Denali Doubles - Photos!

Hey, it took all week... but here are some photos of the Denali Doubles Race!! Click on the pics to enlarge...


A view of the start... nice and sunny! A beautiful day for a race!


Sebastian Schnuelle makes some final preparations at the start.


Aliy Zirkle poses for a quick picture with a few dogs from her "Red SP" team at the start.


Instead of running double sleds, Zoya DeNure and her Doubles partner Ania Chojnacka had a 'double wide' sled made for the race. One of a kind for sure!


Christy Berington takes a moment to smile for the camera while harnessing dogs at the race start.


Allan Moore and daughter Bridgette Watkins depart from the start.


Dan Kaduce and Jodi Bailey head to the starting line with their team of 20 dogs.

Dallas Seavey and Benedikt Beisch depart from the start on one single sled. They told us that they took turns sleeping in the basket - and it was sooo comfortable!

Collen Robertia takes a look at their team while her husband Joseph waits on the runner tails of the second sled to depart from the start.


Allen Moore and Bridgette Watkins sign in at the Alpine Creek checkpoint.


Shaynee Siepke waits patiently for partner Dean Osmar to sign in at the Alpine Creek checkpoint.


Jeff and Tracey take a moment to smile for a picture while waiting for teams to arrive at Alpine Creek. This was the one time that Tracey had the camera turned on her! She took most of the pics over the weekend - along with keeping busy and getting the job done.


Sebastian Schnuelle and his partner Klaus Klein give a heads up as they're passed by the camera wielding snow machiners.

Teams bed down on the river at the Maclaren Lodge checkpoint.

Mike Santos turns cameraman as he takes over duties for Benedikt - momentarily at least. Benedikt had that camera running a lot over the weekend. Make sure to check out his videos and interviews from the trail at mushing.tv!


Enjoying the sunshine at Maclaren Lodge checkpoint.


A few aerial views of teams... this one appears to be Zoya/Ania.


Dan Kaduce and Jodi Bailey.


Bill Cotter and partner Andy Hutten.


First place goes to two of our very own.... Dave DeCaro and Caroline Sheftel!! They were ALL smiles at the finish.


The race was on for third place between Cim Smyth/Mattie Schmidt and Allen Moore/Bridgette Watkins! Cim/Mattie beat them to the finish line by 4 seconds!!


Allen & Bridgette pose with their lead dogs at the finish of the race.


Scott Smith & Clint Warnke hit the finish line in 5th place on Saturday afternoon.

Hope you enjoy the pictures! It was a great time!

We'll be in touch!

Denali Doubles - Final Standings

Guess we kind of overlooked sharing this information with you...! Sorry!

1^st Dave DeCaro/Caroline Sheftel -- $10,000

2^nd Dan Kaduce/Jodi Bailey -- $2,200

3^rd Cim Smyth/Mattie Schmidt -- $1,200

4^th Allen Moore/Bridgette Watkins -- $850

5^th Clint Warnke/Scott Smith -- $600

6^th Mitch Seavey/Tekla Seavey -- $500

7^th Dallas Seavey/Benedikt Beisch -- $300

8^th Paul Gebhardt/Christy Berington -- $200

9^th Jim Lanier/Anna Bondarenko -- $150

10^th Michelle Phillips/Ed Hopkins -- $100

11^th Aliy Zirkle/Tamara Rose

12^th Sabastian Schnuelle/Klaus Klein

13^th Dean Osmar/Shayne Seipke

14^th Bill Cotter/Andy Heutten

15^th Robertia/Robertia

16^th Travis Beals/Wade Marrs

17^th Zoya DeNure/Ania Chojnacka

Look for pictures tomorrow!! :)

Denali Doubles... A Success!

Hey Race Fans!

What a GREAT race! We could not be happier with the way the entire weekend turned out! The weather was beautiful, the trail had snow, a top-notch line up of mushers... and a showdown for 3rd place at the finish line!

We will be posting pics from the race all week long on the blog... but here are a few to tide you over!

Maclaren Lodge checkpoint.

Teams parked on the river at Maclaren checkpoint.

Aerial view of Maclaren checkpoint - you can see the straw from dog teams on the river.

If videos are what you may be looking for... we have a few spots to check those out too!

Benedikt Beish may have been running in the race as partner to Dallas Seavey, but this guy is never without his camera. He's posted some great videos on his webpage at http://mushing.tv/. He also has videos and interviews from earlier races this season - Copper Basin, Tustumena 200 and the Kusko! Check them out!

Remember that close finish? Check out the video of Cim Smyth/Mattie Schmidt and Allen Moore/Bridgette Watkins by clicking here! You're going to love this one!

Alright folks - that's all for now... make sure to check back for more pics!!

Carrie

Race Tracker Update

Hey Folks! Some ducks are out of Paxson!! :)


and a few other ducks are spending some time resting in Paxson...

In other news: Make sure to check out our new race leaderboard by clicking here. I'm pretty sure that if you leave it 'open' it will update on your screen as I update the information from here.
I am entering information as it comes in from Paxson.

The weather here at Maclaren is a balmy 13 degrees; 75% humidity; partly cloudy; winds NNW at 2 mph.

