 10am yet in Alaska Sunday morning (adjusted for Daylight Saving Time) and the twins are only about 20 miles or so outside of Kaltag (race mile 629). When they reach this point, they'll have 346 miles to mush before they reach Nome.
They arrived in Galena Saturday afternoon around 12:40pm and rested in checkpoint for 5 hours 20 minutes. Anna opted to return one dog here while Kristy retained her current team, giving the former 11 dogs on the line and the latter 10. They hit the trail out of Galena around 6pm Saturday evening and spent about 6 hours mushing the 37 or so miles to Nulato (race mile 582), arriving just after midnight Sunday morning.
The twins rested with their dogs in the checkpoint of Nulato for about 6 hours. Kristy returned one dog leaving 9 in harness in front of her sled. Anna retained all 11 of her dogs. They were all on the trail again Sunday morning around 7:20am. As of this post a couple hours later, GPS has them at mile 610 and traveling at 9.3 miles per hour.
If Anna and Kristy stick to their race plan at this point, their stop in Kaltag should be fairly brief and primarily to resupply. Look to see them hit the trail again only to stop about a third of the way between Kaltag and Unalakleet at the Tripod Shelter Cabin, a winter shelter cabin managed by the Bureau of Land Management and a popular trailside stop on this stretch.
I did get a couple texts from the twins since Race Update 5. Kristy sent me photos of her team camping in Ruby and then heading out onto the Yukon River while leaving that checkpoint. You can just make out a speck that is Anna and her team further down the trail, and that's likely when she was on the phone with me! Kristy also sent an adorable pic of her and "Zerker" in Galena. Berzerker is part of the B-Squad litter running with 3 siblings on Kristy's team this year. Anna didn't send any pictures, but she did let me know it was Randy she returned home from Galena, and Bootleg Kristy returned from Nulato (so I guess Berzerker is now running with two siblings). They were getting ready to leave Nulato at the time. Anna also said it was windy, and warned I wouldn't hear from them again for a while as reception tapered off.
There is a special weather statement issued for the portion of trail most mushers are currently traveling, with wind being the primary culprit. Sunday's temps should range from +18F during the daytime highs and down to minus 9F overnight, but winds may take the "feels like" temp including wind chills down to 30 below.
We still have a total of 45 mushers out on the trail with no additional scratches from the race. Brent Sass is flying and reached Shaktoolik (race mile 754) in first place a bit after 9am Sunday morning. He didn't stay more than 8 minutes before hitting the trail again with 12 dogs in front of his sled. Dallas Seavey was last reported out of Unalakleet a bit behind him with 10 dogs, with the rest of the top 18 teams all on the trail out of Kaltag. Kristy and Anna are holding their positions in the standings in the low 20s, and I'm cautiously optimistic we'll see them start to make a push after Kaltag to pass a couple teams. The back of the pack is out of Cripple and near mile 450, giving us a spread of around 300 miles between our leader and our red lantern.
They arrived in Galena Saturday afternoon around 12:40pm and rested in checkpoint for 5 hours 20 minutes. Anna opted to return one dog here while Kristy retained her current team, giving the former 11 dogs on the line and the latter 10. They hit the trail out of Galena around 6pm Saturday evening and spent about 6 hours mushing the 37 or so miles to Nulato (race mile 582), arriving just after midnight Sunday morning.
The twins rested with their dogs in the checkpoint of Nulato for about 6 hours. Kristy returned one dog leaving 9 in harness in front of her sled. Anna retained all 11 of her dogs. They were all on the trail again Sunday morning around 7:20am. As of this post a couple hours later, GPS has them at mile 610 and traveling at 9.3 miles per hour.
If Anna and Kristy stick to their race plan at this point, their stop in Kaltag should be fairly brief and primarily to resupply. Look to see them hit the trail again only to stop about a third of the way between Kaltag and Unalakleet at the Tripod Shelter Cabin, a winter shelter cabin managed by the Bureau of Land Management and a popular trailside stop on this stretch.
I did get a couple texts from the twins since Race Update 5. Kristy sent me photos of her team camping in Ruby and then heading out onto the Yukon River while leaving that checkpoint. You can just make out a speck that is Anna and her team further down the trail, and that's likely when she was on the phone with me! Kristy also sent an adorable pic of her and "Zerker" in Galena. Berzerker is part of the B-Squad litter running with 3 siblings on Kristy's team this year. Anna didn't send any pictures, but she did let me know it was Randy she returned home from Galena, and Bootleg Kristy returned from Nulato (so I guess Berzerker is now running with two siblings). They were getting ready to leave Nulato at the time. Anna also said it was windy, and warned I wouldn't hear from them again for a while as reception tapered off.
There is a special weather statement issued for the portion of trail most mushers are currently traveling, with wind being the primary culprit. Sunday's temps should range from +18F during the daytime highs and down to minus 9F overnight, but winds may take the "feels like" temp including wind chills down to 30 below.
We still have a total of 45 mushers out on the trail with no additional scratches from the race. Brent Sass is flying and reached Shaktoolik (race mile 754) in first place a bit after 9am Sunday morning. He didn't stay more than 8 minutes before hitting the trail again with 12 dogs in front of his sled. Dallas Seavey was last reported out of Unalakleet a bit behind him with 10 dogs, with the rest of the top 18 teams all on the trail out of Kaltag. Kristy and Anna are holding their positions in the standings in the low 20s, and I'm cautiously optimistic we'll see them start to make a push after Kaltag to pass a couple teams. The back of the pack is out of Cripple and near mile 450, giving us a spread of around 300 miles between our leader and our red lantern.
 Kristy's team resting in Ruby.  Kristy and Berzerker in Galena |  Kristy's team headed down the Yukon River out of Ruby. The speck on the trail ahead is Anna.  Seeing Double's likely stop after resupplying in Kaltag. |
