Yukon Quest Extends Trucking Time Because of Road Closure

Another five hours has been added to the time allowed for mushers to truck their teams from Chena Hot Springs Checkpoint to Mile 101 Dog Drop, Doug Grilliot, the 2008 Yukon Quest Race Marshal announced late Saturday night. Now the trucking time will be 13 hours following the mandatory two-hour layover. The decision came following a road closure near Mile 101. Snow plows won’t start clearing the road until 6 a.m. “It will re-open once the road is clear,” said Grilliot. The ploughs will be working both ways to clear the drifts, from Central and from 12 Mile Summit, about 15 miles away from Mile 101. The forecast is for winds to subside early this morning around 3 or 4 a.m. Grilliot announced Friday that mushers would have a two hour layover at Chena followed by eight hours to truck their teams from Chena Hot Springs to Mile 101 because of poor trail conditions. Mushers can leave Mile 101 exactly 15 hours after arriving at Chena Hot Springs, instead of 10 hours later as previously announced.For photos of the start, see Magali Philip’s blog http://blog.noatak.com/