2020 Iditarod

The info below is what was updated on this site in semi-real time throughout the race, including times when there was limited or no information. By maintaining the updates as they were written, hopefully people can relive the real-time drama a little bit.

Welcome to the Qditarod 2020!! The festivities kicked off with the musher banquet on Thursday, March 5th. Q drew bib #50 for his rookie Iditarod. He will leave the start for the Ceremonial Start in downtown Anchorage at 11:47am AST. He should start about 3:40ish pm ADT (yes, it will be daylight savings time then) on Sunday in Willow. Stay tuned here for updates throughout the race. You can also always check the #UglyDogs hashtags and #Qditarod hashtag on Twitter for other race updates.

**UPDATE #1 -** Q officially ceremonially started the 2020 Qditarod today. Our girl Helli was part of the team for the ceremonial start. Q also announced his team for the race. [1]

**UPDATE #2 -** Q officially started the 2020 Qditarod at 3:36pm ADT with 14 dogs. The full team of 14 dogs were Senior, King, Ruby, Kate, Seymour, Noorvik, Tang, Whip, Yentna, Haley, Charley, Roamer, Lance, and Kiwi. Some #uglydogs were stationed along the trail at Crystal Lake and Q stopped to say hi as he went by. A video of the restart can be found here [2] As of 11:15pm ADT, Q was in Yentna station resting since his arrival at 9:28pm after a run of 5 hours and 52 minutes for the approximately 53 mile run. I'd figure Q would have a rest of 4-6 hours in the checkpoint.

**UPDATE #3 -** Q left Yentna station at 2:04am ADT on March 9th and did the run to Skwentna in 3.5 hours. He then stayed in Skwentna checkpoint for 7 hours before leaving at 12:36pm. He ran straight through Finger Lakes checkpoint (40 miles) in 5 hours 25 minutes and headed down through the Happy River Steps. He stopped at the bottom of the steps at about 10pm ADT on March 9th at mile 141, just 12 miles outside the Rainy Pass Checkpoint.

**UPDATE #4 -** As of 6:13am ADT on March 10th, Q was still resting on the trail. He still has all 14 dogs on the line. He got moving again about 8am ADT. **UPDATE TO UPDATE** - Q reached the Rainy Pass checkpoint at 9:25 am ADT and stayed about an hour, leaving at 10:21 am ADT with 14 dogs on the line. As of 1:08 pm ADT, Q is in the midst of the Donzel Gorge and is about 13 miles from Rohn. He is also, according Blair, fighting a bad cold so don't be surprised if he continues to bank extra rest early in the race for the good of his immune system. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Q arrived in Rohn at 2:52pm ADT after a run of 4 hours and 31 minutes from Rainy Pass. He has made it through the Alaska range and the gorge!! He appears to be resting in the checkpoint and may stay there a bit or may leave after a short rest and camp further down the trail to Nikolai. As of 8:20pm ADT, Q is still in the Rohn checkpoint so he obviously decided to stay there for his rest.

**UPDATE #5 -** Q left Rohn at 3:40am ADT on March 11, 2020 with 14 dogs still on the line. He was in the checkpoint for 12 hours and 48 minutes, hopefully getting needed rest to fight off his cold. As of 5:21am ADT he was 10 miles down the trail to Nikolai. He's about 65 miles from the next checkpoint. He also appears to have a ... finicky tracker as it did not update for quite a while after he left the checkpoint. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** As of 10:30am ADT, Q was at mile 247 and just 16 miles for Nikolai. Despite his wonky tracker, it appears he's running straight through and his average speed indicates his team is feeling great even if he's not. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Q reached Nikolai at 12:31pm ADT after a run of 8 hours and 51 minutes (4th fast time for those running straight through). He'll likely take another long rest (8+ hours) in Nikolai before heading to McGrath. With 263 miles down, he's more than 25% of the way through the race.

**UPDATE #6 -** Q left Nikolai at 11:20pm ADT on March 11, 2020 with 14 dogs on the line. He was in the checkpoint for 10 hours and 48 minutes. He arrived in McGrath at 5:35am ADT on March 12, 2020 after a 48 mile run in 6 hours and 15 minutes. It seems like that since he didn't blow through the checkpoint to continue on to Takotna, he's likely taking his 24 hour layover in McGrath, but that's just a semi-educated guess until confirmed. At this point, he's running kind of in the middle of a group of 6 mushers at the back of the pack.

**UPDATE #7 -** As expected Q took his 24 hour layover in McGrath. He actually spent 29 hours and 9 minutes in the checkpoint and left at 10:44am ADT on March 13, 2020 with 14 dogs on the line. He is currently the last musher on the trail as the two mushers who arrived in McGrath behind him have scratched. It's 18 miles to Takotna and he should arrive just as Kaci Murringer finishes her 24 hour layover so he won't be alone on the trail. All other mushers are at least 4 hours ahead of them. Given the short distanct to Takotna and then only another 23 miles to Ophir, I would expect Q to run straight through to Ophir before taking any kind of extended break. **UPDATE TO UPDATE** - Q checked into Takotna at 12:48pm ADT after a 2 hour and 4 minute run. He left Takotna at 12:52pm with 14 dogs on the line. It's 23 miles to Ophir which should be a 2.5-3 hour run. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Q arrived in Ophir at 3:28pm ADT. He left Ophir at 9:32pm after a six hour rest in the checkpoint with 14 dogs on the line. It's 73 miles to Cripple.

