James Volek had a speedy run from Nikolai to McGrath. His young dogs came in with smiles under their whiskers, curiosity in their eyes and tails held high. His puppies are happy. James will rest two hours longer than his run time and then go on to Takotna for his long rest.

Volek told a story about his trip down the Dalzell Gorge. Being at the back of the pack, the trail is showing signs of wear and there‘s plenty of scattered debris from the sled that were ahead of him. There were numerous sled parts lying broken and scattered from the top to the bottom of the ice bridge route one would turn out to be quit useful. He came upon a complete strip of runner plastic. He stopped to move it and then looked back at his own sled to realize he was missing a runner strip. Well this is handy. He turned his sled on its side and slid the abandoned plastic into his runner and proceeded onto Rohn.

These sleds are mostly equipped with a universal Quick Change Runner system (QCR). Runner plastic slides into a channel on the runner and secures near the front of the sled making it easy for the mushers to change out according to trail conditions.

James talked about the yearlings he was taking along the trail. He said they’re all sweet hard working dogs. One he pointed to was named Swift, aptly named Swift. The dog that was curled up snoozing was noted for being fleet-footed nearly to the point of being supersonic.

Born to Run,

Sanka