A few teams depart and a few teams arrive but compared to Wednesday at this time, the population of McGrath Checkpoint had diminished greatly.  Basically, the race is moving on up the trail.  McGrath awaits the arrival of Billy Snodgrass and Ellen Halverson who haven’t departed Nikolai yet.

Cindy Gallea came into McGrath.  When asked if she was staying or going through, her reply was going through after change out sleds.  She was guided around to the back corner of the checkpoint where her sled was waiting with a few dozen other sleds.  Cindy was in need of the extra sled because her brake was busted.  The brake snagged up on a stump somewhere just out of Rohn.  She managed to jury rig it together and cover the distance to where her sled was waiting.

She’d done an admirable repair job thanks to a hose clamp and wire.  The hose clamps she had in her repair kit were on the big side and wouldn’t clamp tight enough to hold the two overlapping pieces of metal.  She found a wider place and turned the clamp as tight as it would go then added a little wire for good measure and the fix held for the trip to McGrath.

Cindy made a speedy transfer of equipment and supplies to the new sled then headed off to Takotna.  It’s an absolute necessity to have a repair kit on the trail.  Cindy has one more word of advice about hose clamps – don’t leave home without them.  

Cindy has finished thirteen Iditarod runs to Nome out of fifteen attempts.  Betting that she plans to take her 24-hour rest in Takotna. 

Kim Franklin is making her second attempt at Iditarod.  She was greeted by a fan waiving a flag from the UK, her homeland.  Kim’s been mushing since the early 90’s.  While running her own Malamute team in the UK, she became interested in Iditarod.  She entered the 2008 Iditarod and withdrew at Rohn.  She’s back with a team of Dean Osmar dogs to finish what she started in 2008.  Kim hasn’t taken her 24-hour rest but probably she has that figured for Takotna.

Kristin Knight Pace has departed McGrath after completing her 24-hour layover.  Pace’s dogs were resting on the river bank behind Trent Herbst’s team.  The had an excellent view of the river and teams leaving for Takotna.  Dog blankets are certainly interesting.  Kristin had a nice set of Argyle patterned blankets.  Her dogs looked quite smart in them.  Kristin, like so many other mushers, looks for the best deal on fleece when it comes to making blankets.  The colorful argyle fleece was on sale.  Not only was I pretty, it was cheap.  Can’t ask for much more than that.  

Pace dogs sporting argyle fleece blankets as they rest on the bank of the Kuskokwim

Pace is particularly pleased with the performance of her dog team.  It’s basically the same team that her husband Andrew ran in the Yukon Quest.  During the early stages of her Iditarod run, she was giving the dogs plenty of rest.  That seemed like a great idea until she left Rohn to run through the Buffalo Tunnels and across the Farewell Burn.  Loving to run on snowless ground, the dogs but everything into the run which made it just that much harder on Kristin.  Next Iditarod she plans to schedule rest quite differently for the early part of the race.  Between Kristin and Andrew, it may well be Andrew who will make the Iditarod run.  They switch off years for the long races.

Kristin is from Texas.  She came to Alaska in 2009 to take care of a cabin and recreational team for a friend.  She became a backcountry ranger for Denali.  She handled for Iditarod Champion Jeff King.  She and her husband Andy decided to establish their own kennel.  They did breedings with dogs from Brent Sass, Jeff King and Mike Williams, Jr.  Five years later, they have 27 dogs and focus on long distance racing.  Kristin feels there is no better way to see and experience the back country than on the runners of a dog sled.