Posts from — March 2008

Lance Mackey eats well today and can afford a big tip as his is the first team to Ruby and the Yukon River, winning the First to the Yukon Award.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, Mackey will be taking the required Yukon 8-hour layover to rest his dogs during the heat of the day, and to eat the meal.

I wondered what happened to her, and the Anchorage Daily News finally explains the problem:

Rookie musher Kim Franklin of Britain was withdrawn from the race Thursday after two dogs became separated from her team. Franklin reported that one of her dogs chewed through the gangline and race officials said Franklin couldn’t find the dogs and continued to Rohn. It’s against Iditarod rules to arrive at a checkpoint without the same number of dogs.

Officials said the two dogs were found and released to their handler in Anchorage.

A tough break for the English farmer, but she did get to compete.

Things will get easier from this point as the leaders really will be the leaders in the overall race. Here are the standings this morning with the top ten all having completed their layover and on the trail to Ruby from Cripple, the longest leg in the race:

1 Lance Mackey (6)
2 Hans Gatt (38)
3 Jeff King (11)
4 Rick Swenson (61)
5 Kjetil Backen (42)
6 Aaron Burmeister (14)
7 Mitch Seavey (33)
8 John Baker (67)
9 Jim Lanier (4)
10 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)

The back of the pack is laying over in McGrath.

The leading woman, Jessie Royer (3), is in 11^th place and back on the trail. The leading rookie, William Kleedehn (66), is in 28^th place.

In 75^th place, Rachael Scdoris (55) should finish her layover in McGrath this morning.

Josh Rogers at IditaBlog updates on the First to the Yukon Award indicating that the sponsor, Millennium Hotel in Anchorage, has increased the cash to 5,000 one-dollar bills. While Lance Mackey is in a good spot to collect it, but it’s a long run to Ruby.

A little cooler today, but not the frozen conditions that make it much easier for the teams to run.

The first 11 are in Cripple, the rest are on the trail between Ophir and Cripple. Those in bold have completed their mandatory 24-hour stop.

1 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
2 Paul Gebhardt (69)
3 Zack Steer (26)
4 Martin Buser (13)
5 Ed Iten (32)
6 Ken Anderson (9)
7 Silvia Willis (40)
8 Hugh Neff (16)
9 Aliy Zirkle (17)
10 Rohn Buser (37) [rookie]

11 Jeff King (11)
12 Cim Smyth (2)
13 Jon Korta (71)
14 Jason Mackey (36)
15 Kjetil Backen (42)
16 Lance Mackey (6)
17 Hans Gatt (38)
18 William Kleedehn (66) [rookie]
19 Rick Swenson (61)
20 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
21 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)
22 Jim Lanier (4)
23 Aaron Burmeister (14)
24 John Baker (67)

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Trust?

I’m on to you, and your “gifts”.

[Editor: This is Pavlova’s brother, Petrov, who is not nearly as trusting as his sister. It was taken with the optical zoom, because like most ferals he regards me as an ax murderer who might at any time poison him. The small flashes of white on his nose and ready flight are the easiest way of telling him from his sister.]

Friday Ark

In Memoriam

Laura Rozen of War and Piece has been forced to say goodbye to Sophie.

I’ve referenced the mandatory 24-hour layover at a check point, but the only team that gets to leave after exactly 24 hours is Robert Bundtzen (97), currently in 32^th place. Cim Smyth (2), currently in 12^th place, won’t get to leave for around 27 hours, as this is where the starting advantage is evened out. At two minutes a team, Bundtzen didn’t get to leave Willow for more than three hours after Smyth, so now he gets the three hours back. This means that after everyone has taken their “24-hour” stop, position on the trail is the true position in the race. Up until that point, the apparent leaders may not be the actual leaders.

If you stopped by for Iditarod coverage you can isolate just those posts by dropping down to the bottom of the right-hand column where you will see a box labeled “Category”. If you select “Iditarod” as the category, all of those posts, and only those posts, will be displayed.

