Hi all, I haven't had any time to write these last few days as my and Karen's days have been full with 50 mile runs with the Iditarod dogs - well, those that did not run the Quest and have been on the truck with us. Here are some shots from the runs.The dogs are all doing great - they get even stronger with each run and were excited to run again. Karen got her first chance to run a dog team as Jacques loaned me a sled so Karen and I could double sled together. She did great and I know enjoying seeing the dogs in action. We have been running on the dog track located here in Fairbanks. It is a pretty cool set up operated by the Alaska Dog Mushers Association. It is a series of loop trails located in the heart of Faribanks. At one point you are running right next to the highway. And yet even in the heart of Fairbanks we saw moose on each run - luckily not close enough for any type of encounters, but lots of interest from the dogs. Naboo in particular was the best moose spotter. Today the teams all have the day off and we will be organizing all the stuff in the trailer getting ready for the next adventure. I cleaned out all the dog boxes this morning and put in fresh straw for their trip to Anchorage. We had a meet the musher event last night which was fun for all. Peter and Jesse in particular seem to be enjoying all the events - even if it is mostly because of the free food! Tonight is the final banquet which is always a good time filled with trail stories and hopefully good food. So all for now as it is time to get back to work. Cheers, Kate

Ok So A few words on the dogs,
Filbert at the age of 9.5 finished the Quest. She had two kids ( Cash and Hulk,) and a grandson Earl  on the team with her
What an amazing dog.
So who may go on the Iditarod?

Edinei. 0 maintenance dog. feed bootie and go.
Calvin great cheerleader.
Dobie - superstar 
Blueberry  no issues.
Hulk the experiment that worked out, what a great dog . All littermates  will race Iditarod - Hena Hula, Hockeye - and Hulk) 2 y/o
Earl great tough dog
Frank Strong, barker
others on the truck that did not run are - Guiness leader , Caper leader, Goblin leader ,Maynard, Hena leader Hula leader  Hockeye,  Famous leader.

I am going to have a beer or two a look at options.
Definately won't be short dogs, and the best ones are all in there.

I will be a job to manage the team, as up to half will be quest finshers.

Warren

Ok So A few words on the dogs,
Filbert at the age of 9.5 finished the Quest. She had two kids ( Cash and Hulk,) and a grandson Earl  on the team with her
What an amazing dog.
So who may go on the Iditarod?

Edinei. 0 matinence dog. feed bootie and go.
Calvin great cheerleader.
Dobie - superstar 
Blueberry  no issues.
Hulk the experiment that worked out, what a great dog . All littermates  will race Iditarod - Hena Hula, Hockeye - and Hulk) 2 y/o
Earl great tough dog
Frank Strong, barker
Guiness , Caper, Goblin ,Maynard, Hena Hula Hockeye,  Famous, Jean,

I am going to have a beer or two a look at options.
Definaly wont be short dogs, and the best ones are all in there.

I will be a job to magage the team, as up to half will be quest finshers.

Warren

Warren almost at the finish line with Earl and Edenei in lead

Well the race is done.
Here is an attempt to fill in some of the details of the race , from Dawson to the finish in Fairbanks.
I have not mentioned that the runner on my sled broke near Pelly Crossing, I had repaired the runner in Dawson by splicing the runner with a bracket as well , Martin loaned me a "splice kit " for on the fly repairs.So the repairs were firm , not perfect though. I had assumed incorrectly that runner repairs were not allowed  and time penalties would be incurred.Not so in Dawson, anything goes( for repairs).steep learning curve

So with a barking dog team, and a semi fixed runner , we were off from Dawson on our way another 550 miles to go.
The A plan was to run with one rest to Eagle about 2 -75 mile runs. Not unheard of but very aggressive.
It took 7 hours to get to 40 mile (about 50 miles).  I continued on , the dogs seemed a little flat, and went to about the 60 mile mark. It took forever it seemed. I saw a straw pile from either John or Sebastien,  so I pulled over. Camped for 6 hours and went on to the Bridge. Wayne Hall has a wall tent set up there, so I camped with Michele and Martin.
From there the run to Eagle was ok.
 After leaving Eagle, Lena tore her hind leg ligament as were humped over a icy embankment, out 14 miles from Eagle. I loaded her in the sled, and about a mile later, the runner broke again. So 15 or so miles into a 168 mile leg with a dog drop in about 75 miles, we went on. I contemplated turning back to Eagle to drop her there, but that would have been a 5- 6 hour detour so I went on. Martin and I stopped at a fish rack about 52 miles from Eagle and camped for a bit.  The jumbled ice was bad but not too horrible.
I decided at that point that a camping trip was in order, and let Martin go. The race for Top Rookie was over. I just had too much on the line for Iditarod and felt that it would take too much out of the team. Martin has another team at home and can afford to race his quest team, all the power to him.
 I rested extra in all of the next checkpoints, Circle , Central, Mile 101, and Two Bears. What a turn of events at the front of the pack, As it happens, Martin ended up 4th, as William and Brent's teams faltered ,  Michell 5th, William 6th, Brent  7th, Dan 8th, and me 9th , with a huge gap between.
 

