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(10:23 p.m.) Team 31 Potter-Harrison has returned to Galena with mechanical problems.
And that's my last update for tonight. Still no update on whether Teams 30 and 27 will continue on. Other than that, it looks like everyone else is either laying over, in Nome or on a non-suspicious pace to their next destination.
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(10:01 p.m.) Teams 2 Zwink/Sottosanti and 40 Marks/Marks are in Nome
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(9:48 p.m.) Team 5 McAllen/Cherrier and Team 17 West/George are in and out of White Mountain.
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(9:36 p.m.)
Trail Class Team 43 Spence/Spence is in Unalakleet and laying over.
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(9:16 p.m.) Team 33 Bartel/Wichman is out of Unalakleet.
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(9:07 p.m.) Team 3 Dixon/Wold is in Nome.
Team 4 - Albert/Malemute is out of Unalakleet
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(8:55 p.m.) Trail Class team 44 and Team 21 Spernak/Branholm made it into Nome.
Team 18 - Williamson/Hingsbergen is out of Koyuk.
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(8:32 p.m.) Team 40 Marks/Marks are through White Mountain.
Both Teams 30 and 27 are back in Ruby. One of the machines is still out on the trail, but no official decision. Sounds like they just want to sleep rather than make a decision right now. Apparently they were getting delirious on the trail, which can come from sleep deprivation and dehydration.
The rules say if they don't make it to Nome by Wednesday night at 11:59 p.m., they're automatically scratched.
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(8:24 p.m.) Team 2 Sottosanti/Zwink is through White Mountain.
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(8:17 p.m.) Post on Facebook from Brad Rigdon of scratched Team 24 - teammate Wade Bailey suffered a compression fracture in his back -- that's why they scratched.
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(8:10 p.m.) Team 7 Davis/Davis is in Nome
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(7:59 p.m.) It sounds like it might be the end of the road for Teams 27 and 30. A checker from Ruby called and said that a member of Team 27 came in and said the other three are in really bad shape. It doesn't sound like an injury, maybe dehydration, etc.
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(7:56 p.m.)
Team 14 in at 7:41:05 p.m.
Palin/Quam in at 7:44:22 (3 min 17 seconds later)
Team 10 arrived at 7:45:20, 58 seconds later
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(7:51 p.m.) KTUU Digital Director Tim Akimoff in Nome says Team 14 was indeed the first team to Nome. Team 11 Palin/Quam and 10 Huntington/Olds are also in. This might be the official times on the phone.
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(7:45) No calls from Nome yet, but GPS puts McKenna/Van Meter in town, so looks like they take the cake, or the gold.
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(7:42 p.m.) Team 3 Dixon/Wold just went through White Mountain.
Checker says it's really windy from Elim to White Mountain.
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(7:28) Team 21 Branholm/Spernak is through White Mountain at 7:21 p.m. They didn't get called in through Koyuk.
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(7:25 p.m.) GPS shows that Team 11 Palin/Quam just gained on Team 14 McKenna/Van Meter. GPS shows that Team 14 is only going 15 MPH but there's no way they would have maintained that lead since 11 is going 50-60 MPH.
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(6:59 p.m.) Update from the Trail: Trail Class rider John Woodbury of Team 54 says: After an all day toil in windblown 5-foot drifts yesterday from McGrath to ruby it was s pleasure to finally hit 90 mph on the Yukon. A very fast river run
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(6:55 p.m.) Here are the times the teams through White Mountain left:
McKenna/Van Meter- 6:25 p.m.
Palin/Quam - 6:29 p.m.
Huntington/Olds - 6:33
Davis/Davis - 6:46
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(6:51 p.m.) Team 7 Davis/Davis is also through White Mountain. If you're in Nome, get ready to head downtown.
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(6:45 p.m.) Team 10 Huntington/Olds is also through White Mountain.
Dixon/Wold, McAllen/Cherrier and West/George are all through Koyuk.
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(6:38 p.m.) McKenna/Van Meter went through White Mountain 4 minutes before Palin/Quam. 6:25 and 6:29. Should be getting to Nome in about an hour.
*They came IN to White Mountain within ONE minute of each other. This is getting exciting. The difference is because of gassing up.
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(6:35 p.m.) Overheard at HQ - Jana Peterson (of Team 20) is in great shape even after an 18-hour ride, and the local guys in Galena are waiting for Team 30 (Known as "The Girls" around here) to show up.
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(6:33 p.m.) Team 31, 23 and 29 made it to Galena. 23 and 29 went through but 31 is working on a sled.
