At 10.55pm Wednesday evening Aliy left Takotna with 14 dogs still on the team after her mandatory 24 hour lay-over and Allen has just left at 6.09am also still with 14. It's great to see that big green tick next to their names in the current standings!
At the time of writing Aliy is through Ophir and part way through the journey to the ghost town of Iditarod. This leg is described as "one of the emptiest legs on the entire race, full of lonely country and endless trail".
The videos of Aliy's team in Takotna and as they were leaving showed a team that was ready to go; you can hear Quito and Waylon in particular starting to yell! Joe Runyuan described her team as "very intense and animated". You can clearly hear Allen in the video too, sending them on their way: "Good dawgs!"
Weather will continue playing a part in strategies from here with severe weather warnings for the next day or so for wind and freezing rain.
Our "refresh finger" has had it's rest now too so it's time to warm it back up folks!
Note: we are awaiting our two dogs to arrive into Anchorage from McGrath hopefully this morning. We still don't know for certain who were are greeting off the plane and, as always, will let you know as soon as possible!