Hello Pedigree Stage Stop Race fans.
Today the Big Piney – Marbleton Stage was run on the same trail in the Upper Green River Valley again. Yesterday Anny Malo commented on how she ran that leg faster than she ever had with 2.12.17. Well today she did it even faster yet in 2.09.58. With the warm daytime temperatures and cool nights the trail is setting up extremely nice. No loose snow whatsoever.
Well the blistering pace Anny achieved was not fast enough to win her the Stage. The Coste Comet, as Egil Ellis calls Remy Coste, strikes again with winning his third stage of 4, being 1 minute and 18 seconds faster than Anny Malo, despite loading one dog. This was also the first time that Remy hooked up 10 dogs. Of course walking all of them calmly, on leashes, to his sled which was parked several hundred feet away from his dogtruck. That truck is a full size Volvo Truck, still have not gotten an inside view of it. Both Remy and Anny are separating themselves further from the rest of the field.
Highly contested 3rd place went to Laura Bontrager today, who also moved up to 3rd overall. Cathy Rivest only coming in 6th for the day, swapped positions an is now in 4th place. Despite only finishing 8th for the day, Jess Moore remains in 5th overall.
Rachel Courtney ran her best stage for this year with coming in 4th for the day, after being 6th the day before and 10th before that, and moved to 6th overall. She mentioned that the days leading up to the race did not go smooth for her, with sitting at the border for several days and that just now, her dogs are regaining their momentum.
Another team steadily improving is Mike Bestgen, who had not been much on a sled prior the Pedigree Stage Stop Race. He finished 7th for the day. Charlie Connor, the Canadian Runner in Jeans, came in steady Eddy 9th place, same as yesterday. Austin Forney is rounding out the Top 10, after finishing 8th yesterday. Notably he ran 7 minutes faster today, than yesterday, that shows how much faster today’s leg was run by all teams. Red Lantern Musher Chris Adkins shaved off 21 Minutes from yesterdays runtime! That is pretty major.
In the meantime we have all arrived in Kemmerer after a beautiful drive. Temperatures are once again above freezing this afternoon, but overall it looks much more snowy here, than it did in Big Piney Marbleton. Stage 5 already tomorrow…., only 3 more Stages to go!
