Pelly Crossing, YK - Yukon Quest mushers are picking up the pace and reedvaluating the race strategies on their way into Dawson. Three of the teams running in the top five blew through Pelly Crossing as the race intensifies.
Jake Berkowitz was in no mood to stay when he pulled into the Pelly Crossing checkpoint. His spot tracker hadn’t been working, and even his handlers were surprised to see all 14 dogs waving their fluffy tails as vets checked them over. “Can you take a look at the third one up on the right?" Berkowitz calls to a race vet. "He’s been pulling great but it takes him a little more time to warm up, like five miles, where the rest of them warmed up just great.” He points to a dog named Skoal as he packs his sled bag with kibble, meat snacks and methanol. Skoal was cleared to run and the musher took off after Allen Moore who’d left less than an hour before Berkowitz arrived.
Scott Smith was the next musher in as the sun came up. He says a trail reroute on the other side of Dawson and the 26 hour layover in Dawson forced him to change his plans. “It’s gonna shorten things up a little bit and that 150 mile run to eagle is only gonna be 100 miles so anybody who does that run straight is gonna have a little bit of trouble coming off of 36, so I kinda just played with my strategy a little bit. I kind of had to think about it on the run last night because I wanted to stop here.”
Brent Sass came in minutes behind Smith, and buzzed passed him only minutes later. As he stuffed his sled bag full of dog food and booties, he said he was in no big hurry. “This is a long race, there’s not really any reason to rush. Mostly it’s just trying to keep the dogs in the groove, you know.”
Sass says his team is already well rested. Once they get to Dawson, they’ll get another 36 hours to prepare to run the Alaskan side of the trail.