CARMACKS – The 2024 Yukon Quest has changed course again.

The YQ 450 race has now been shortened to 300 miles.

The Quest had this post on its Facebook page early this morning:

“Given the uncertainty around trail conditions as the race has progressed, the race marshall has made the decision to shorten the 2024 Yukon Quest 450 into a 300-mile race.

“The mushers will leave Pelly Crossing to head to Stepping Stone, and then they will return to finish in Pelly Crossing. This decision was made in consideration of our teams, officials, and volunteers headed to Scroggie Creek. Safety is our primary focus.”

Another announcement on the Quest Facebook page and on its website cited “deteriorating and uncertain trail conditions” as the cause of the change.

Benjamin Smith, the Quest’s executive director, elaborated on the situation in a text to the Star today:

“Due to weather and ice concerns in the lead-up to the race, we have had difficulty getting our air strip established at Scroggie Creek,” Smith said.

“The race officials determined that the uncertainty regarding the location made it unsafe for teams to attempt to travel there.

“We had already experienced unexpected trail conditions prior to that in the form of open water outside of McCabe Creek. The race officials took all information into consideration and made the call to shorten the race out of regard for the safety of everyone involved.”

As a result of the change in length of the race, the YQ450 mandatory rest time has been reduced to 20 hours from 38 hours.

Meanwhile, Elevation Kennel’s Crystal To crossed the YQ250 finish line in Pelly Crossing at 7:31 a.m. today, just 18 minutes ahead of Louve Twedell. They were the only racers in the 250.

Sean de Wolski took first place in the YQ100 to Braeburn.

As for the now-300, Michelle Phillips has overtaken Mayla Hill. As of 12 p.m. today, Phillips was about 3.5 miles from Pelly at mile 274.2.

Hill was well back at mile 252.9 , 24.7 miles from Pelly.

Kailyn Olnes, Misha Wiljes and Normand Casevant were all at the 205.3 mile mark, 36.5 miles from Stepping Stone.

The sixth YQ450 musher, Connor McMahon, was listed as scratched.

The Star stopped in at Carmacks early Sunday afternoon as the frontrunners were coming in off of a rough trail.

Hill, the first in with her eight dogs, described the trail in to Carmacks.

“To Braeburn was as usual, just icy and really hard-packed, like a highway. Leaving Braeburn was nice, and then you get on to these lakes forever and some of them were really good and then some of them were just glare ice,” Hill said.

“We actually kind of went around these trails because a lot of them were rough from the snow machines tearing it up. So we went around and we found our own trails and then eventually moved around to where the trail markers were.”

Between these lakes, Hill added, there were portages.

“Usually they’re not so bad, but they were pretty icy in spots. We have this place called Pinball Alley. Pinball Alley was nothing compared to these, I thought, anyway.”

Hill said the up-and-down portages were pretty slick, resulting in a few incidents for her and her team, including one involving a tree.

“I broke my headlamp off. I hit a tree.”

Despite the mishaps, Hill said , her dogs looked great.

“Really proud of their performance. They’re eating good, they’re holding weight, they’re performing incredibly. They look awesome. Can’t wait to add the rest of them in.”

She was planning on adding four more dogs to bring the total to 12.

Hill said she was feeling great.

“Ready for a nap and some food and some water,” she laughed.

Phillips took a six-hour rest at Braeburn, whereas Hill declined to rest. As a result, Hill had to take six hours rest at Carmacks.

When asked if she still has a shot at winning the race, Hill replied, “We’ll go down the trail and see how it goes, what the dogs are capable of and do the best that we can.”

Hill added, “It’s been a great trip so far. I’m excited to see what’s next.”

Phillips also had a rough ride into Carmacks, coming in with 11 dogs about half an hour after Hill. As a result of the rough trail, she lost her snowshoes, but they were quickly replaced.

Before the change in course, race marshall Jason Severs commented, “The race is really going at a quick pace, it feels like. It looks like it’s going to be a quick race this year.”

The Star also spoke to the head of Elevation Kennels, Aaron Peck, in Carmacks before To’s win in the YQ250.

Elevation had three mushers in the Quest, including Hill, To and Silas Godber, who finished sixth in the YQ100.

Regarding the performance of his kennel, Peck said, “I couldn’t be happier. Clean run for Silas. That’s all we wanted there. It wasn’t for competition, it was for experience.

“Crystal, she’s running a bunch of Mayla’s young dogs and a couple of my veteran leaders and she’s having a great time.

“She’s a little stressed at times. It’s her first long race, her first big race, so she’s taking every precaution,” Peck said.

“She’s very thorough. She’s got a backup, backup, backup for everything that could possibly go wrong.

“And Mayla, of course, leading into here, that’s phenomenal. We’ll see how things shake out after the rest.”

It’s an interesting race strategy, Peck said, “being on a different schedule than Michelle (Phillips). It kind of looks like her and Michelle are the top two teams, but we’ll see.

“Mayla seems very upbeat and positive about the team’s performance. They looked great coming in. “She’s gonna add four fresh dogs here and come out of here with 12. They’ll be just rippin’ up the trail.”

Asked if he thinks Hill has a shot at winning, Peck responded, “I think she does. The more time goes by before Michelle gets here, the better.” (Of course, Phillips came in shortly after.)

“But Michelle has the freedom now to trim her rest,” Peck said.

“Her run coming in here was not as long as Mayla’s. Mayla had a pretty long run coming in here, but I anticipate them leaving really close together. And then it’s like, ‘game on.’”