by Lucy Tanner – Volunteer Support Crew
Diane, Jo and Lucy set off on a trip up the trail late last night in search of the elusive Northern Lights. Departing Dawson to the James Bond theme tune they ventured along the Bonanza Creek Road feeling invincible in their SUV as opposed to out on foot, skis or on a bike where they would have felt a tad more vulnerable. Got to hand it to those athletes once more.
Stopping briefly to take a few moody shots of empty buildings and the dredger the team of Support Crew Angels looked longingly skyward for a hint of the beauty that is the Aurora Borealis. It never happened before it was time to head back to Dawson to prepare for the imminent arrival of Derek Crowe, the local lad, on his bike.
At 0150, with Lucy struck down by a cold, Diane, Jo and a member of the Japanese film crew greeted Derek across the line. It was a fairly muted celebration for fear of upsetting the town folk with too much rowdiness at that time of night.
Derek has performed consistently throughout the race and arrived in good shape having awaited the coldness of the night to harden the ground before whizzing his way down from the top of the dome. Brilliant effort and his reward…a warm bed for the night at the Downtown Hotel. Disappointingly he was just a bit too late to make it to the bar for a beer.
This morning at breakfast Enrico looked great as he planned his tour of the town and Derek looked fresh and ready to go again. Gary and Josh are heading back to Indian River to await the arrival of our first foot racer Hanno. Gerard is in town and will be going out shortly to relieve Gary and Josh as the rest of the athletes come through.
It is with sadness, as always, when we have to announce the retirement of another racer. Marianne Heading scratched at Pelly Farm and will be transported back to Pelly Crossing by Robert for onward passage back to Whitehorse later today. Everyone else is trudging onwards and ever northwards with our full support! Dawson awaits those who conquer the dome.
