Braeburn and beyond!

Sam arrived this morning at the Braeburn Lodge checkpoint even before the handler crew could get there. We had been expecting Sam to rest on the way to Braeburn for at least 2 hours (as he'd planned), but when we got to the checkpoint at 7am, Sam had already been there and hour and fifteen minutes! His run was going so well, the dogs moving nicely, that he decided it might actually be worse to stop and rest a few hours. The dogs did the run in right around 10 hours (almost 80 miles), which was the second fastest run time for the stretch this year, second only to the champion and professional Hans Gatt. Sam described this as a risk, going this long this fast, in that it might cause the team to drastically slow down for the final leg, but it was a risk he was willing to take. 

At the checkpoint Sam was required to rest the dogteam a full 8 hours before hitting the trail for the last run into the Whitehorse finish line. Both he and the dogs ate and rested well here in the warm midday temperatures. I'm sure Sam will share more later, but some of the biggest things we chatted about at the checkpoint were how much he was constantly learning, how he was greatly enjoying the wonderful laid back hospitality of the race, and how special his time on the race has been. From the time I have spent around him in checkpoints I have witnessed just a small part of an incredible emotional and mental rollercoaster the race has been, not to mention the physical aspects of the race. 

Sam and his ten dogs, with the reliable but sore "Jeep" in lead, left Braeburn at 1:45pm headed for Whitehorse. Its amazing that the race is this close to being complete. From looking at run times of other teams this year, we're estimating a finish time for Sam anywhere between 1:30am and 5am (or later, completely dependent on how things go on this extra long final run). 

Hopefully Sam will be the next one updating this tomorrow at some point. 

Team Belgium's Handler Crew benji