A tall fellow was jogging with a handsome Siberian around the McGrath Checkpoint. It was Mike Ellis who was taking his 24-hour rest and having a little fun with his canine companions. Ellis looked good but his dog, Eliza looked great. Ellis has the fastest ever Siberian time for the Yukon Quest and hopes to be making the same claim for Iditarod when he reaches Nome. Currently, Blake Frekking’s Siberians of Minnesota hold the Iditarod record. Frekking’s handsome dogs covered the northern route to Nome in 11 days, 20 hours and 39 minutes for 42nd place. Most of the dogs on the Ellis team are from two litters and Eliza, their mother is running lead. Mike finds himself living his dream of running the Iditarod largely through receiving the Seppala Heritage Grant. The grant was founded by the Seppala Family to help mushers who aspire to run the Iditarod for the first time. Eliza will be leading Ellis and the rest of the team out of McGrath at 07:43 on Thursday morning following their 24-hour rest and differential adjustment.

Born to Run,

Sanka