Hello Pedigree Stage Stop Race Fans,
Remy Coste did it again, he won the 6th Stage in Alpine over 5 Time Champion Anny Malo, despite running only 9 dogs, versus 12 dogs in Anny’s Team. And Anny’s dogs were firing in all cylinders and her average speed kept very steady throughout the entire 32 Mile run, 16.7 mph for the first 7.5 Miles and 16.0 Miles for the last 7.5 miles.
Remy deployed once gain the strategy to leave the starting line like a bullet, with averaging 18.6 miles an hour. His last 7.5 miles the speed dropped 15.4 mph, enough for Anny to re-pass his team, but simply not enough trail miles left, to actually make time on him.
Barring any un-forseen circumstance, Remy is the clear favorite to win the 29th Edition of the Pedigree Stage Stop Race. Tomorrow’s course in Driggs is one of the hillier ones, with a very steady 7 mile climb, a couple of switchbacks on the way down, and then the same thing in reverse on the way home. It is very unlikely that Anny Malo can overcome a 10 minute and 55 second lead.
Both teams have separated themselves by an hour from their nearest competitor, being Laura Bontrager from Minnesota. IF Laura remains in 3rd place, that would be her best to date finish in the Pedigree Stage Stop Race. But that is far from safe, as Wyomings own Jess Moore is only 1 minute 21 seconds behind Laura. And looking at this past Alpine Stage Jess running a team of 12 dogs traveled 4 and half minutes faster than Laura with her team of 10 dogs.
Cathy Rivest, is still sitting in 5th place, after an 8th place in Stage 6 with 12 dogs, but Rachel Courtney from Manitoba has had very strong runs lately and her 10 dogs moved 2 minutes faster than Cathy. So a Top 5 is not a sure thing for Cathy yet.
Sarah Tarlton and Michael Tetzner will be duking it out for 7th and 8th place being 2 minutes apart after 6 days of racing. If I were a betting man, I would say 7th is going to go to Sarah, as she traveled 0.8 mph faster than Michael during the Alpine Stage, which was 7+ minutes faster.
Matter of fact, Michael better looks over his shoulder for Mike Bestgen, who has run a full team of 12 dogs during each and every Stage. Very impressive. 4 and a half minutes on that tough Driggs course, is definitely within striking distance.
Austin Forney, also running 12 dogs in Alpine is comfortably in 10th place ahead of Saskatchewan’s running man, Charlie Connor in 11th place. During the Alpine Stage Austin’s teams looked sharp, which was rewarded with a 6th place for Stage 6. Looking at the split times, Austin had a very steady run, with actually running his final 7.5 miles the fastest with 15.2 mph.
Donny Poulin, JR Anderson and Tim Thiessen all had very steady runs, not quite averaging 14 mph. One thing is for certain, conditions here in Driggs will be a bit snowier than the previous ones. Temperatures remain much above seasonal with hovering right around the freezing mark.
9 a.m. is the Race Start for the final Stage of the 29th Pedigree Stage Stop Race.