The dogs barked to go as well left Two Bears,  a great sign.
The run times were not super fast but  they were progressively faster each run.
 

We'll be ready to race  next week.
So the two issues to be dealt with now...

Which dogs to take and  I need a sled -  either replace the runners on this one or rebuild the whole thing.
Warren

   Feeding the dogs at the Central checkpoint.




After a long evening I am back with the trailer, Karen and the extra dogs. Warren left Mile 101 just after 430 this morning. I cleaned up his camping spot, fed my threesome and then got on the road at 515am. About a half hour later I found staying awake very difficult so I pulled into a pullout and slept for about an hour and a half - enough to get me here to Fairbanks. Wonderful Karen is grabbing me a bite to eat as I write this. After breakfast, or is it lunch or dinner? - my body time clock (and I am sure this is the case with all people directly involved in the race) is on its own unique schedule separate from the rest of the"normal " world. Whatever meal it is I am on it will be good to eat something. Then the plan is to get another good meal into the dropped threesome and water the extra dogs as in a few hours I will be taking them out on a run. Today I have the time as my guess is that Warren will be arriving at Two Rivers/Twin Bears campground anywhere from 1230 - 330 looking at run times for the teams prior. We both recognize that it is very important to get the extra dogs out for a run so I will miss seeing him come into the final checkpoint but will arrive later and be able to see the team leave and of course do the obligatory straw raking session and clean up before heading back into Fairbanks for the finish. He will however not be alone as his mother Bette and our three boys are planning on heading out to the final checkpoint to see him in. I know that will be great for Warren. Overall his spirits were good in Mile 101. He knows that there is no chance of improving his current position so he is now already strategizing for Iditarod and even into next season's plans and the future of the kennel. As he said, there is a lot of time to think about things out on the trail especially with the long runs that this race holds. So, on that note I will sign off to go start another full day. Thanks to everyone for your web emails and regular ones, we will be working to answer them all over the next few days. After Warren gets some sleep he will I m sure be on the computer. My days will be full in a different fashion with running the Iditarod dogs and giving lots of TLC to those dogs from the Quest team. Kate

Well, it is just after 1am and Warren has just decided to stay here for a few more hours sleep as there is no one close behind him. No other teams are even in Central so he does not have to move forward. He is already beginning to think ahead to the next race (in just a few days really) and be comfortable with his and the team's great performance in this their first Yukon Quest. By letting the dogs have the extra rest here it will most likely end up in a faster running time into Two Rivers/ Twin Bears. I know he could use the extra sleep too. I will try to update when he actually leaves ( providing of course Jody's computer is still available). I am going  to go take a quick nap as well after checking on the truck threesome. More later, Kate

Good morning all.

Warren and the crew arrived here just before 11pm. He had dropped Hulk last minute leaving Central with a sore triceps ( he is now cuddling with Lena in the backseat of the truck) So he did the Summit with 11 dogs. Warren said it was a definite challenge, the slope was steep and he thought he was over it when the trail started going down and then came around the bend and saw the really steep part. He said it was so steep he  couldn't even walk it , it was more like crawling up. The dogs did fairly well. He did have to use the snow hook at the front with the leaders, move them up and then reset the hook and then move the sled up abit and then continue the whole process again for awhile. A pretty typical process for this stretch of trail. He came in pretty tired and needing to dry out all his gear by the fire here but the good part of that process is that the dogs really got a pretty good rest coming up the summit. They ate great here and are resting now. Warren is going to sleep /rest until 100am and then head out after bootying the dogs up and possibly a quick snack. From here it is 74 miles to Two Rivers/Twin Bears Campground and he is planning to run it all in one shot, expecting about a ten hour run. He will have a mandatory 8 hour rest at Twin Bears and then the final 45 miles to the finish. So he will most likely be arriving in Fairbanks in the wee hours of the morning so we know we won't see some of you locals there at the finish. We are both excited to see the kids and Warren's Mum who all arrived in Fairbanks yesterday. They will be venturing to the campground tomorrow and obviously will all be at the finsih line no matter what time Warren and the team arrive. I know they (as well as many of you following online) are frustrated not having a better idea of what is going on. It is hard to explain that it is hard to predict the arrival times of teams as there are so many variables going on in the course of this race. Also this being our rookie year, we aren't sure of the actual mileages and terrain. So sorry Karen, you won't be seeing me until the very wee hours of the morning. I will be driving back to Fairbanks after Warren leaves and I get the dog's camping spot cleaned up. I'll proabably arrive back around 430 am or so. I now have Dobie in the truck with me as well with a sore wrist/triceps so when I arrive in Fairbanks I will get the three dogs in the truck another good meal and then I will try to get a few hours sleep - handling in this race you work on getting sleep wherever and whenever you can. Then it will be time to repack the trailer with the extra drop bag stuff from the Circle and Central checkpoints, reconnect the trailer, take care of the extra 14 dogs and then head up to the campground. Never a dull moment handling in this race! I will hopefully be able to catch a quick nap during the mandatory layover.

