Josi Shelley is carrying a commanding lead toward the finish line of the Yukon Quest Alaska 750.
Despite the comfortable victory margin, Shelley said at the Rampart checkpoint over the weekend that she would not be coasting in but instead using the last part of the race to hone her team for the rest of the racing season.
Communities across the Yukon Quest trail have enthusiastically welcomed mushers. And here in Rampart, hardly anybody was more hyped than the kids.
Rampart grade school students are volunteering at the village’s checkpoint and even writing articles about the race in their school newspaper, the Mid-Yukon Current.
On Friday night, a pack of kids stood outside the checkpoint to watch Shelley’s headlamp bobbing up and down as she drove her dogs across the Yukon River, heading into town where race judge Steve Hilton recruited a group of kids to get her attention.
Shelley pulled up, beaming — and that’s not just a reference to the big headlamp she had on to guide her team through the darkness, over the river. As vets checked out the dogs, she let a few kids climb onto the back of her sled.
With the race almost won, Shelley said her 10-dog team is in great shape.
“My team is super strong. They've kind of reached that point that what they're eating right now is like what I would plan to feed 14 dogs earlier in the race. They're chugging away.”
On the last few legs of the race, she said she’s especially pleased to see her younger dogs learning from the older ones.
“My younger leader, Eagle, did a lot of learning with Ferdinand on the run between Beaver and Stevens Village. She was taking commands, like, ‘No, the trail’s over there.’ She's also starting to think and do stuff on her own — even if she's not in the lead, being in swing. So, that was pretty exciting to see on this run too.”
She said that’s the type of thing that’ll help her team as they ramp up to compete in the Iditarod in early March.
Some Yukon Quest sled dogs have been dealing with a stomach bug this week. Shelley said she’s hopeful that by exposing her team to other dogs — and their germs — they’ll be more acclimated for the next race.
“When you get a bunch of dogs together, it’s just like when school goes back into session, right? There's stuff that goes around with sled dogs. It's never fun to deal with that on a race, but it's kind of nice to have it out of the way.”
As for the trail ahead — Shelley said it’s not just a victory lap. She plans to move along at a comfortable pace to avoid race-ending mishaps. But she sees it all as more training time her team can bank.
“Even though there's not anyone immediately behind me, I’m still trying to run and kind of push them a little bit and see. Every race is an opportunity — not just to see how your team stacks up with other teams and conditions and things, but also to see what you can ask of your team. It's a dog race, so you never know, until you get to that finish line, what could happen.”
After a mandatory eight-hour rest stop in Nenana, it’s about 50 miles to the finish line at Pike’s Landing in Fairbanks.
Shelley’s 8-hour mandatory rest expired at 6:19 this morning, putting her on track to reach the finish line early this afternoon.
The 3 other mushers on the trail behind her: Jonah Bacon, and the father-son duo of Jason and Patrick Mackey are expected to finish over the next couple days.
It's been slow going for Quest mushers due to multiple rounds of snow in recent days. Race organizers reported Sunday that more than a foot of snow had fallen in Nenana, and that trail breakers were dispatched to reset and pack the race route.
(Shelby Herbert)
