ID: Friday Night On The Trail

It's 11pm on Friday night. We have landed in Nome and are back to staring at the tracker!

RED TEAM UPDATE

Aliy and the Red Team are currently camping on the trail 25 miles from Huslia. They left Galena right on time at 2.37pm this afternoon. They have been stopped there for around 1.5 hours at the time of writing.

An Insider video of the team leaving showed enthusiastic dogs and Aliy sounded perky and ready to get back on the trail. She talked about the gastro issues the team had and said it wasn't bad - they weren't "sick-sick" but that they just weren't 100% and a bit flat. The eight hour rest in Ruby followed immediately by 24 hours in Galena was what she believed the team needed and what she hopes was a good coaching move. The video showed the team eating a sloppy meaty water meal and she was very happy about that!


Screen shots of Insider video: Schmoe enjoying the sunshine, Leaving Galena

Aliy talked about how important it is to make good decisions early in the race and how what you do at mile 200, 300 or 400 comes back to you at mile 800. When asked about the weather change to warmer temperatures she said: "There's nothing you can do about it so getting bummed one way or the other is not going to help you out". There are some great words to live by!

Leaving Galena Aliy had Commando and Spark in lead, Junior and Izzy in swing, Dutch and Iron, Mismo and Driver, Amber and Kodiak, Schmoe and Rodney, Champ and Felix. She has certainly mixed the line up around a bit!

By stopping and camping 25 miles outside Huslia we can expect the team will "blow through" the checkpoint, stopping only to get supplies for the next leg and letting the vet team get hands on all the dogs. After Huslia is the checkpoint of Koyukuk, some 85(ish) miles away. It seems unlikely they would make that 110 mile run straight through to Koyukuk so we expect them to camp again along the trail.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

Allen and his team mates are due to leave Galena at 11.55pm tonight.

Allen's drop bags for his 24 hour stop included the same kibble and meat supplies, blankets and jackets as Aliy. His human food was different through: we packed moose and sweet potato lasagne, meatballs in alfredo sauce and, as a treat he didn't know about - cheesy popcorn!

It was wonderful to see in the video of Aliy leaving Galena, Allen was right there with her cheering her and the dogs on.

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As Aliy goes through the villages along the way, keep an eye on the ANDVSA and Matson Facebook pages for pictures of her supporters. To find out more and how to donate go to andvsa.org. All moneys donated during March, April and May will go towards helping children from the villages along the Iditarod Trail attend the Lead On! Conference in November.