Team 7, Aklestad and Oldstad, are 2020 Iron Dog champions
https://www.irondog.org/news/team-7-aklestad-and-oldstad-are-2020-iron-dog-champions
“Team 7, Tyler Aklestad and Nick Oldstad are your Iron Dog 2020 champions.
The pair, who led the way the entire race, crossed the Big Lake finish line at 1:18:37 p.m. Saturday, after what many are calling the most challenging Iron Dog race ever. This year’s race was revamped to start in Fairbanks and include an additional 375-mile loop that passes through Kotzebue. The additional mileage, along with extreme weather, took its toll on the machines and riders, and as of Saturday afternoon, there were only 11 teams left of an original roster of 29 teams.
Aklestad and Olstad had four previous wins between them — Aklestad in 2016 with Tyson Johnson, and Olstad in 2014 and 2009 with Todd Minnick, and 2005 with Marc McKenna. This is their first time finishing the race together, setting the new record of 50 hours, 8 minutes and 3 seconds on the new course.”
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Iron Dog fans are waiting for the Canadian team (37) to finish - due to their wrong turn, they’ve gone farther than any other team. They didn’t give up, but stayed with it. They have many new fans ... family members have flown to the finish. Unfortunately, they’ll finish late enough (still 153 miles from finish) that the finish line is being torn down (booooo!!!!); however, I think they’ll have quite a few fans turn out to see them come in & hopefully, fans will live stream. There are 3 teams more or less staying together (22, 24, 37) & team 8 is the last team on the course.
Catching up .......
2020 Iron Dog – Day 6 Coverage
https://www.thealaskalife.com/blog/2020-iron-dog-day-6-coverage/
“After a grueling 20 hour layover…for race fans, the leaders have left the checkpoint of Ruby and are headed south toward the finish in Big Lake. The top three teams (7, 10, and 16) opted to take the 20 hours of layover time in Ruby. The decision was largely made due to the fact that the trail to Ophir was not established and reports from trail-breakers were not favorable.” More at link ......
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2020 Iron Dog – Day 7 Coverage
https://www.thealaskalife.com/blog/2020-iron-dog-day-7-coverage/
“47 minutes is all that separated the top 3 teams leaving the last checkpoint of Skwentna, just 89 miles from the finish line in Big Lake. Team 7 was followed by Team 10 and Team 5, respectively, but Chris Olds and Mike Morgan didn’t have enough trail in front of them to catch Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad of Team 7 before they crossed the finish line at 1:18PM. That 47 minute separation was a bit erroneous in the sense that racers were held at Puntilla Lake to make for more of an eventful finish for spectators. Team 7 had an overall course time of 50 hours 8 minutes and an average moving speed of 47.75 mph.
This has been an eventful week following the teams as they traveled an incredible distance through some of the most harsh terrain you can on a snowmachine (snowmobile for Team 37 out of Manitoba), and we want to congratulate every one of the teams who even made it as far as the starting line. Each one can now say ‘I’m an Iron Dogger’. Well done.”
More at link ....
Official race times can be found here:
https://track.irondograce.org/
Iron Dog fans are waiting for the Canadian team (37) to finish - due to their wrong turn, they’ve gone farther than any other team. They didn’t give up, but stayed with it. They have many new fans ... family members have flown to the finish. Unfortunately, they’ll finish late enough (still 153 miles from finish) that the finish line is being torn down (booooo!!!!); however, I think they’ll have quite a few fans turn out to see them come in & hopefully, fans will live stream. There are 3 teams more or less staying together (22, 24, 37) & team 8 is the last team on the course.
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UPDATE: Wow - what a scene last night! Since the Finish Line was being packed up/removed after the first 7 teams (last 4 still 153 miles to go), one of the locals, Jenny Daniels, put out a call for people to show up for the last 4 teams & cheer them in, give them a proper welcome. People came out big time (at least 30 trucks lining the chute with lights on, crowd of 150+), homemade signs, beer (even though it was 14 degrees with a breeze), and someone brought fireworks!
Jenny did a FB live stream pretty much from start to finish - it was like having an ‘insider pass’ to everything. The first two teams came in & got their welcome .... while waiting for the last two teams, it was a big “Ruh Roh” .... they took a wrong turn & were ‘lost’ again!! Jenny continued the live stream throughout ... the discussion on where the teams were in the woods/trail system, should someone go out & try to find them/lead them in, etc. Finally, the GPS was pinging enough to figure out where they were - on Trail 11. They made it out without getting into the ‘swamp’/5-6 ft snow & hit a road .... took a right instead of a left, ended up going through town instead of coming in from the lake ice. Although they came through the ‘finish’ arch the wrong way, the celebration was terrific & the best fireworks were saved for last. This happened around 2:48 EST, 10:48 AK time. Lots of exhausted racers & tired fans, but already looking forward to 2021! That’s a wrap. ~Q