Dawson City - Eagle
Start/Finish
Checkpoint
Dogdrop
(Distanz 326 km)
An eight hour advantage at the departure of Dawson is good, but means not too much. Now the teams will begin their first of two long Treks on the ice of the Yukon and the race begins. Often the 75km on the ice to "40 Mile" are quite simply and the powerful, frozen river is similar a freeway on which the dogs trot decay and avances good.
Injuries, damages at the sled and other accidents can be avoided only with caution and quiet on the Trail, that leads over sharp ice clod and watery ice sludge,. At "40 Mile", which is only a little trapper cottage at the mouth of the 40 Rivers, the teams leave the Yukon to find the trail in the surrounding wooded hill landscape and after that pass the boundary between Canada and Alaska. On this stretch the also have to pass American Summit with his treeless, windy summit.
Although it not so feared like Solomons Dome or Eagle Summit bad weather can play a large roll. The last kilometers to Eagle are traversed on the unplugged and in winter closed Taylor Highway. Much will be decided here and reporter or photographers have for intelligible reasons hardly possibilities to gather informations and pictures although bushpilots transmit sightings of teams over radio.
All what is really knows is that the record time between Dawson and Eagle is 33 hours and 15 minutes. However a participant can drive his dogs and can arrive four hours before its Verfolger in Eagle. Who always is on the heels can have taken a rest for eight hours just five kilometers before Eagle and than pass Eagle fresh and stay only for 15 minutes and grap the leadership during the supposed leader is in depth sleep. "Rest & racing" -strategies with a good portion of psychological war begins to become important on this stretch. Yet a long way lies before the teams, but a forefield will develop while the press will be directed for more than 1 1/2 day only on rumors of pilots and many stories of this part stretch will come to our ears only later through interviews.