Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Race is on Tom and Steve are the leaders

Weather:- it's RAINING
Where in the world is TOM
Click on the link above and then click on the Google World at the end of the line or scroll to the end of the page for more Techie tracking.

Make sure you click on the sponsored links next to the blog text - Ok Here's the update.....

The land-crew have driven Whitehorse to Carmacks 169 kilometres. No Internet last night so we're late with the Blog. The 20inch cinnamon bun on the road keep us going ...... the further north we go the bigger stuff gets ..... there is a pick-up truck out the front of the hotel for those blokes following us it's a Ford F 450 "super duty" it put's Kobi and Daen's jacked up Nissan Patrols to shame - more work on the suspension and tyres for the boys when they get home ....

Lynton (land-crew for Steve ) with his Cinnamon bun
Christine and Fiona deciding who will attack the over-sized hamburger first

More bad news the race organiser had sent all the information to the Customs Officer for the teams to quickly pass through customs  at Eagle YEP this race includes a border crossing from Canada to Alaska USA.
 He was prepared to get out of bed any time to pass them through. Unfortunately his car was found down a 200 meter road wash-out and he is missing, this appears to be related to the road closure posted on the home page of the race website. All the local rivers around Eagle are swollen. Seems that he was washed away when the road gave way. Peter Coates the "Race Director" is trying to organise an alternative plan for passing through American customs at Eagle potentially in the middle of the night for "the Aussy Toms"

 OK back to the race!!
1st At Takini bridge

1st Place at Policemans Point

 Voyageur at Policeman's Point

1st Place at lower Laberge..
Wind behind on the lake (this made Steve Happy)
Camped 200 metres ahead of the Aussie canoe, estimate now 5 minutes ahead .
They are 1 hour behind their target

5 1/2 aussies in the race of 22 (1/2 is from New Zealand)

For those of you who have clicked the "overnight stop link" at the top of the results page we have a Hiccup!!! Toms SPOT device has him leaving camp 10 minutes early "to short" 5 hours 50 minutes" but Steve's is  correct - over 6 hours as per the rules, so we think they left together but Tom might have pressed his spot just before the satellite passed and Steve just after. Rules say they must allow for this so we have to yell instructions at Carmacks when they pass by this afternoon.

the local general store here has a big orange note in the window - check www.511alaska.gov (if the site doesn't open drop it into www.Google.com and search ) for hwy conditions to "Chicken" so we did, apparently the road is open as they work on it and they are using a pilot car to escort vehicles through the road works.

The Government website indicates that the highway from Dawson to Fairbanks has reopened but not to Eagle so that will make our trip 700 km less but we may not be able to get into Eagle to see the boys. We may try to get to Circle but if not next time we see them will be at the end. Kobi is keen to tackle the road blocks and not rely on the sketchy local gossip about what's happening up north - we'll let you know as we go.

We're off now to try and find some vantage points near "little Salmon" on the Campbell Hwy. The drizzling rain means that we can't get out for a walk as planned, and we've seen all the re-runs of MASH on the TV.

Thanks for all the positive emails and notes - please spread the word - it spurs the boys on when they pass and your positive thoughts will keep them motivated as they head this afternoon out into the wilderness for the next significant leg of the race. We'll post an up-date later today after they pass the front of our "executive riverside suites" here in Carmacks - we're all going to smoke a pack of ciggy's today so we fit in ....!!!

cheers Kobi

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