Curt Perano of New Zealand says the soft, slow trail along the Yukon means hard work, and hungry dogs.
He and his team ran for about seven and a half hours straight out of Tanana but stopped for a break. “To do this run straight—119-odd miles—that’s a long run to do early in the race.”
Right now Perano is strategizing, assessing his dogs and deciding where to take the 24-hour layover. “I look forward to getting off this river at some point. I’m looking forward to that trail up to Huslia—some of that new stuff should be pretty cool.”
Mats Pettersson of Switzerland is mushing his second Iditarod with a couple of Jeff King’s K300 dogs. “Dogs like this, 5- and 6-years old, they’re really steady and they have been with other mushers… They fit into my team well.”
He came to the Bible Camp straight from Tanana. “Beautiful meeting here. I got some coffee and something to eat—really great actually. A memory for life, I think,” said Pettersson. “I’m going to talk to the race marshall—maybe we have to come here every year now!”
