Yukon Quest 2018: More updates

Time to catch up on some of the action of the Yukon Quest!

This year’s race is from Fairbanks to Whitehorse. While the trail from Fairbanks is in fabulous condition, it is exceptionally cold, and deep into the -40’s at times.

Here is a quick video of the front runner, Allen Moore and his team of 14 strong coming into Dawson.

I walked down to see Moore come in, and then was pretty frosty by the time I got home.

We were on our first overnight shift on Wednesday, from midnight until 8am. We prefer the overnight shifts. Many fewer people around, great conversations.

The checkpoint headquarters are in the Dawson City Visitors Information Centre. It was pretty chilly in there at -44C with a breeze. We all took turns hugging the big radiator.

The Percy DeWolfe sled dog race is next month. As a fundraiser, they run a week long concession stand with hot food for the mushers, their teams, the media, and visitors. Overnight we help out covering their sales while their volunteers sleep.

We are also there to help the team’s handlers collect their information packages, garbage bags, and frozen dropped food bags they send ahead of the race. We also man the phone for the checkpoint, call official times into headquarters, call the vet shack to send over a team in advance of an incoming team, and sell Yukon Quest merchandise.

We had two teams come in overnight on that shift, Paige Drobny and Matt Hall.

Chris and Jeff did the check ins. Here’s Paige coming in.

Last night there was a Yukon Quest appreciation night at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s. The Humane Society was there too with their Dog Ball Highball fundraiser.

Ever seen a pair of dog testicles after a dog was neutered? Here’s a set of husky testicles.

Ever put one in your drink, like the sour toe cocktail? You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips gotta touch that dog ball.

Jeff did it!

He also howled on stage and won a competition, winning a bag of dog food he donated to the Humane Society, and a couple free drink tickets for Gertie’s!

After a couple beers, I was feeling more adventurous, and I did the Dog Ball Highball too!

Today we had Hank out to the dog park with his brother Griff.

We’re on the overnight shift at the checkpoint again tonight. We have just one team to countdown for their departure so it should be a quiet night. If needed, we’re also scheduled for a vet shack shift tomorrow and a second overnight at the check point headquarters.