March 11
Trent spent a little over 7-1/2 hours resting at Nenana and headed out at about 200 AM this morning.
As a reference, the dog teams can generally run 4-6 hours between rests. Rest times depend on the conditioning of the dogs and how aggressive the musher feels, but are typically one to one. If a team runs for 4-6 hours you can expect them to rest for 4-6. Trent is resting more like 1.5 hours for each hour of run.
Trent broke the 90 mile trip to Manley Springs in about half, and according to the Iditrarod GPS Tracker (more on this fun tool later) stopped about about 8:00 AM today for about 7 hours and 45 minutes of rest. He obviously camped on the trail with the team, and looks to have started back out at 4:00 this afternoon, getting in to Manley Springs at about 830 this evening. That would put my estimate of his average running speed on the leg to be around 9 mph, right on target.
The team still had all 16 dogs in the race as they checked in to Manley. Again with his late starting position and big rests, Trent is running at the back of the pack. I wouldn't be surprised if Trent rests close to 8 hours again before heading down the trail to Tanana. It will be important and encouraging to see all 16 dogs check out of Manley to head to Tanana, and for a strong 66 mile run. If the team is coming together, I think Trent will try for a strong run with slightly less rest to Tanana.
Tim