Kaiser left Elim first, followed by Joar, a mere 5 minutes later. It has been snowing...I'm not sure if there is trail to break, but if there is , advantage to Joar, who has a small 8 dog Team, but posted a faster run between Koyuk and Elim over Kaiser by 10 minutes. Kaiser left a dog in Elim so they are both 8 dog Teams, running to White Mountain for a mandatory 8 hour rest. Kaiser had 44 more minutes of rest on Joar....a little more "gas in the tank over Ulsom.....this is going to be an epic battle.....first to White Mountain, and then tomorrow after the 8 hour rest, on into Nome.
Jessie Royer arrived into Elim exactly 3 hours after Joar and is presently resting. The trail must have been slow, as she with her 11 dog team took 20 minutes longer to get to Elim as compared to Joar. Its possible she can cut rest here and go after Kaiser and Joar, but with 2 good Mushers already stalled, with one scratching (Nic Petit) and the other stalled for 4.5 hours on the ice before continuing (Mitch) is a constant reminder this run/rest schedule is a delicate balance indeed. A sleep deprivated Musher must make good decisions....Nic and Mitch asked too much and at the wrong time. At least Mitch was able to wait it out....Nic, not so much.
As I have always said, you can not make a poodle walk to the mailbox if it doesn't want to. These dogs have the ultimate option to run or not. Sometimes it takes just one Team Member to say "that's enough" and the rest will follow. Its very wolf pack like....yes, the Musher is the decision maker....but the dogs do have veto power. Also, these dogs can be very sensitive.....Nic had to break up a fight in the line when an alpha male started picking on a younger dog ahead of him....Nic raised his voice and yelled....that essentially had a domino effect.....dogs are very in tune with their Musher....if "daddy" isn't happy they pick up on it and they become unhappy. In Nics case they were also probably freaked by the sea ice too. In any event they are safely off the trail, and Mitch worked through it with his Team. He is still in Koyuk and will probably baby the team to the finish. That is if he can baby them....he really isn't that kind of guy. We shall see if Mitch can rise to the occasion and give his dogs some TLC.
Aliy and Jesse Holmes have left Koyuk.....Aliy first and Jesse after....stats are not posted yet. Id say Aliy has about a 20 minute head start or so. These 2 travels across the ice together last night....I was happy Aliy had company.
Here is the run down on the Tracker:
Kaiser at mile 880
Joar at mile 878
Jessie Royer resting at Elim, mile 875
Aliy running at mile 833
Jesse Holmes just leaving Koyuk at mile 827
The rest of the main chase pack is stll resting in Koyuk, including Mitch Seavey
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