Wow....what drama unfolded on the Yukon Quest in the past 24 hours. last I knew I was headed to bed at 11 pm eastern standard time....Allen and Brent met up on the trail and were about to battle it out for 50 miles or so to the last checkpoint of Braeburn.....a mandatory 8 hour rest was required there. so I went to sleep knowing the race would still be on come morning. After mushers and a Teams are through with their 8 hour rests, us Armchair Mushers would be treated to yet another 65 mile racing to the finish.....or so we thought.
Instead, when I checked into the web at 4:30 I saw Allen ahead by a mile or so.....I thought cool! Go SPK! Then after some chores, I checked again to find Allen into Braeburn....again, I thought Excellent.....this is too cool! When I got home from my chores I saw Brent parked about 15 miles out of Braeburn according to his GPS a tracker. The SPK Dog Log confirmed my concern.....what was Brent doing parked a mere 15 miles from a mandatory 8 hour rest area.....it didn't make sense. So I go to the Yukon Quest Facebook page....and the story started to unfold there.....first with a post from the YQ stating they sent out snow machines to check on Brent to see if he needs help. Then a tweet.....cryptically saying his Team will be brought by officials to the Braeburn Checkpoint....more news later. A few minutes more and we know the whole story. Brent had a fall of some sort, and had to be rescued by the snow machines. His team is fine....but he needed medical attention. Allen and the rest of the SPK Crew found this out real time.....and in true form, Allen waited to see Brent before he set out on the trail to win his second YQ Championship. An Epic battle for 1st place disappears in an instant with an accident. Allen was ahead in the race, with no idea what was happening behind him....if he knew he would have surely helped. An Anonymous post on the SPK Dog Log said it best " Heal well Brent....Finish with Honors Allen!
This is truly a bitter sweet win for SPK.....Allen ran a perfect race....and so did Brent...until the accident. I will post more when more is known of Brent's condition...and what happened leading up to the fall.
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