Next, welcome and thank you for all of the visitors from just about everywhere except Antarctica for dropping by recently. One of the “options” of the Feedjit widget in the left-hand column is a world map view of visitors and it has been world wide recently.

The only politics you are apt to find here for the foreseeable future will be local, as I no longer have any connection to national politics. This is subject to change if I locate an actual party for progressives or liberals that is viable, something that does not currently exist in the US.

Update: Ah, yes – don’t forget that we mess with our clocks this weekend, with 2AM Sunday morning becoming 3AM. I prefer the Fall, when we get an extra hour of sleep.

Paul Gebhardt (69) had a six-hour lead going to Cripple and everyone assumed he would be there first, but as Bobby Burns wrote: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”. Apparently he became disoriented and wandered off the trail, losing about 6 hours and $3,000.

DeeDee Jonroe (39) was surprised to discover when she arrived at Cripple that she was the first team in and had won the Dorothy Page Halfway Award and $3,000 in gold nuggets.

Not a lot of change in the leader board:

1 Paul Gebhardt (69)
2 Hugh Neff (16)
3 Zack Steer (26)
4 Silvia Willis (40)
5 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
6 Martin Buser (13)
7 Ed Iten (32)
8 Ken Anderson (9)
9 Aliy Zirkle (17)
10 Rohn Buser (37) [rookie]

The people on the board still have to take their mandatory 24-hour stops, while Kjetil Backen (42) [14^th ], Lance Mackey (6) [18^th], and Jeff King (11) [19^th] just finished theirs. The first 14 teams are beyond Ophir on to the halfway point at Cripple.

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Via August J. Pollak, everyone needs a clean monitor.

Current Standings:

1 Paul Gebhardt (69)
2 Hugh Neff (16)
3 Zack Steer (26)
4 Silvia Willis (40)
5 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
6 Martin Buser (13)
7 Ed Iten (32)
8 Ken Anderson (9)
9 Mitch Seavey (33)
10 Ramey Smyth (48)

The top 9 have left Ophir for Cripple.

A number of the people you are used to seeing on this are taking their mandatory 24-hour stop and will be back tomorrow. There is still a mandatory 8-hour rest between Ruby and Unalakleet, and the final 8-hour stop in White Mountain.

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The Associated Press reports on an MRE makeover: Army unveils a new menu for soldiers.

We won’t really know if this stuff is worth eating until Badtux‘s gourmet beak chomps down on it and decides if it is worth swallowing. If you missed his earlier work go over and search for “MRE”. He also did heroic work on supermarket frozen pizzas.

The new Forbes list is out and Warren Buffet is #1, the richest guy in the world.

More on his feelings about taxes:

In October, Buffett issued a challenge to members of the Forbes 400 richest Americans list, saying he would donate $1 million to charity if the collective group (or a significant number of them) would admit they pay less taxes, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries.

Days after issuing the challenge, Buffett appeared before Congress to encourage it to keep the estate tax. Armed with a few Forbes 400 issues, he told the hearing that “dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise.”

Buffet believes that people and businesses need to earn their money, not simply accumulate it over time.

If you run in the Iditarod and finish among the top 20 there’s some cash at the end of trail, but there are other awards along the way.

Lance Mackey won the Spirit of Alaska Award by being the first into McGrath. PenAir gave him a spirit mask and a $500 credit on his air freight bill.

The Dorothy Page Halfway Award awaits the first team into Cripple and $3,000 in gold nuggets.

The First to the Yukon Award is waiting in Ruby. It’s 3,500 5,000 one-dollar bills and a gourmet meal.

The Gold Coast Award is for the first musher to reach Unalakleet. They get a trophy and $2,500 in gold.

The overall winner gets a new pickup truck and about half of the total prize money, in the $80-90K range.

Truth be told, if you aren’t one of the first three or four into Nome, you are probably out of pocket for the race unless you have sponsors. Just think what it costs to feed 16 sled dogs who are working hard for two weeks.

In case you were wondering, when I was in Alaska, I was not aware of a business that was unable to deal with gold as readily as greenbacks, including bars.