Milos crosses the line

I made a mistake in my calculations earlier and Milos actually left 4 minutes behind Radek so I think the winner of this stage will be close. Remy Coste will be in the mix too as he was fast today but lost a lot of time yesterday. Jan also made a good run... Will he manage the podium on this final stage? I hope so!

Milos is happy with the run. He said he couldn't do any more to catch Radek, the trail was just too short at 30km. It's a shame it couldn't have been the published 60 or 80km as that is what we have trained for but the cable car opens at 9am and the teams have to be in by then! Crazy!! 20km more and we might have caught him. But then again if stage 3 hadn't been such a disaster for us we could have won also. Who knows! We lost a lot of time there with Dixie, who hasn't run since. 

But there are always "if's"... We are happy that we've had our most successful LGO this year if you count stage wins. And Radek is the master at this race with dogs bred and trained just for this so he's a tough one to beat. Our dogs and Milos did brilliantly. 

The dogs themselves look super fresh after their 30km run, but perhaps a little confused at why they're back at the trailer already. Hannalore keeps jumping up ready for more. She'll get her chance at the long distance world championships this March at Finnmarkslopet 500km. :-)

The Czech takes the win!

radek is over the line already... Milos is some way behind. A good run by him but my guess is he slowed down a bit when he knew his chance was gone to catch radek. Better to finish safe and in 2nd place!!! Well done Milos. He should come in with Jan. :-)

Final push!

They've started and already about 15km in (half way). Milos started 2 minutes behind Radek who is flying down the course. We need to catch him and more if we're to win but I think the task may be beyond us... Well, at least the trail too short to allow it! And the last 10km is downhill and Radek always drives faster downhill than we do (a bit). In terms of motivation, which is greater? Someone who has everything to lose or someone who has everything to gain??

We will see! But they are flying... It might come down to one mistake. 

Milos takes 1 minute 3 secs from Radek!

Jan managed to send me a quick unofficial update from the polar base. The results were:

Milos first 

+1:03 Radek

+6:52 Daniel Juillaguet 

+9:38 Remy Coste

+10:15 Jan

Milos was vomiting on the trail!!!! But now feels a bit better. All our dogs ate and look good but Radeks not so good (some were not eating very well). But things can change in this race... We'll find out tomorrow who has the stronger team... And stronger stomach!!!

He's at the finish of 8a!

Oh... My... Goodness!!!!! Were you watching live? In the end, I was. It turns out I felt more sick at the thought of everything going wrong than knowing the truth. So I tuned in to the live GPS. 

What can I say!!! I love my husband and our doggies!!!! What an amazing performance by all. I don't know the times and wouldn't like to guess but he has made it to the finish in good time. Taisto called and said he was about 4 minutes ahead (so gaining 2mins on Radek) but the GPS is unreliable and by the finish line I think it might more like 3 minutes (so 1 minute if we're lucky). But the last time I thought Milos had won according to the GPS, the official result was that Radek was faster by a second... So I don't dare guess again. We will have to wait and see...

But I'm so proud of him and the team for even starting tonight's stage. Having spent the day in bed I really wasn't sure which way it would go. I just hope he has the strength to look after himself and the team tonight. My guess is he'll head straight to bed!!! As for me... Something to calm my nerves perhaps... Slurp, slurp!

Ok, so I just took a sneaky peak at the GPS

Arrrrrggggghhhhhhhh.... Just a few more KM's to go and I'm biting my nails. Foolishly I took a peak at the GPS. The boys are at a point now where they'll be able to see each other on the trail. An old musher trick is to switch your headlamp off so your competitors can't see where you are but soon they will pass each other head on as they take the end of the loop. 

It's really hard to interpret the GPS accurately so I don't dare. They will travel at different speeds depending on the hills and their position on the trail. And the GPS takes a signal intermittently so you can never gauge how far the true distance is. But for now it looks like The Czech hasn't caught Milos yet! Although bear in mind Milos started 2 minutes ahead. I think it's pretty even between them at the moment. 

