2007 Yukon Quest

Benedikt Beisch of Nenana chose to savor an extra few hours of his Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race adventure on Friday while Richie Beattie just longed to reach the finish line of the 1,000-mile endurance test.

Beisch kept his support crew waiting about five hours as he relished a sunny afternoon on the Chena River near North Pole before mushing into 17th place at the downtown finish line.

“It was just a beautiful day and it warmed up so much. It was the last opportunity that I could camp with my dogs, have private time with them, cuddle up with them and give them an extra meal,” Beisch explained upon finishing at 5:23 p.m., eight hours after passing through the North Pole dog drop 32 miles away. “So basically I had a little celebration with my dogs.”

Beisch, a German who handles for Quest Rookie of the Year Aaron Burmeister and drove his second team, was handed a cell phone at the finish line, where his mom excitedly congratulated him long-distance.

“She’s proud of me, that’s about it,” Beisch said his mother told him as he enjoyed the first of a planned abundance of Alaskan Winter Ales. “I told her I have to take care of my dogs because it was getting kind of weird. She was getting too excited. I can talk to her tomorrow when she’s cooled off a bit.”

The temperatures for this Quest were plenty cool but that didn’t both Beisch much, except that it caused his camera to malfunction.

“I’d rather have it 60 below than snow. I got a warm parka,” said Beisch, who arrived with Messy Bessie in single lead and waving a large German flag attached to a ski pole. “The hardest part was Rosebud (summit), there was this beautiful scenery and I couldn’t get the camera to work. That was the downfall of the whole race.”

Given the litany of challenges the Quest presents, a frozen camera instead of frozen digits seems like a minor inconvenience.

“I had the time of my life,” said Beisch, 26. “I didn’t expect it. I expected it to be miserable for two weeks but I enjoyed every day.”

Beattie makes it

“He’s movin’!” Cara Hernandez reported excitedly via cell phone as her partner Richie Beattie passed under the Nordale Bridge about 20 miles from Fairbanks at 10 a.m. Friday.

This was big news indeed, for Beattie had bogged down near the North Pole dog drop Thursday afternoon, putting his finish in jeopardy.

After bedding his eight-dog team down and spending an unplanned night on the Chena River, Beattie — with wheel dog Kali improbably in single lead — roused his team and made good time Friday morning, arriving greatly relieved at 12:04 p.m.

“I am so glad to be here,” Beattie told race officials as he enjoyed a rolled tobacco smoke, his final one after a great trip turned bittersweet agonizingly close to the finish line.

The nearly full-day delay dropped him from 13th place, which paid $5,000, out of the prize money spots to 16th, which rewards just $1,000 for finishing.

“After all of yesterday’s failed attempts to get rollin’, I just came to terms with the fact that we weren’t going anywhere yesterday,” said Beattie, who was greeted by a crowd of supporters including Aliy Zirkle, a fellow Two Rivers musher and 2000 Quest champion. “Once the train was rollin’ (Friday morning), it didn’t stop until it got here.”

His team’s sit-down was purely mental and occurred seven miles after Beattie dragged them past his home trail, he said.

“It was very frustrating, for one, fallin’ out of the money and two, that they just quit,” said Beattie, who said he was prepared to walk his team to Nordale Bridge but not all the way to the finish line. “I’ve never experienced such a thing. It just kind of screwed with my sense of trust, my trust was shattered.

“There were times yesterday where I just broke down in tears of despair.”

Two still on trail, Hessert quits

Healy’s Regina Wycoff, the 2006 Red Lantern winner, assured she wouldn’t repeat that spot by placing 18th at 6:48 p.m. Friday.

The same goes for Tom Benson, the 2004 Red Lantern, who was expected to place 19th late Friday, assuming at least one of the two mushers behind him reaches Fairbanks.

Kyla Boivin can leave Chena Hot Springs at 2:30 a.m. today and could reach Fairbanks late this afternoon. She has publicly stated she wants nothing to do with the 2007 Red Lantern, and will get her wish if Bob McAlpin, into Mile 101 at 7:10 p.m. Friday, keeps plugging along.

McAlpin would be elated with the Red Lantern because that means he’d meet his goal of reaching Fairbanks. It’s clear, however, that McAlpin won’t arrive in time for tonights Finish Banquet at the Westmark Hotel.

Withdrawn musher J.T. Hessert, meanwhile, returned to Fairbanks prematurely after arriving at Mile 101 midday Friday, said Quest race manager Alex Olesen.

“He gave it up at 101,” Olesen said Friday night. “He’s in Fairbanks right now trying to deal with his frostbit feet.”

Hessert, who was pulled from the Quest by race marshal Mike McCowan in Dawson City mostly because he lacked a handler, apparently became chilled on the descent from Eagle Summit to Mile 101, Olesen said.

“When you work up that sweat going to Eagle (Summit), then you plunge down. That is what freezes everybody, that windy, windy long downhill run,” Olesen said.

Hessert returned to Fairbanks with a race official, but his dogs remained at Mile 101, said Olesen. However, Hessert’s dog truck is in Fairbanks and Olesen said he hopes Hessert returns Friday night to Mile 101 to retrieve his team.

Griffin dog death explained

Kelley Griffin’s dog Hope likely died from “aspiration of the stomach contents,” Quest pathologist Patty Pesavento announced in a press release Friday.

The preliminary finding came from a necropsy performed by Pesavento on Thursday. Hope, a 6-year-old female, suddenly died about 2 1/2 hours after Griffin left the final Chena Hot Springs checkpoint at 1:50 a.m. Thursday.

Hope had ulcers, which “could cause the stomach to want to retch,” Quest head veterinarian Vern Starks said on Friday. Ulcers are not uncommon for dogs toward the end of long races, he added.

Hope essentially died after suffocating on her own vomit, Starks said.

“It’s like drowning, bringing fluid into your lungs,” he said.

The determination is not final, according to the press release and Starks.

“Aspiration of the stomach contents is the most likely cause of death. However, tissue samples collected will be further examined to rule out cardiogenic or neurogenic causes,” Pesavento said.

The results of tissue sample analysis will take up to three weeks.

“We’re not going to get a quick answer, but we’re going to get a good answer,” Starks said.

Phillips continued on to Fairbanks after the incident and finished 14th Thursday night.

Hope is the third dog to die this Quest after no dog deaths marred the 2003-06 races. A dog in Yuka Honda’s team died Feb. 11 and one belonging to Brent Sass died Feb. 18.

Contact staff writer Matias Saari at 459-7591 or msaari@newsminer.com.