Tough decision

After a lot of up and down during the race Aslak finally made the decision to quit the race. He is still shivering from fever and this combined with Vosko leaving the team made him take the final decision.

Kirkenes

Aslak arrived Kirkenes this morning and should according to the plan have left now at 13.00 But this time it seems like it is the musher that has got problems. Freezing and svetting at the same time during the brake it seems like he has got fever, so he is spending some more time in bed trying to get back on his feet before the night.

On the trail to Kirkenes. Aslak found it tough on the leg to Neiden with slow trails, but the dogs did their job and they arrived a little bit past midnight. The dogs seems fine and they left again at five this afternoon after 16 hours rest. All the dogs looked fine and ate, some of them better than others. Kesam that usually is hard to get to eat has really done well and is one of the best eaters. I talked to Aslak after four hours on the trail and he was very happy with the team, the trail was good and the dogs were running good. He was wondering how long he should rest on the trail and my advice since the dogs where doing so well was to rest four hours instead of three. This might sound a bit strange, but now he is on his way to get the good rhythm and spirit of distance mushing into his team and he must do what he can to keep it. If he keeps the team happy towards the end of the race he can gain a lot of hours on that. Braking the magic by running to far when the dogs are doing well can easily spoil the race. Long distance mushing if much like balancing on a knife edge and our team still has a lot to learn about balancing.
All the dogs are doing well, but Aslak specially mentioned Kaos that has done a fantastic job in the lead running all but one leg as a leader. If everything goes after the plan he should be in Kirkenes between seven and eight to morrow morning.

Jan Vidar Dahle got a very deserved victory on the 500 km. I know no one else spending so much time with the dogs and being so enthusiastic about his team. Those seeing the team arrive in Alta last night told about a good looking team that was still in top shape after running 500 km. Well done and congratulations Jan Vidar.

Up in the front of 1000 km Stein Håvard Fjestad was first out of Kirkenes, he has had the fastest team so far, but all the nine up in front are potential winners. Ralph has got diarrhea in his team and seams to be hooked of the top fight, but he still might come back.

Ups and downs

On of the most fascinating things about mushing are the big ups and downs you experience during the race. For Aslak the race so far has given a lot of them, Skoganvarre was a happy team and a happy musher, Levajok was a big down, having to leave four dogs and being afraid having to scratch. Coming to Skippagura this morning Aslak was happy again. The dogs worked well, they had a good spirit and three hours of rest on the trail kept all the ten dogs fit and healthy. In Skippagurra the team ate well, even Kesam where looking for more food, this is the kind of details that makes a musher happy.
They where 20 min in front of the schedule Aslak is following so they had 20 min extra rest, leaving 15.55 after 6 hour 14 min rest. I expect them to arrive in Neiden around 24.00 if everything goes according to the plan and not another down is coming... In Neiden they will have their 16 hour stop and i guess this will be good for man and dogs.

Up in the front nothing is clear, there are a lot of teams doing very well and some have had their 16 hour in Skippagura while other are resting in Neiden. Stein Håvard Fjestad and Bjørnar Østigård are moving fastest so far. Wiith Ralph no one really know because he is resting a lot on the trail and run trough the checkpoints, will he continue to Kirkenes for the 16 hour...?

Mats Is Also doing fine, running the race much the same way as Aslak and I think he started out about an hour after from Skippagura.

Aslak left Levajok 19.25 and hopefully he will have a good night crossing the mountains to Skippagura. He have had some tough moments in Levajok having to leave four dogs behind. All the dogs were fit and ate well, but Sara, Chilli and Smirre had to quit due to sore shoulders and Momba due to a sore wrist. This is minor injures that will be fine after a day of resting, but it is impossible to continue the race for dogs with this injures. The rest of the dogs are fresh and ate well. This is of corse not a good situation, but if he continues to race in a smart and careful way, taking one leg at the time, and keeping a positive attitude then he has a good chance to come trough.

Levajok

While we are giving the puppies Fido and Bård their first run in front of he sled here at home (see photo) Aslak has reached Levajok.

