And They're Off to Nome!

Hey Race Fans! Well, today is THE day the race actually begins. The mushers went out of the starting chute a few hours ago....took them about 2 hours to get all the mushers out on the trail, staggered at 2 minute intervals. Right now, the mushers will just get settled into a run/rest schedule....they typically wont make any big moves or go too fast too soon. Mackey and Gatt are both reporting they have really good teams this year..."the best ever". Mackey did mention he has 9 new dogs on his Team...thats a little different for Lance. Many of these dogs were on his puppy Team last year, so they do know the trail. Some of the real technical parts of the trail, like the Dalzall Gorge and the Happy Valley Steps will be coming up in the next few days. Lots of night running will be done, and they say it could be windy...but as long as the temps stay above zero it shouldnt be much of a factor...but if it drops it can get brutal real quick...like it was on the Yukon Quest just a few weeks back. I'll keep an eye on the Mushers via the GPS/Insider link and give updates as I see them. Probably not much to report until they get a few check points into the race and begin to pass through some of the notoriously difficult parts of the trail. Stay tuned...we should have a winner in about 9 days!!!!