March 13, 2015
At 0645AM Friday, Trent checked in to Ruby. Ruby is a 1910 “gold rush” village on the Yukon. It once was inhabited by over 3,000 people but now 170, mainly Native American Athabascans live there. On the 1925 Serum Run, Titus Nikolai, Dan Corning, Edgar Kalland, and Harry Pitka were the mushers that relayed the antitoxin from Tanana to Ruby.
Trent covered the 119 miles in 28 hours. It is by far the longest distance between checkpoints in this year’s Iditarod and is reminiscent of the long hauls between checkpoints on the Yukon Quest. Temperatures overnight in Ruby were reported to be -20F, but it was likely -30F to -40 F on the Yukon.
Looking at the tracker data, Trent split the 28 hour run into three, nearly equal, ~ 5 hour runs with two ~ 6.5 hour rests. This would put his moving speed over the 119 miles and ~15 hours, right at 8 mph. I bet the last 40 miles were cold getting in at 645 this morning. It will be interesting to see if Trent decides to 24 here in Ruby or keep the “5 on, 6.5 off” going and take the long rest in Galena or Huslia.
There
are good reasons for Trent to stop in any of the checkpoints to 24. In 2010, Trent’s class made snowshoes based
on Athabascan traditional design, and took one of the pairs to George Albert in
Ruby. Galena is just one more 50 mile
run away. Huslia is the halfway point on
the trail, and this is the first time the race has stopped in Huslia. It is a village of great mushing tradition
and the village is going all out in terms of reception for the race and
hospitality for the mushers. Take a look on the Iditarod Insider at some of the videos of Aaron Burmeister's arrival last night as 1st musher to Huslia. It’s
another 84 miles from Galena to Huslia.
My guess today is that Trent will keep his run/rest going and go
experience Huslia for the teams’ “long” 24 hour rest. We'll see.
Trent in 2010 with Ruby native
George Albert and family.
Tim