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Written by Lori Henry
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Friday, 06 April 2007 |
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Kiana Checkpoint: Last night in Kiana, dog teams came in one after another from 10:30pm on. In the Arctic, during April, late evening means we still have a hint of light. So as the last musher pulled in so did the darkness. Musher, Martin Buser led the pack and was followed by Lance Mackey and Paul Gebhardt separted by mere minutes. Within an hour over a dozen teams had arrived. The community cheered for each dog team and talked excitedly about how this was going to be a fast race. Local veteran dog mushers checked out the dogs. With over at least 14 teams known to have run the Iditiarod there was plenty of curiosity and interest. At about 2am Paul Gebhardt quietly left the checkpoint and sped through town heading to Ambler. By 5am all 18 of the teams had left the little village of Kiana. Larry Westlake, long-time volunteer and dog musher, watched as the race officials and visiting spectators packed up to leave. He said, "Thats it! The race is over for Kiana." Mushers and snow machine travelers were told that the trail is hard packed but cautioned that with the warm temperatures there were areas with overflow on the riviers.
Click on this link for current race stats kobuk_440_ambler
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Last Updated ( Friday, 06 April 2007 )
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