Kristy and her team pulled into the 2nd to last checkpoint, Braeburn, in 9th place at 8:15am Yukon time today. Here she'll enjoy her final 8 hour mandatory layover and can hit the trail again as early as 4:15pm this afternoon for the last 100 mile run to the finish line in Whitehorse. She pulled in, and thus can pull out, 5 minutes behind Abbie West, so the home stretch could make for an interesting competition between these two mushers. They have been jockeying positions the majority of the race, and given how close they have been running, it is still anybody's guess which of these two ladies will be the first woman to the finish. Will they both leave Braeburn on schedule? Will either musher drop a dog or will they both have 9 in harness? Which team will recharge best during this last respite? How much of an advantage does trail familiarity give Abbie over Kristy as a rookie? Only time will tell!
Speaking of time, precious little separated the first two mushers to cross the finish line in this year's Yukon Quest. That's right, we have a winner! Hugh Neff managed to shrug off his previous 30 minute forgotten axe penalty to squeeze a first place finish past Allen Moore by a paltry 26 seconds (the closest race finish in its history)! It took Hugh and his team (finishing with 9 dogs) 9 days, 16 hours, and 5 minutes to race the 1,000 miles of wilderness.
With Hugh Neff and Allen Moore officially into Whitehorse, there are still 17 mushers on the trail. And one must admire the perseverence of the teams bringing up the rear, particularly as the final two just pulled out of the halfway point in Dawson City yesterday.
Before closing out this posting with some updated pictures from the trail, we did hear from Leon, one of Kristy's handlers, after she came through the Carmack's checkpoint. Apparently she and her team "came smoking into the Carmack's checkpoint" and looked great, musher and dogs alike. They had had a great run the night before and were in high spirits. Kristy took about a 6 hour rest in Carmacks and appears to have taken a couple hours rest along the trail to Braeburn. I suspect her competitive spirit is bubbling up through the exhaustion and there's some strategy forming. Stay tuned...
Here is footage of Kristy and her team pulling into Carmacks.
Speaking of time, precious little separated the first two mushers to cross the finish line in this year's Yukon Quest. That's right, we have a winner! Hugh Neff managed to shrug off his previous 30 minute forgotten axe penalty to squeeze a first place finish past Allen Moore by a paltry 26 seconds (the closest race finish in its history)! It took Hugh and his team (finishing with 9 dogs) 9 days, 16 hours, and 5 minutes to race the 1,000 miles of wilderness.
With Hugh Neff and Allen Moore officially into Whitehorse, there are still 17 mushers on the trail. And one must admire the perseverence of the teams bringing up the rear, particularly as the final two just pulled out of the halfway point in Dawson City yesterday.
Before closing out this posting with some updated pictures from the trail, we did hear from Leon, one of Kristy's handlers, after she came through the Carmack's checkpoint. Apparently she and her team "came smoking into the Carmack's checkpoint" and looked great, musher and dogs alike. They had had a great run the night before and were in high spirits. Kristy took about a 6 hour rest in Carmacks and appears to have taken a couple hours rest along the trail to Braeburn. I suspect her competitive spirit is bubbling up through the exhaustion and there's some strategy forming. Stay tuned...
Here is footage of Kristy and her team pulling into Carmacks.
And here are some shots from Dawson City, Pelly Crossing, and Carmacks.
 Team Berington's Camp in Dawson City  Kristy in the distance out on the Yukon River  King and Buffalo nap in Pelly Crossing |  Dog Tent in Dawson City, home of some very tired - but happy - pups.  Content dogs in Carmacks watch to see if Kristy is bringing lunch their way  Kristy examines Fawn while making sure she knows what a good dog she is! |
Kristy methodically cares for each member of the dog team in the Carmacks checkpoint.