Oh goodness... Switching off again now. I feel so sick!!!!

Stage 8a - up to Polar Base

I can't watch the GPS. It makes me feel as sick as Milos. It was horrible seeing him set off tonight knowing he wasn't well. I'm not sure there was much fight in him despite a tantalising 3 minute difference to win. It's just not enough distance for us to get the time. I may sound a bit defeatist but I think it must be a protection mechanism for me because I get so stressed at the results!! It's easier when it's you on the sled... You just go along as best you can and that's all there is to it. Anyhow, we know Radeks hounds can beat ours on speed and I guess he will use that today. The two of them will most likely be quite even (sickness dependent!) until they get to the flat at the Polar base and then I guess Radek will charge ahead. I don't know and if you want to find out you'll have to watch the GPS yourself because my stomach is churning at the thought of it. 

I took one picture today of Radek at the start line. It doesn't show it so well but you might be able to see the difference in his dogs to ours. Not all of them are so different but generally his edge on the side of hound and ours huskies even though they have similar blood lines in some of them. 

Taisto called earlier and told me Jan's GPS doesn't work. He definitely started the race so don't worry! 

Maybe you'll hear from me later when I know what the damage is. The thought of my poor husband (rattling with all the pills he's taken) up on the mountain top overnight just doesn't bear thinking about. I've told him to put straw on the tent floor and take the dogs inside to stay warm. He just looked at me and replied "the only thing I need is this" and he held up a toilet roll in a plastic bag. 

A small disaster has struck!!

Well, we were hoping to avoid it but Milos has finally fallen to the sickness that is rife through the mushers and some LGO staff at the moment. He is in bed as I type with stomach cramps and a fever. He's sweating but he's cold and his stomach is painful. He won't be moving from his bed today and certainly won't be eating which won't exactly help his energy levels. 

The final bivouac stage starts at 17.30 from Lanslebourg. We have to be there by 15.00. That doesn't give Milos much time to recover. If we want to stay in the race he has to be on that sled this afternoon and complete this last overnight stage. The sickness couldn't have come at a worse time. I think our hopes for catching Radek are over. We just hope Milos can get on the sled today and finish otherwise we forfeit our podium position. 

When you think about how hard we've worked to prepare for this race with months of training and the effort to get here (driving 8 days and through the night, over 8000km return journey) it seems a shame to not be able to perform at your best. Actually, that's putting it mildly. It sucks! I'm finding it hard not to be annoyed and depressed at the whole situation. I have a vested interest in the team not only as a handler but as Milos's wife and the dogs guardian and trainer. To see the team not perform their best is utterly frustrating. And as a wife, I hate to see my husband unwell and not be able to help him. 

So who knows what will happen later. The dogs have two shorter stages today and tomorrow (one blessing) but Milos is supposed to be camping out again in a tent. We gave 18 seconds to Radek yesterday so have 3 minutes and 20 seconds to 1st place. It seems an impossible task to catch him. Perhaps if Milos had been fitting fit we stood a chance but now, well, you can imagine our spirits are quite low. The good news (if you can call it that) is that we gained time on 3rd place Remy Coste last night so our gap to him is a little more comfortable. I think we'll need it if we're to maintain 2nd place! 

Jan on the other hand is feeling much better today and starting to fuel up again after not eating yesterday. He was so close to third place last night - just a minute and a half after Coste - that we thought he might actually have made it to the podium. Sadly not. But his team still look good and with him coming back to form personally our hopes are good for him in the next two days. 

Stage 7 results... And it's close!

This is getting a bit ridiculous. Radek and Milos were separated by just seconds again today - 18 seconds to Radek. It's no wonder really as he has much faster, houndy dogs than we have. He sprinted his way to the finish after the two teams travelled together the whole distance. For him it was a good strategy to just stick with Milos. As for our strategy, well, Milos said he knew he had to push Radek today or the Czech would have just taken it easy (if Milos had followed him instead) and if the chance to escape came up Milos would take it. It didn't. So we have to be satisfied we only gave him 18 seconds. 

