Dozens of mushers worked in the parking lot of the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center Saturday morning. They grouped up for the three different race courses – 550 miles, 200 miles and 80 miles. Handlers pulled dogs out of trucks and bootied them up ready to run.
As they loaded sled bags, mushers said they were happy about trail conditions. First time Race Marshal John Schandelmeier says the new snow would make a nice cushion for the dogs on the Chena River at the start of the race.
“I was on the trail yesterday, and this river is as good as it ever is. there's no water overflow anywhere. There's no overflow on the trail.”
“Yay!”
For Jody Potts-Joseph, who is running the 200-mile course, that, and the warmer weather were a relief.
“I had a problem in deep, knee deep overflow last year, and it was 50 below.”
But Ashley Franklin wasn’t convinced.
“No overflow, my bottom!”
She said a friend of hers bicycled the Chena River last week and reported to her there was water on top of the ice.
“It's possible it's frozen. Like once you have all that weight go across, things can open or not. It'd be nice if they don't.”
Joey Sabin, running the 550, was dressing for conditions, just in case.
“These are Neos, over boots. They're really nice. Keep your feet dry, extra layer of insulation. These are brand new, right out of the box.”
The 550-milers lined up their teams first, to be ready for the 11-am start. Meanwhile, hundreds of spectators lined the starting chute behind the Morris Thompson Center and down on the Chena River.
“10 seconds”
And then it was time to go.
“Five, four, three, two, one.”
Those teams went out three minutes apart, followed closely by the 5 teams running the 200-mile course.
The teams running the 80-mile fun run were held apart, and didn’t leave the starting chute until 3:00 p.m. Those teams had a six-hour layover at the first checkpoint in Two Rivers on Chena Hot Springs Road last night, and already, as you are hearing this, a good chunk of them are finishing their race back in Fairbanks.
And oh yes, the avalanche.
The 550-milers don’t have to take a mandatory rest stop until the 3rd checkpoint in Central, or the 4th checkpoint in Circle. But some may hold up a bit at the Mile 101 checkpoint on the Steese Highway today, so they don’t get ahead of their handlers, who have to wait until the road opens.
“We were driving up Eagle Summit and encountered a grader that shook its head ‘no, no, no’ at us and turned us around. There was an avalanche on the roadside.”
Sam Decker, the Circle Checkpoint manager, was stuck overnight with half her crew at the Montana Creek Department of Transportation maintenance camp.
DOT crews tried to clear the roadway last night, but snow blew back in as fast as they could clear. They are trying again this morning, after snow and winds subside, with a 10-foot wide auger to get at least one lane open.
“We will get to the checkpoint in time. Um, we don't expect mushers to get to circle until midnight Monday morning-ish.”
Decker plans to make it into Circle today (Sunday) by noon, to set up the fourth checkpoint of the race.
Reporting from Montana Creek on the Steese Highway.