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(6:21 p.m.) Right now it's a race for $10,000 in gold for the first pro class team to Nome. Looks like 11 and 14 (Palin/Quam and McKenna/Van Meter) are right on top of each other. Looks like they made it across Golovin Lagoon alright. Team Perrins was saying they ran into open water on the Bay. I'm not sure if they were referring to the Bay or the further-in lagoon.
Speaking of, the GPS tracker is back up: http://www.ionearth.com/2011/irondog/web/
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(6:09 p.m.) Team 2 - Zwink/Sottosanti and 40 Marks/Marks are through Koyuk. Looks like Zwink/Sottosanti passed 21 Branholm/Spernak and 3 Dixon/Wold.
Also, Team 25 - Watson/Price have made it to White Mountain for their layover.
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(5:39) Team 5 McAllen/Cherrier came through Shaktoolik at 5:36 p.m.
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(5:35 p.m.) GPS tracker is down. No one here at HQ has racers on their screen. We went from green flags with wrong IDs to trucks with correct IDs and now all we have are checkpoints. They say their IT people are "sweating bullets" working on it.
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(5:29 p.m.) Team 23 Johnson/Green, 31 Potter/Harrison and 29 Muir/Jones have left Ruby.
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(5:19 p.m.) Team 40 Marks/Marks is through Shaktoolik.
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(5:07 p.m.) Team 27 - Fuller/Long is out of Poorman and Team 2 Zwink/Sottosanti is out of Shaktoolik.
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(4:55 p.m.) Teams 44 Dietrich/Jauhola (Trail Class), 11 Palin/Quam, 14 McKenna/Van Meter, 10 Huntington Olds, and 7 Davis/Davis are through Koyuk.
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(4:37 p.m.) Team 4 - McAllen/Cherrier is out of Unalakleet. The next team has two hours to go, and that will be Team 4 - Albert/Malemute. Still on layover in Unalakleet are Team 33 Bartel/Wichman and 12 - Goodell/Willard.
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(4:35 p.m.) Team 3 - Dixon/Wold are through Shaktoolik. That's six pro class teams.
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(4:31 p.m.) Team 21 - Branholm/Spernak is through Shaktoolik.
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(4:19 p.m.) Looks like there's some glitch in the GPS system. The thought here is that it has the correct position but wrong identity. The GPS says Todd Minnick is in White Mountain (he crashed and got injured Sunday and scratched) and Team 30 on Norton Sound, when they're just out of Poorman.
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(4:16) Marks/Marks is through Shaktoolik
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(4:12 p.m.) Just heard a story from last year of a team who was crossing the sea ice (not sure where) and lost a snowmachine. They say the team was on an ice ledge and it started to slide away. They tried to pull the machine back, but a ski was stuck under, and they let it go and "hauled ass" on the other sled and made it off just before that ice started breaking up. That's some scary stuff. Apparently his GPS beacon continued to ping from 68 feet underwater.
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(4:09 p.m.) Team 2 - Zwink/Sottosanti off layover at 4:02
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(4:04 p.m.) It looks like Palin/Quam are cutting across the sound to get to Koyuk.
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(4:01 p.m.) Davis/Davis through Shaktoolik - just 6 minutes behind Huntington/Olds.
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(3:56 p.m.) Huntington/Olds has gone through Shaktoolik -- 7 minutes behind Team 14.
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(3:53 p.m.) Just brought up at HQ -- imagine what the race would be like if Teams 8 and 16 (Aklestad/Johnson and Minnick/Olstad) were still in it. Oh man, that lead pack would be eight deep.
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(3:49 p.m.) McKenna/Van Meter gained a minute on Palin/Quam, coming through Shaktoolik just nine minutes after.
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(3:43) Team 30 - Harrington/Jackson is in and out of Poorman
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(3:40 p.m.) Team 11 - Palin/Quam are already through Shaktoolik -- they're flying. Their last GPS hit was 54 MPH. It's 41 miles from Unalakleet and it took them about a half an hour.
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(3:32 p.m.) Now the racing begins! Six teams are out of Unalakleet after taking their third 10-hour layover.
Palin/Quam and McKenna/Van Meter were first out with just 10 minutes between them. Huntington/Olds, Davis/Davis, Spernak/Branholm, and Dixon/Wold have since joined them on the trail.
There are two pro-class teams further along the trail, but they're on layover in Koyuk. That's West/George and Williamson/Hingsbergen. Team 25 Watson/Price is on the trail to White Mountain, where they'll have to take their third layover.
In Koyuk, West/George started their layover at 8:40 a.m., meaning they can leave at 6:40 p.m. Williamson/Hingsbergen started their layover at 10:47 a.m.