But for us that might spell the end of our chance for first place. Stage 3 cost us heavily and since then we've been running with only a 12 dog pool. Dixie can't keep the speed and Leepey has a sore toe. Very frustrating indeed! So the same dogs are running every day and we're only managing to swap 2 each stage. Radek most likely can swap 4. 

It's easy to feel a bit disappointed with our second place today - as crazy as that sounds!! But we really couldn't have done any better. The dogs gave it their all. They ran 60km in 2.5 hours - and it wasn't even flat!! A few of them were tired tonight but the vets gave them the all clear and we haven't had problems with injuries either. Cliff looks like he hasn't even been running and is eating unbelievably well. Waf too. The pair are doing great. Our racing drivers are notoriously fussy eaters and we're having problems with their eating which is shame because they're really great to run. Senna is doing really well in the race and is probably the best eater out of the three. Grony and Patch are our stable girls and they're still reliable and eating good (Patch a bit too well!). Toby looks a bit tired tonight but he's a big heavy dog to be doing such a fast race. Hopefully with a good nights sleep they'll all be perky in the morning. They were certainly very happy to be in the trailer tonight!

Jan had an extremely good race too. He missed third place by just a minute or so. Such a shame as he really deserves a podium spot. He's the only team even close to giving the top 3 any competition. And today Remy Coste had what looked like a bad day. His dogs caused him trouble in the loop and he was screaming at them and everyone around. Then he won Best Dog Care tonight... Go figure! But even his day wasn't as bad as Martin Bily's. He didn't run this stage as he was being sick in the toilet!! He felt so bad he couldn't even get on the sled! That meant he got 150% time of the last team. This virus, or whatever it is, is rife through the mushers. The last count was 9 out of 16 is on medication or having problems. Milos has been lucky enough to escape it so far. Jan is just about holding on!

Now it's late and I'm super tired. It's the last stage tomorrow - another bivouac double. Usually good for us but when you're competing with Radek nothing is easy! It's starts in Lanslebourg around 5.30pm. 

Good night all. 

The Czech is hanging on!!!

Radek was first out of the starting block but it looked like all three teams were fairly reluctant to be first. They know how it is. You have to pace the team at the start. But not long after and Milos had overtaken the Czech and was leading the group of three mushers who were in single file travelling the same speed. It looked like Remy was working the hardest to keep the speed and before the first loop Milos and Radek had managed to develop a gap between them and him.

The first loop was chaos. It looked as much as a mess as it does on the GPS. Teams looping everywhere and dogs turning towards the car park when they were supposed to run by. Milos got through ok but shouted "double markers down there" to me as he passed so I guess it must have been confusing. Radek was hanging on to the back of Milos and had an easier ride. He's making Milos do all the work on this stage. He knows he can't afford to make a mistake but at the same time he also knows he only has to stay with Milos to keep his overall lead. He only has to win by a second! I guess he's also pushing Milos to push the pace hoping that he'll pay for it tomorrow. He also knows that it is harder work for our dogs to take the lead... Its a bit like road cycling, the one infront works extremely hard and the ones behind look like they're taking a cycle in the park! If Radek forces Milos to be infront and follows him the whole way his dogs won't have worked so hard. 

It's a tough call for Milos. We've been told the next 2 stages will be quite short (around 40km) so there will be little chance to make time. We were hoping for something longer. So today is it. Our only chance for the three minutes I think. And I'm not sure that's possible. It doesn't look like it at the moment. And Radek could easily follow Milos all the way and then sprint the last couple of KM's with his fresher dogs, although that wouldn't be very sportsman like!!! 

