Yukon Quest Alaska night one update

After a flawless start to the Yukon Quest Alaska races, teams made their way to the first checkpoint of Pleasant Valley near Two Rivers, Alaska. Trail reports said that the trail was "slow going", yet the leading teams of the 550 made it into the checkpoint roughly fifteen minutes ahead of predicted times by the race's social media. 

The 550 took off from Fairbanks at 11am, and Brent Sass was first into Two Rivers at 2:44pm leaving one minute later to head back onto the trail. Riley Dyche came into the checkpoint just six minutes behind the Yukon Quest and Iditarod Champion.

The 300 took off from Fairbanks at 11:30am and the first teams were into Two Rivers by 4pm. First in was Isaac Teaford (running a team of dogs out of Dallas Seavey's kennel) at 3:53pm. Keaton Loebrich came in seven minutes behind Teaford, followed a minute later by 2017 Quest champion Matt Hall. Loebrich elected to stay in the checkpoint as Hall spent just minutes in the checkpoint before continuing down the trail with a plan to camp between Two Rivers and the next checkpoint (Mile 101).

For the Yukon Quest it is hardly uncommon to see teams camp inbetween checkpoints. While the Iditarod is run so quickly with checkpoints close together making camping on the trail a thing of the past, the Quest is a little slower trail (thanks to the difficult terrain) plus there can be close to 100 miles between checkpoints. This style of mushing fits that of teams like Brent Sass and Cody Strathe, and we're already seeing teams hunker down tonight.

As the trackers sit not moving, expect teams to rest for a minimum of four hours in their camping spot. While some teams are on the move after short rests in Two Rivers, do not expect a lot of action until (at earliest) 10pm Alaska time. 

Skies were mostly clear throughout the day on the trail, so it will no doubt be a gorgeous night under the Snow Moon for the teams. The daytime temps ranged from five to ten above, but as the sun went down so did the mercury and according to accuweather temps on the trail are at about -5. Perfect weather conditions for a night on the Yukon Quest.

The Yukon Quest 80 "Fun Run" has most of its teams into the halfway point of Pleasant Valley. Without knowing the rules about rest, there's no way to tell when teams will make their return to the finish - but expect a late night early morning finish for that race.

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