Jeff King left White Mountain and the sprint is on. The other are spread out back to Elim.
Current Standings:

1 Lance Mackey (6)+57 min
2 Jeff King (11)
3 Ramey Smyth (48)
4 Ken Anderson (9)
5 Martin Buser (13)Koyuk
6 Hans Gatt (38)
7 Paul Gebhardt (69)
8 Mitch Seavey (33)
9 Kjetil Backen (42)
10 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)
11 Zack Steer (26)
12 Rick Swenson (61)
13 Jessie Royer (3)K>
14 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
15 Cim Smyth (2)
16 Ed Iten (32)
17 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
18 Jim Lanier (4)
19 Ray Redington Jr. (49)
20 Aaron Burmeister (14)

Melissa Owens (59) dropped to 29^th place in Koyuk, when 28^th place, William Kleedehn (66) left Koyuk, becoming the lead rookie.

Still in 63rd place, Rachael Scdoris (55) is on the trail out of Kaltag

In 82^rd place is Liz Parrish (75) in Nulato. She took over the back of the pack when 83^rd place, Steven Madsen (57), scratched in Galena.

Lance Mackey was back on the trail at 4:53PM AKDT [7:53PM CDT] with under 70 miles and one check point to go.  Jeff King can’t leave until 5:50PM AKDT, giving Mackey a 57 minute lead.  One or the other should be in Nome in 10 to 12 hours depending on the strength of their team and the conditions on the trail.

CNN reports that Fallon resigns as chief of U.S. forces in Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Adm. William Fallon has resigned as chief of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia after more than a year in the post, citing what he called an inaccurate perception that he is at odds with the Bush administration over Iran.

Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command, was the subject of a recent Esquire magazine profile that portrayed him as resisting pressure for military action against Iran, which the Bush administration accuses of trying to develop nuclear weapons.

In a written statement, he said the article’s “disrespect for the president” and “resulting embarrassment” have become a distraction.

“Although I don’t believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility, the simple perception that there is makes it difficult for me to effectively serve America’s interests there,” Fallon said.

[Read more →]

A little bit ago someone wrote about the word “bellwether” and it stuck in my mind, and was pushed to the front by someone using it this weekend, and misspelling it “bellweather”.

If you didn’t know, a “wether” is a neutered ram. A “bellwether” is a neutered ram with a bell around its neck that is used to lead a flock of sheep, a “Judas goat” without a clear purpose, if you will.

I just finished reading The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and have been paying more attention to words, especially the willful misdefining of words in the political battles that have severely restricted the number of sites I read.

[Read more →]

The Anchorage Daily News reports that a Snowmachine kills team dog on Yukon

A dog in the team of Iditarod musher Jennifer Freking from Finland, Minn., died Sunday evening after being hit by a snowmachine near the village of Nulato, according to the Iditarod Trail Committee and Freking’s Web site.

Freking and her husband, Blake, a fellow Iditarod musher, arrived in Nulato on Monday about 4:25 a.m. and left at 5 p.m. They were in 56th and 57th places.
…

According to a press release from the Iditarod, “at approximately 10 p.m. (Sunday) evening, a snowmachiner ran into Jennifer Freking’s team on the Yukon River near Koyukuk (upriver from Nulato). Unfortunately, the incident caused the death of a 3-year-old female named ‘Lorne.’ “

The Freking’s raise and race purebred Siberian huskies, which are beautiful dogs if not quite as fast as the purpose-bred racing dogs of others.

Losing a dog is always hard, and a second dog was injured in the “accident”, but to get hit in the middle of a wilderness is mind-boggling. What was anyone doing racing at night along the Iditarod trail at 40 mph during the middle of the race?

At Noon CDT the GPS tracking has Lance Mackey pulling into White Mountain with Jeff King 7 miles behind him.  That should give Mackey about an hour lead on the sprint to the end.  It’s it’s a matter of what the dogs feel like at this point.

1&2 are out of Elim, 3 to 14 are out of Koyuk, and the rest are in Koyuk.
Current Standings:

1 Lance Mackey (6)+50 min
2 Jeff King (11)
3 Martin Buser (13)
4 Hans Gatt (38)
5 Ken Anderson (9)
6 Ramey Smyth (48)
7 Paul Gebhardt (69)
8 Mitch Seavey (33)
9 Kjetil Backen (42)
10 Rick Swenson (61)
11 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)
12 Jessie Royer (3)
13 Ed Iten (32)
14 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
15 Zack Steer (26)
16 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
17 Cim Smyth (2)
18 Ray Redington Jr. (49)
19 Aaron Burmeister (14)
20 Jim Lanier (4)

Melissa Owens (59) got up a little earlier in Shaktoolik and leads the rookies at 24^th place, but in 29^th place, William Kleedehn (66) isn’t that far behind.

Rachael Scdoris (55) is on the trail out of Nulato in 64^th place and the back of the race is 83^rd place with Steven Madsen (57) in Galena.

There is the mandatory 8-hour rest stop coming up in White Mountain, so the first in is the first allowed to leave. Lance Mackey has a 50 minute lead, but only 11 dogs still racing, while Jeff King has 16 dogs still running. There will be a sprint race from White Mountain to Nome.

March 11^th, 2004, Madrid

Nuestros profundos condolencias en vuestra perdida.

Todos somos Madrileños.

M-11

BBC In Depth