If Warren takes off around 130am- 200am he should arrive at the campground around 1130 am- noon. The weather is supposed to stay clear so that variable shouldn't be an issue. I don't think there is any wifi at the campground so not sure if I will be able to update. Thanks to Jody for loaning me her computer for this update, ours is with Karen in Fairbanks. So, all things going as planned, Warren and crew will be heading off for the finish line mid evening today (Feb24th), expecting a 5-8 hour run for the last bit. I did manage to get some pics today of Warren coming in to Central so when I get back I will attempt to download and post them. I have been having trouble uploading the pics I have taken so far so hopefully in between the races I will be able to  get the pics on for you viewing pleasure. All for now.
Cheers, Kate

Greetings everyone. Karen here with an update from Kate. As many of you might have noticed the quest website has been a bit off the past 24 hours or so, needless to say that has not been very helpful. So, here is the news. Warren arrived in Circle City, as you know from Kate's blog last night, he left there a bit before 11 pm last night (feb 22) and arrived in Central this morning 10 am (or so). To the best of my knowledge Warren will take a bit of a rest in Central before attacking the summit, then he will be off to mile 101, and finally into Two Rivers for the 8 hour mandatory rest before the final leg into Fairbanks. Kate reports that Lena is doing well, resting in back seat of the truck and being loved on by Kate. - Kate's plan is to hang out in Central for about an hour after Warren leaves, clean up, and then head back here to Me and the rowdy 14, I hope to see her sometime later tonight. I have caved a bit and took a hotel room, deciding that a shower and free WiFi would be a meager, but fitting birthday present, I might even do some laundry :) That is all for now, we will keep you all posted as best we can - Karen

Hi again, here is a link to another article ...this one from the handler perspective so enjoy! http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/feb/19/handlers-work-overtime-during-mandatory-dawson-cit/ The dogs all got lots of massages in Dawson to make up for the lack of them in Braeburn so all are happy, me too! The NewsMiner has a lot of good articles and photos on their yukon Quest link on the website so go check it out. K

Hi everyone! Warren and the team have arrived in Circle at 635 tonight. I got here about 4pm so I got to see them come in. The dogs are all looking good, ate well and are resting comfortably now as Warren gets a nap. Dobie and Earl were in lead and they have been setting a much faster pace than yesterday's run. Also, part of the slow run yesterday leaving Eagle was that Warren had to load Lena in the sled about 10 miles out of Eagle. We are very disappointed to report that she has a torn achilles tendon on her right rear. So, needless to say she is done for this season. We all know what a tough dog she is so we will have high hopes for a good recovery. She is now resting comfortably in the back seat of the truck and will be receiving lots of TLC from me. While the drive up here wasn't as bad as I expected from the counsel of officials and friends, I could see how bad it could be over Eagle Summit particularly. The trailer could have made it but it would have been a much longer, more stressful journey and Karen would have been grabbing at the handholds of the truck every few minutes! The weather was clear with blue skies and not a whiff of wind in the air - a very deceiving way to see this terrain but beautiful nonetheless. And I have to be glad with our decision to not bring up the trailer for safety's sake. Thanks again to Karen for staying in Fairbanks for this leg. I hope the kids are behaving themselves. It is super appreciated and will be rewarded with a birthday celebration when we are all together again!! Warren has just awoke from his nap looking abit blurry eyed but had a good quick rest. He is headed out to check on the dogs and will be leaving shortly. So far the teams have been running 10-11 hour runs into Central so I will use that as our gauge for when Warren will be arriving in Central. After Warren leaves, I will wait here for about 45 minutes before I gather his leftover drop bags and rake up the straw and then catch some sleep in the truck with Ms Lena and then drive down to Central. The road from Circle to Central is a really windy road that was actually quite fun to drive. It will actually be better to drive in the dark as then I can see the headlights of approaching vehicles. All for now. I will attempt to borrow another computer in Central to send another update. Cheers! Kate