Meanwhile, Remy had terrible trouble on the first loop when his leaders went towards the car park. He was so stressed and shouting loudly to the dogs who didn't really know what was going on. I felt sorry for him here because the crowds make it so hard to get a smooth path through. 

Jan did fine on the loop. He's making good speed and has just been passed by Milos and Radek. He's most likely on for 4th place again unless he can get third from Remy. 

But there's still about a third of the race to go. Come on Milos! I think you need to pull something out of the bag!!! 

I will try and post on Facebook another slo-mo movie I took near the start when Milos took the lead. Come and like our page - Milos Gonda and Gaynor Leeper sled dog race team. Thanks!

Stage 7 - not quite a mass start

Today we're at Bessans just at the end of the valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. Traditionally we would have the mass start today when all the teams set off at once but they have decided to let the teams off in three's. Milos, Radek and Remy will start together at 15.43 (14.43 GMT). Jan will start with two French teams, Daniel Juillaguet and Francois Pagnoux at 15.39. 

For the crowds sake the idea is to see who's the fastest out of the gate (so to speak) but any good musher will tell you that's just asking for trouble. It's like sprinting off the start line at a marathon. If the teams want to last the distance then they will be braking. Expect to see Radek, Milos and Jan all braking. The only exception will be if there is a pile up of dogs at the end when the trail narrows and one team wants to get infront of another to avoid troubles. 

The other bit of news from today is that about half the mushers are sick. Either physically being sick or sitting on the toilet. It seems it's mostly mushers as well as a couple of the event volunteers so they are wondering if the water at the Base Polaire was to blame. No-one really knows but they are handing out medication to anyone that needs it. There were some questions about doping controls but the solutions they're providing are allowed. 

I'm pleased to say Milos is fine. A stomach of steel!! Jan isn't fairing so well and has stomach cramps, although it doesn't look like its hit him with full force thankfully. Martin Bily is doubting his start today as he's so ill. 

Our plan for today is to try and not lose any time to Radek or Remy but we will have to see how it goes. In this game you can win or lose in one stage and the difference in minutes at the moment is quite precarious!

I'll post later from the start but meanwhile here are some photos of where we are including Pavol waxing Milos's skis on the sled and one of Jan's dogs enjoying a sled ride ;-)

Stage 6a/6b winners!!!!

He's only gone and done it again!!! 1st place for the bivouac stage 6 over 2 days. Not only has he narrowed the gap between Radek to 3 minutes 3 seconds but Milos now has a much more comfortable lead over Remy Coste of 16 minutes. But he doesn't rest so easy on what might seem like a good lead because we've already seen that one disastrous stage (in our case stage 3) can turn things back again so quickly. 

So what's going on for everyone? Well, it was plain to see that some of the dogs are tired. I have to say Remy Coste's dogs looked pretty knackered at the Polar Base today and weren't eating well. (As an aside he was awarded Best Dog Care tonight which I'm actually pretty amazed at because I really don't think his dogs were in good shape at all! Maybe it was because he took all 10 in his tent because they're not used to camping out). Radeks were better but I'd say they're both pushing quite hard. Milos is too but ours still look quite fresh. We thought the shorter, faster stages due to bad snow conditions would suit everyone else but it seems that it has suited us too. The dogs are used to running 40 or 60km in training no problem and I think it shows. We have two out of the race so far (I think Dixie is too fat to run at all now and don't forget she was the cause of our bad stage 3) and Leepeys toe is still swollen because she broke her nail so she's also getting fat in the trailer. Whereas I would normally be shaking in my boots at the thought of the other 12 dogs taking up the slack, this year I'm not too worried. They all look good. No injuries so far and no real stiffness. I'm sure our routine of walking, stretching, and massaging after every stage helps. I hope I'll be saying the same as the stages get longer. Just three more to go! And three minutes to catch Radek! I feel quite bad saying that as he's such a nice guy and a fair competitor it's hard not to want him to win but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want us to go home Champions! 

