2018-19 Season

**2019 Season** - The 2019 season for BraverMountain was focused on Blair's rookie attempt at the Iditarod. However, in addition to that big race, BraverMountain also embarked on Q's Quest, which was Quince's attempt to complete the three qualifying races he needed to qualify to race the Iditarod in 2020.. A musher needs one 200 mile race and two 300 mile races to qualify and those generally must be completed prior to the year in which the musher intends to run the Iditarod. In other words, Q had to complete the three qualifiers in 2019 to run the Iditarod in 2020..

Quince's intended lineup at the beginning of the season was to run the Tustumena 200 in late January, 2019), the Yukon Quest 300 mile race in early February, and the Kobuk 440 in April. Unfortunately, unseasonably warm weather caused major problems with the Quest 300 trail, forcing that race to be reduced to 200 miles. Q then scrambled to enter the Willow 300, but rain and warm weather forced cancellation of that race as well. Although Q was able to participate in and finish the Kobuk 440, he currently lacks the second 300 mile qualifier. There has been some discussion that there is precedent for the Iditarod Trail Committee to allow a musher to finish the qualifiers in the same season as the race when weather has forced cancellations or alterations of qualifying races. At this point in time, there is no indication as to whether that waiver will be provided for next year.

In all, BraverMountain participated in 4 races (2 each for Blair and Q) and finished all of them, including the main goal of finishing the Iditarod. It was an amazing season and so much to look forward to next year as all indications are that Blair and Q will be returning to Alaska next winter

**2019 RACES:**.

**TUSTUMENA 200 - JANUARY 25 - 27, 2019.**

Quince ran in the Tustumena 200 in January, finishing on January 27, 2019 at about 7:45pm (Alaska time). His team was **Pepé, Willow, Xander, Clem, Kenai, Jeff Sharlet, Flame, Wickson, Boo, Talese, Hellion, and Colbert**. Kenai was dropped at the first checkpoint with a little hot spot on her foot (nothing serious and she recovered quickly) and Jeff Sharlet was dropped at the second checkpoint as a precautionary measure because there was a sign he might be ill (he recovered just fine after contracting a digestive bug and getting some antibiotics). Blair reported that the remaining 10 dogs looked great when they finished and Quince had a great time. By finishing the T200, Quince completed his first of three qualifying races for the Iditarod. He was interviewed by the Tustumena 200 Facebook live streamer after the race and that can be seen here.

As always check out Blair's twitter feed and Quince's twitter for reports and pictures.

**GOOSE BAY 150 - FEBRUARY 16, 2019**

Blair ran the Goose Bay 150 which began on February 16, 2019. This race served as the final tryout for the Iditarod team. It consisted of two long runs of about 80 miles each with a mandatory 8 hour rest in between. Blair's team was **Pepé****, Xander, Clem, Spike, Wickson, Lucy, Ebony, Willow, Talese, Hunter, Hellion,** and **Colbert**. The team was basically 10 two year olds plus Pepé and Colbert and it served as a great experience for the youngsters. Blair did the first run in about 10 1/2 hours and finished the Goose Bay 150 early on the morning of February 18, 2019 in 10th place. Everybody left the race healthy and happy after the 38 hour race.

**IDITAROD 2019** - see separate section on the main page for a link to the 2019 Iditarod page with all of the updates during the race and post-race stories.

**KOBUK 440 -** Q entered the Kobuk 440 which was a qualifer Blair ran last year. It is called the "toughest race above the Arctic Circle." It starts out of Kotzebue and runs out to Kobuk and back to Kotzebue. Q's team for the Kobuk 440 was **Pepé, Xander, Clem, Spike, Wickson, Ebony, Willow, Talese, Hunter, Boo, Flame, and Colbert.** The team flew to Kotzebue on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The race started with a mass start on April 4, 2019 and Q finished on April 8, 2019 with six dogs (Talese, Ebony, Wickson, Hunter, Xander, and Willow were dropped along the way but were all in good spirits and healthy). Q was the Red Lantern in the race with a time of 4 days, 3 hours and 46 minutes. The mostly real-time updates from the race can be found on the 2019 Kobuk 440 page.