We expect the first teams to be coming back through Maclaren here pretty shortly - so keep an eye on that leaderboard!

Cheers!

Leaderboard Update

Hi All!

We're trying a new way to post you the information that we have coming in....

Click here for a link to our new online Google spreadsheet!

We'll keep updating from here at Maclaren as teams depart for Paxson, and as we hear news of teams arriving in Paxson. Currently it is a beautiful morning here with hardly a cloud in the sky - the temperature outside is quite warm at minus 1. :)

Thanks for following along!!

Race Tracker - Post #2

it's a new day & a new duck is in the lead... :)



Teams are stacking up here a bit while they work on their mandatory 8 hour rest and catch a couple of zzzz's. Two teams have gone through Maclaren (Gebhardt/Berington and Beals/Marrs) and the earliest team out of here can leave at 9:56am.

Oh, and noone has quacked up yet! :)

(ok - at this point we may just be a bit sleep deprived..... )

Race Stats Photo Update

Hey gang!

We're taking pics of our 'board' and we're posting them to share with you so you can get a little update as to what is going on with teams. Information is a bit sparse out here but we are doing what we can to keep you in the loop!!

Jeff strikes a pose in front of our wonderful leaderboard!

(Clicking on the picture will enlarge the photo)

Denali Doubles - Maclaren River Update

As you can see.... Duck #1 is ahead of all the rest.

Nuff said.





That's all your're going to get. :P

Just kiddin'!!




Hello Race Fans!





The start of the Denali Doubles went off without a hitch! After a fantastic cup of chili at the Cantwell Lodge the crew headed out to the race start approximately 5 miles out of Cantwell where we were happy to find many mushers all neatly parked according to their starting positions.




Eighteen teams left the starting line beginning at 5pm sharp and all teams were on the trail by 5:34pm.

Allen Moore and daughter Bridgett Watkins leave the start line.

Dave DeCaro and Caroline Sheftel leave the starting line with a full team of 20 dogs.

We traveled the trail via snowmachine to Alpine Creek where we were greeted by smiling faces and volunteers ready to get the job done. Dinner was wonderful there as well! A cheesy pasta casserole with halibut!

Team Kaduce/Bailey were the first into Alpine Creek, and they were the first to make it to Maclaren. Teams seem to be travelling at a pretty good speed and so far the trail has been great. We spotted all kinds of wildlife on the way out: Caribou, Moose, Fox, Lynx and then a dreaded porcupine....

ok - gotta get this one to print!

Teams are arriving in Maclaren as I write this so we'll be in touch again soon!

Denali Doubles Race Begins Tomorrow!

Hey Folks!

We have had a fun day here at the Homestead and we are all geared up for a fgreat weekend at the Denali Doubles!!

Today we updated our fantabulous Race Tracker!! It will help to keep viewers up to date on the whereabouts of their favorite teams!

Fur Ruff donated to the Denali Doubles Race by Alaska Range Creations - Brenda Mowery.

A set of two beautiful knives donated to the Denali Doubles by our friend Kurt Hellweg.

In fact, we were so on top of things today that the guys had enough time for some Ping Pong action....

Tyler & Jason battle it out!

Action shot of Tyler...

And then there is the King himself... taking names and adding to his list of wins at Ping Pong!

So tomorrow morning we're off to Cantwell! Keep an eye on our blog as I will be posting updates on the Denali Doubles race here.

Good luck to all the teams that are heading out on the highway!

We'll be in touch!

Carrie

Denali Doubles Trail Update

Fresh snow cover over asphalt. Approximately 10 miles from Paxson.

Fresh snow cover over asphalt. Approximately 10 miles from Paxson.

Fresh snow cover over asphalt. Approximately 10 miles from Paxson.

Approximately 60 miles from Cantwell. The vast majority of the trail looks like this.

Susitna River Bridge 50 miles from Cantwell.

Susitna River Bridge approach.

Glacier hazard 18 miles from Cantwell. Currently the trail avoids that hazard by detouring to the right side of the road.

Growing slanted glacier 15 miles from Cantwell.

Hiatus Pics... and more!

Thought that you all may enjoy a few more pics from winter hiatus in Florida...

Jeff and his big Barracuda catch!

Fish on!

Donna ready for take-off!

In other news...

You may recall Jeff talking about the beautiful sled that he had made by David Klumb? Well the crew finally got the gee-pole on it and took it out for a spin on the lake yesterday!

A gorgeous day for a spin 'round the lake! Don't let the sunshine fool you - a bit chilly at more than 20 below.

Jeff rides the sled, Tracey is skiing and figuring out the gee-pole, while Tyler pulls them in circles around the lake.

After a quick lunch of Donna's homemade mac & cheese (yum!) and some of Jeff's excellent coffee the entire crew headed off to the Denali Highway today. Jason & Tracey will be running double sleds with Dave's yearling/Iditarod team while Dave & Caroline get some more time on double sleds with Jeff's race dogs in preparation for next weeks Denali Doubles. (My money is on them!) Jeff & Tyler will be headed across the highway on snow machines to scope out the race trail and make a stop at Maclaren for a visit (and most likely some of Suzi's great cooking!)

We'll be in touch again soon!

Happy Trails,
Carrie