All teams have made McGrath.  There are 13 teams parked around the checkpoint building and another 38 teams have moved on up the trail.  Shayne Traska who scratched in Nicolai is here in McGrath.  She’s disappointed in the outcome of her 2019 run, but there was a tiny hint of her ever present smile.

There was a great amount of activity outside the Captain Snow Center (Checkpoint) this morning.  Robert Redington was booting his team and preparing to depart for Takotna.  Emily Maxwell was exercising and massaging her athletes in preparation for departing later today.  Anja Radano was walking her dogs just to get them loose.

Jessica Klejka Boots to Depart McGrath

Jessica Klejka, in an outback parking spot, was walking and booting her dogs.  They, like Robert’s dogs were up on their feet with tails waving and heads raised howling.  Clearly these athletes were invigorated and ready for the trail.  Klejka planned on running the 18 miles to Takotna, stopping briefly to change up booties and grab a piece of pie to go.

Klejka and Redington are on the way to Takotna. To leave this checkpoint, there’s a rather severe drop in the trail down to the river.  The dogs take it in stride while the mushers have the sled to balance. I must say that after Jessica’s team was on the flat river and trotting along the trail, the thought that came to my mind was how beautiful Jessica danced with the sled in navigating the trail to the river. 

Emily Maxwell Stretches an Athletes

Emily Maxwell seems to be the master of canine massage so I asked if in her non-dog life, was she a massage therapist.  She replied no, but she is a Pilates Instructor and many of the same principles of stretching apply.  Oh, that is one lucky bunch of dogs to reap the benefits of her Pilates background.

Anja Radano was walking her dogs so that provided an opportunity to inquire about the state of her ribs after crashing outside of Rohn.  She said her ribs are getting a little better all the time.  She feels this long rest will help her recovery.  The dogs Anja was walking was a huge 72 pounder with about size 17 feet.  Anja said her dogs used to be mostly lighter built females and over time she finds herself with more big dogs than smaller dogs.  She says there are advantages to both.  Lighter females are easier to handle, especially when hoisting them into their dog boxes for transport.  On the other hand the personality of the male dogs is very performance oriented compared to the females who sometimes are a little more attention seeking.  Actually with 34 year of experience in teaching and coaching, that sounds like a pretty accurate description of my high school students.

Lance Mackey is on the trail to Takotna.  You can see the experience in this guy as he works with his team in departure preparation.  He moved efficiently and with purpose.  Even though many folks wanted to talk, interview and wish him well, he had a full minute to wait at the top of the hill before he could depart. Less experienced mushers are often a minute or more late, which is okay too.  It’s all about goal, are you in it to win or are you in it to run.

So it’s Robert Redington, Jessica Klejka and Lance Mackey that have departed McGrath in the past 90 minutes.  Their dogs were jazzed and ready to go. Nothing cooler than the canine version of the Hallelujah Chorus coming off the long 24-hour layover.