**UPDATE #8** - As of 5:48am ADT on March 14, 2020, Q is resting on the trail about 35 miles from the Cripple checkpoint. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Based on tracker info, Q stopped to rest at about 4:00am ADT and resumed running about 10:30am ADT, for a rest of about 6.5 hours. As of 12:08pm ADT, Q was 401 miles into his race, just 24 miles from Cripple Creek checkpoint. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Q checked into the Cripple Creek checkpoint at 3:42pm ADT on March 14, 2020 after a total run of 18 hours and 10 minutes from Ophir. It appears he's going to rest in the checkpoint before heading up the trail to Ruby.

**UPDATE #9 -** Q left Cripple at 8:10pm ADT on March 14, 2020 with 14 dogs after 4 hours and 28 minutes in the checkpoint. He traveled up the trail for 22 miles before stopping around midnight. As of 6:00am ADT on March 15, 2020, he's still resting on the trail. Once he's moving again, he's got 48 miles to Ruby. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Q arrived in Ruby at 5:22pm ADT after a total trip of 21 hours 12 minutes from Cripple. Q will likely take his 8 hour mandatory in Ruby before heading for Galena.

**UPDATE #10 -** Q left Ruby at 11:15pm ADT on March 15, 2020 with 14 dogs on the line after a rest of just under six hours. He obviously decided to take his 8 hour mandatory rest further down the trail on the Yukon. It is a 50 mile run from Ruby to Galena. As of 5:25am ADT on March 16, 2020, Q was 14 miles from Galena. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Q arrived in Galena at 7:40am ADT and left Galena at 8:15am ADT with 14 dogs on the line. He traveled down the river and stopped at mile 559 which is 22 miles from Nulato. I think he plans on a long rest on the trail (maybe 6 hours?) then a run straight through to Kaltag (70 miles away). But, as always, we'll see what Q has planned as it plays out.

**UPDATE #11 -** Q rested the trail for 9-10 hours and then headed for Nulato, arriving at 2:02am ADT on March 17, 2020 and leaving just 24 minutes later at 2:26am with 14 dogs. As of 5:00am ADT, he's 26 miles from Kaltag where he will be required to take his mandatory 8 hour layover before heading to Unalakleet and the coast. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Q arrived in Kaltag at 7:44am ADT and settled in for his 8 hour layover. Q left Kaltag at 3:51pm with all 14 dogs still on the line after an 8 hour and 7 minute stop. Expect about an 18 hour run to Unalakleet with a stop on the way (likely at Old Woman cabin).

**UPDATE #12 -** Q did stop and rest between Kaltag and Unalakeet, but did so at our old friend, the Tripod Flats Cabin. After a rest of about 3 hours, he continued on down the trail and as of 5:30am ADT on March 18, 2020 is about 29 miles from Unalakleet. Thomas Waerner won the Iditarod, finishing at about 12:30am on March 18, 2020. **UPDATE TO UPDATE -** Q officially arrived in Unalakleet at 10:23am ADT after an 18 hour 32 minute run from Kaltag. He has all 14 dogs and Blair reports that Q is healthy, happy, and strong, that the vets say the dogs look fantastic, and the dogs are all happy, healthy and strong. Q will be resting in Unalakleet for several hours at least. There is a storm coming in, so the weather may have a big say in what happens in the next part of the race.

**UPDATE #13** - I guess that's an appropriate number ... the Iditarod Race Marshal withdrew Q at Unalakleet. Blair said that they were trying to shut down checkpoints early because of the coronavirus. Q was the last musher in the checkpoint and about 5.5 hours behind the others. He and his team were happy and healthy and in any other year would have been in great shape to make it to Nome. Unfortunately, it's not any other year and so Q's race comes to an end at mile 714. That's nearly twice as far as any race he had run, he brought 14 happy and healthy dogs to the coast, and he helped raise over $40,000 for Alaska charities and schools. It's an amazing accomplishment by a great musher.

**FINAL UPDATE -** The 2020 Iditarod concluded at 12:29pm ADT on March 22, 2020 when Kaci Murringer, the red lantern, crossed the finish line in Nome. A total of 34 mushers finished the race out of the 57 who started. It was a strange race with the COVID-19 concerns, a series of storms hitting the coast as the leaders were finishing, and multiple teams stuck in checkpoints for significant periods of time and/or having to turn back to checkpoints they just left. Now the mushers re-enter a very changed world. Q and Blair are, as of this update on March 22, 2020 already in the process of driving back to Wisconsin (minus Helli, who will be staying in Alaska, to hopefully be bred to Bison). Once they arrive, and have a change to get settled, any stories from Q's race will be linked to this page. The final total on the 2020 #igivearod was that over $56,000.00 in direct and in-kind donations were raised during the race. This will ensure that Q's endeavors will have a lasting impact on the people of Alaska!