The Alaska daily empire., 1919-07-22

of the contest, the run to Ft. Davis
 was accomplished in 15 minutes and
 30 seconds, which is somewhat behind
 the time of earlier contests The
 woody Siberians were not hitting
 their best pace, however, end did not commence to show the speed they
 were capable of until they had GOV
 cred practically half the course. Has ting's Creek was passed in 40 min
 utes and 10 seconds after leaving the
 starting line. The few miles between
 Hastings and the turning flag, situ. ated on the store ice opposite Cape Nome, were covered in 15 minutes, 1 B seconds, making the total time to
 the stake 56 minutes, , seconds. Up to this point the lone team has dis i played no inclination to break rec
 ords but after passing the turning ] flag, the canines hit their best stride and the return journey was accom- ! plshed at a rate that astonished the oldest dog fans when tho repoarts 1 came in from the various timing i points Never before in the history of the contest has a dog team tore over the ground at more remarkable speed than the Seppala racers dis played in making their way back to ! the starting line. Every mile of the 1 return journey saw several seconds l clipped from the records and by the
 time the team reached Hastings
 Crock again, the previous record runs,
 up to that point had already gone
 a'glimmering. The total time at that
 point was i hour, 12 minutes, 30 sec onds, which is said to be nellly 3 minutes ahead of tho best time made 1 in the three annual races held up to 1 inc present. After passing Hastings 1 Creek. the team continued the same 4 remarkable pace, until the wooly lit i tlc animals dashed across the start 1 ing line at the close of the wonder fu drive As the team dashed across he tape the watches of the timers l cliclred sharply and comparisons dis I closed that tho distance had been covered in 1 hour, , minutes. 25 3-5 seconds 2 minutes, 5 3-5 seconds under the best previous record, made | by Fred M. Aver in competition ! April of this year, and 1 minutes 1 20 2-5 seconds behind the record established in the first race, also by MT Aver, three years ago.
 The average speed throughout the i contest was 14.25 miles per hour, performance that has seldom if ever 1 been beaten by dog team. In spite of the remarkable time made by his team today, Seppala says they could | have done even better. as he refra'ncd ! from urging them for four or five miles of the distance after he real zed that they were capable of break | ing the record.
 | Seppala's performance is all the
 more remarkable by reason of the fact that the team has had only q few days rest from a long period of hard ! travelling on the winter trail, during which heavy loads were carried and many drives of fifty or sixty miles were made
 1 As a result of the contest today, the competition for the Borden Cup will be continued at least until next year. MT Aver has won the contest two out of the three times necessary before the magnificent silver cup can ! become the property of an individual
 Mr. Aver also won the competitive
 contest this year, but owing to the
 inability of Mir. Seppala to return in
 time to compete, he evidenced his
 fine spirit in sportsmanship by con
 senting to the proposal that Seppala be permitted to try for the record after returning from Candle. Sep