He did a fine leg over the mountains, not the fastest, but not to far behind the leaders. The original plan was to rest for some hours in the mountains, but cold weather and ok trail conditions made him push on. There will be more rest on Levajok instead, if this was a smart move will remain to see... Sara from Arne Liaklev got a sore shoulder after two hours and had to ride in the sled most of the leg, she is most likely out of the race. It was also a question about a couple of other sore shoulders and it remains to see what the next seven hours of rest on Levajok will do. Next leg starting in the evening will be 110 km to Skippagura and the plan is to rest for some hours half way. This will bring them to Skippagura Monday morning if everything goes according to the plan.

The front runners has now left Levajok with Brennodden, Tunheim and Ørslien first. Bergby was first in, but with very little rest in Skoganvarre he rested a little longer in Levajok, the question is if it is enough. Ralph Johannesen and Elisabet Edland is resting longer and moving fast than the front and it will be interesting to see if this will give results, maybe we will see some new strategies this year...

Just waiting for a rapport from Skoganvarre before going to sleep. Aslak seem to have moved well, resting 20 min on the trail gives a ok time on the leg. Inga was having problems with Ravna up to Joatka, but seems to have got up the steam over to Skoganvarre. I am still waiting for more inside information from her to...

The start of this years big event for mushers and dogs is just hours away and Alta is the place to be, not here at home where I am in front of my Mac...
I have tried to get some rumors and behind the scenes info from the teams in Alta. Inga and Aslak from the neighborhood is ready, and most of all wondering about which runners to use. Is the weather going to be warm or cold to morrow?

About the potential winning teams, there are a lot of favorites this year. On the 500 km Katy Mayer is mentioned as one of the main favorites, but there are a lot of other strong teams. Among my personal favorites are May-Conny Johansen, Svein Sødal Kvam, Jon Øyvind Selmer, Geir Wik, Kjetil Haugersveen and Jan Vidar Dale, but there are also many other strong teams.

On 1000 km I will keep a special eye to the teams of Aslak, our training friend in Kiruna, Mats Peterson, and Stein Johnsen from Norreisa, but none of these are (sad to say) very big favorites to win the race. Rumors from Alta is saying that both Kjell Brennodden and Ralph Johannesen has strong teams this year. Stein Håvard Fjestad has a strong team to, and him self is in top shape to having lost 20 kg since last year... Other favorites is of course Harald Tunheim, Bjørnar Andersen and Tore Bergby. It will also be very interesting to see how Elisabeth Edland will do. She has dominated the 8 dog class the last years with her fast mid distance dogs, how will this bee on the 1000 km? The forecast says warm temperatures and ok weather the next week and this will favor her team, maybe we will have the first woman winning 1000 km this year?

Espen Prestbakmo reporting from the kitchen table in Målselv

The 1000km team almost ready

STING, sitting here in the snow is the experienced man of the team. He has started at Finnmarksløpet four times before and finished FM 500 and 1000 with me in 2002 and 2005
TRANGIA has finnished fm 1000 with me and started two times with Aslak at fm 500
DØNNING has finished fm 1000 with me and fm 500 with Aslak.
MOMBA, ELTON AND KAOS has finished fm 500 with me last year.
GUNNAR, VOSKO and KESAM was at Aslaks fm 500 team last year.
TUTTA and SMIRRE are newcomers this year. Smirre migh stay home as he have had some injure problems early in the season. In addition on the team is three dogs from Arne Liaklev PUMA, SARA and CHILLI.
Elvira got a shoulder injure last weak and is not starting, Sunda has become epileptic and is a bit to risky to use, and Skare decided to join his father, Faun, running at the forewer dreamteam of Leonard Seppala.

Getting closer to Finnmarksløpet

I have not made to many rapports from this years dog training, but I must admit that Aslak has done most of the training. He is now ready for the 1000 km Finnmarkslopet, starting 8. March.
I will stay home checking the uppdates at Internet and try to give some rapports from the trail to this blog and to the f2.no wesite from neighbour Inga that is going for the 500km.