I'd love to write more about Jan but he's being very consistent in fourth place and not troubled too much by anything. He got 4th again today and other than a couple of picky eaters I think the dogs are ok. Infact he says Remy Coste is 'hooking' up with him to get the team up the hills a bit quicker and then loses Jan when he drives a bit crazy down hill. 

It's a mass start from Bessans tomorrow so if you're watching the GPS bear in mind the first one on the trail is the fastest. The only caveat might be the rumour that they may start three teams at a time, instead of all of them. I'll let you know when I know! 

I'll leave you with a picture of Milos coming over the finish line tonight and the stage podium. Oh and the times. 

Goodnight all wish us luck for tomorrow! It's a bit longer at 64km. 

Start of stage 6b - Base Polaire

It was an unusual privilege to be able to see the teams at the Polar Base today. Normally they leave to come down the mountain very early but today's start was postponed to 15.00 when they departed in the order they arrived. That means Milos started 2 minutes behind Radek (who last night beat him to the top by just one second). 

When we arrived at the Polar Base (I took the cable car and Pavol took an exhausting 3hr ski up the mountain) Milos and the team looked really fresh. He didn't have any problems with eating and the dogs looked lively. In comparison Remy Coste's team looked exhausted and the handler was trying to feed them from his hand. They didn't look so great. But it can sometimes be misleading. Sometimes they can look bad then when it's time to go they just pop up and run like crazy! I have to say, Radeks team looked tired too and were taking every opportunity to sleep despite the crowds gathering. That could be good training but Milos said it was a really tough stage last night so we could see some shake up in the times today. 

I took this picture from the top. The mushers are already on their way down the mountain and it's a really fast stage again. They have two loops at the top by a lake then the steep descent to the finish in Lanslevillard. It's approx. 44km. We will be waiting!!

1 second between them!!!

How can this be true??? Just one second, yes, ONE second between Radek and Milos after 39km. Wow wee... But unfortunately for us Radek was one second ahead. It's all to play for tomorrow!!!

The good news is the time difference between Milos and Coste is widening. :-)

Good run to the Polar Base...

Today's stage is the first half of a double stage that ends tomorrow. The mushers have driven 39km to the Polar Base above the french town of Lanslebourg where they will now stay the night in tents with the dogs sleeping outside. The temperature is most likely quite pleasant (around -5) with not much wind (according to the forecast- I haven't had news from the trail). 

This is usually a strong stage for us. Plenty of hills, the temperature usually drops a bit which awakens the dogs and our dogs are also used to camping out. Milos was sure to take those dogs that can handle a night away from the trailer the best. I don't know if Radek and Remy have much experience camping out but I know Jan won't have any trouble either. 

The boys have just arrived at the Polar Base and are now busying themselves with preparing food for the dogs, putting out straw, digging holes for beds, massaging and looking after feet etc. Knowing Milos he will also be making sure his tent is on the flat and making his own bed nice and comfy. 

Tomorrows stage would normally start early but it has been changed to start in the afternoon and finish very close to our accommodation in Lanslevillard. Unlike most of the stages, my guess is the fastest person from today will start first tomorrow. This should ensure the first one over the finish line tomorrow will be the winner of the stage. 

As for timings, it looks like both Radek and Milos gained time on Remy Coste with both of them catching him. He started 4 minutes ahead of Milos and 2 ahead of Radek so they both gained at least that much. The battle between Radek and Milos continues with a very tight race today but if the GPS is anything to go by I think Milos may have pipped Radek to the post - but maybe only be seconds!! Or dare I say a minute. 

Jan had a really good race too. He looked really strong on the hills today and is having no problem to hold onto 4th place overall. He still has a couple of picky eaters (as do we) but on the whole his team look good and will most likely do well on the bivouac. 

Tomorrow morning we're able to take the cable car to the Polar Base and join the mushers before the official start in the afternoon. The weather is forecast to be nice and sunny which always makes it a really nice experience to be there. Good for the crowds too. 

