Iditarod Update – Race Day 3 Late Night
Current leader board:
1 Lance Mackey (6)
2 Jeff King (11)
3 Kjetil Backen (42)
4 Paul Gebhardt (69)
5 Zack Steer (26)
6 Hans Gatt (38)
7 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
8 Hugh Neff (16)
9 Mitch Seavey (33)
10 Rick Swenson (61)
Hans Gatt and Gerry Willomitzer are leading the charge for Canada, and both are from Whitehorse in the Yukon, which has a sled dog on a snow pile in it’s coat of arms.
The warm front that moved in and is producing highs around 40° during the day is causing problems for some of the dogs – it’s too hot for them. Both Tom Roig (94), who scratched at Finger Lake, and Joe Garnie (28), who scratched at Rainy Pass, were concerned with the health of their dogs after their teams stopped acting normal. Dogs are susceptible to respiratory infections at these moderate temperatures.
Jessie Royer (3) is now the lead woman at 11th, and, although he has slipped to 30th, Rohn Buser (37) still leads the rookies.
Rachael Scdoris (55) has moved up to 80th, and all but one team has left Rainy Pass behind. The top 6 teams are on the trail beyond Nikolai.
Update: I should have noted that Joe Garnie is not only one of the most respected “dog” people in sled racing, but one of the few Native Alaskan mushers to compete in the Iditarod. He lives north of Nome, and his dogs are acclimated to much colder temperatures.
4 comments
Hey Bryan, thanks for the detailed info on the effect of warm weather on the dogs. All the websites are reporting that Roig & Garnie scratched due to health factors for their dogs, but they gave no further explanation. We were worried that perhaps they had gotten hurt. Glad to hear they’re okay. We’re all the way down in Lexington, Virginia, so we just don’t know this stuff! 🙂 You were the only ones writing about the details, and it just gives the race more life for those of us “way down” below and we appreciate it. I especially liked the part about the dogs laughing. Yeah, I can see that! J
It’s hard for people to imagine, but I don’t know of anyone who had a cold in the winter when I lived in Alaska. The frigid air kills the virus on the breath.
There are a few people with huskies down here on the Florida Gulf Coast and it takes them a while to acclimate. They really slow down when they first arrive because panting is the only way they can dump the excess heat. It’s to imagine heat prostration at 40°, but that’s as close as I can come to what happens.
Veteran musher Martin Buser is camping out and resting his dogs in “the heat of the day” and the leaders are running for the “cold” of the North.
Yes, down here in the South, it’s truly difficult to wrap your mind around 30 degrees being a “heat wave”! I mean, for pete’s sake, it’s SNOWING. Then again, if you check out the coats (& undercoats) on those dogs, it makes sense.
That’s an interesting point about the frigid air & viruses. Wish Virginia had some protection against viruses. My husband (who took his first flu shot this year) is down with the flu……
You’ve seen your breathe form clouds in the cold, but during the Alaskan winter you can see it become a sparkle of ice crystals instantly.
In theory, at least, the shot will make the version less severe, but apparently the current version making the rounds wasn’t one of those included in this year’s shot.
The undercoat is the real problem. Below freezing the water will stay on the outer guard hairs, freeze and be shaken off. If it gets into the undercoat, the dog will really feel the chill, and microbes have a nice, warm, damp environment in which to thrive.