Anna has about 60 miles to go before reaching Nome, according to GPS trackers at 5:45am Alaska time Thursday. She took a 5hr 19min rest in Elim, about 1 1/2 hours longer than I had guestimated. But her run time into White Mountain was on track, and she pulled her snow hook exactly 8 hours to the minute and without dropping any dogs, so I expect her to be on track from here. Given the slightly longer stay in Elim, I'm bumping out her finish time to between 1-1:30pm Alaska time today! She's on track to claim 22nd place, Seeing Double's best finish by way of rank to date. The closest musher to her is rookie Michi Konno running 9 dogs. Anna is running 10 dogs, currently moving along at 8.2mph, and has a 10 mile buffer over Michi, who is currently running slightly slower at 7.7mph
I got an update from Jack on the rest of the dropped dogs. It turns out Anna dropped Little Bit in Unalakleet, as the lovely lady broke a nail! All kidding aside, if you've ever been clipping your own dogs nails and hit the 'quick', or vein, in the nail, you know how these can bleed. And as Little Bit likely cracked or split a nail, this would be quite troublesome out on the trail. She'll heal quickly with a bit of rest back at the kennel though.
So as Anna approaches Nome, she does so with these exceptional canine athletes in front of her sled: Kiwi, West, Beaker, Hale, Cannonball, Sweetums, Pilgrim, Quintes, Tornado, and Rizo.
Kristy and Andy were hard at it themselves early this morning, pulling into Elim (race mile 875) just after 1am. Recall Kristy is running 12 dogs, with her last dog dropped in Kaltag. Turns out that was Pop who had to stop when a sore shoulder couldn't be worked out. Andy has also dropped a dog in Kaltag, leaving 11 in harness. He dropped Hammer here, and turns out the poor pup has pneumonia, the 2nd dog from Andy's team to present with this. But Hammer, along with all the other dropped dogs, are resting comfortably back at the kennel and expected to make full recoveries.
I'll be back later today when Anna crosses the finish!
I got an update from Jack on the rest of the dropped dogs. It turns out Anna dropped Little Bit in Unalakleet, as the lovely lady broke a nail! All kidding aside, if you've ever been clipping your own dogs nails and hit the 'quick', or vein, in the nail, you know how these can bleed. And as Little Bit likely cracked or split a nail, this would be quite troublesome out on the trail. She'll heal quickly with a bit of rest back at the kennel though.
So as Anna approaches Nome, she does so with these exceptional canine athletes in front of her sled: Kiwi, West, Beaker, Hale, Cannonball, Sweetums, Pilgrim, Quintes, Tornado, and Rizo.
Kristy and Andy were hard at it themselves early this morning, pulling into Elim (race mile 875) just after 1am. Recall Kristy is running 12 dogs, with her last dog dropped in Kaltag. Turns out that was Pop who had to stop when a sore shoulder couldn't be worked out. Andy has also dropped a dog in Kaltag, leaving 11 in harness. He dropped Hammer here, and turns out the poor pup has pneumonia, the 2nd dog from Andy's team to present with this. But Hammer, along with all the other dropped dogs, are resting comfortably back at the kennel and expected to make full recoveries.
I'll be back later today when Anna crosses the finish!