I'll try and post some pictures in the morning if I have signal! Meanwhile, sleep well... I'm not sure I will as it's been an exciting evening!! 

Problems with GPS!

If you're watching the live GPS tracking on the race it seems there is a problem with Milos's battery so his position may not be entirely accurate. But I think it looks good for him and Jan. Word on the trail is that Jan's team is strong up the hill and is probably a little faster than Coste uphill but overall the Frenchman has overtaken Jan. Milos is still in pursuit of Remy and Radek!

Last words from stage 5

Sorry if my last few posts seem a bit jumbled up but I didn't have internet access last night so couldn't post much. But I have some pictures from yesterday. A couple of dogs which I don't think you've seen yet and also Milos on the (makeshift) podium inside (as there was a snow storm outside!).

I am also really pleased that we won an extra prize last night... best Dog Care!!! It's awarded to someone at every stage and at the end they will award the final prize to the person who wins it the most times. Very proud of this as it's not so easy to look after these guys on the road in less than perfect conditions. :-)

(Fat) Dixie - she didn't run yesterday

A cute one of Foxy (and Button to side on left and Hannalore standing behind)

Alonso (just wouldn't look at camera). Have you noticed our F1 racing drivers theme with Alonso, Button and Senna? 

Spendrup

Milos on the podium

Rain turned to snow!

You know that rain storm I talked about? Well, it turned to snow about 30 seconds after Milos left on stage 5. It's been snowing ever since. We've had at least 50cm or more. The roads are treacherous and we are crawling along them at less than 20kmph. We have 140km to go to reach Lanslebourg...

A word on strategy...

Some might think strategy doesn't come into middle distance stage racing as much as it does the long distance races. But it does! Take stage 4 as an example. A flat 44km. Both Remy and Radek have faster dogs than ours, probably. Just a little ;-) They're certainly more houndy. But we hope we're better at the longer stages (although the other two won't be bad!). So, do you put your best, fastest team together or save your best dogs for a longer stage? Where are we likely to gain (or lose) more time? On a short stage there's less distance to lose time if you take slower dogs but with only a matter of minutes between the top three in the overall rankings we can't afford to lose anything. 

The other thing to consider is that we have a bivouac stage coming up, the first of two. That means Milos and the team will camp out overnight. Milos will feed and look after the dogs on his own. He is very used to this, as are most of our dogs, but it's sensible to take dogs that can cope with this situation and will sleep. Dixie's in heat so perhaps she's not the best dog to take? She'll disrupt all the boys who will be going crazy all night. Button's fast but not the best eater and this will likely get worse if she camps out. Grony gets off her collar (but never goes anywhere, only to go be close to her yard buddy Patch) but it's not great for her to be wandering around loose with all the other dogs. Have we checked properly for stiffness and aching muscles and at what point won't they be able to run because of that?

All these kind of questions are asked and pondered over before and after every stage. Sometimes you get it right (stage 4 and 5) and sometimes you get it wrong (stage 3). You have to know your dogs inside and out and be able to pick up on small anomalies with their behaviour that strangers would miss. A great sled dog race vet once said the "dog just ain't doing right". It's one of the reasons we left Hannalore out of the team in stage 5 (yesterday) despite being a fast dog that's always up for running and good to motivate the team! She just didn't look quite right when we let her loose. She looked a bit stiff. 

Now we're driving in the car to the start of the bivouac stage in Lanslebourg. It's about 38km today climbing to the Base Polaire where the mushers camp overnight. We start in last place (reverse order) at 17.46. The first LGO musher starts at 17.20. Yesterday saw the start of mushers doing a 3-day version of the race and they start before us.

Another good day!!

Well, we really didn't expect this!!! When the going get tough the tough get going!!! In the dreadful weather the team came through to win stage 5!! Our second stage win so far. Brilliant job by all. 

Has to be verified but here are the times: