Red Lantern
Rookie Celeste Davis (58) of Deer Lodge, Montana got to the burled arch in 13 days, 5 hours, 6 minutes, and 40 seconds. Her finish was the fastest for the last competitor in the Iditarod, and would have been the record for the race prior to 1981.
Seventy-one teams and 1,136 dogs started the race, but only 55 teams and 550 dogs passed under the “arch”.
Among the 16 that didn’t make it: Karen Ramstead has personal reasons; Justin Savidis had a dog decide to go off on his own; Karin Hendrickson & Kathleen Frederick had equipment problems; Pat Moon & Judy Currier had injuries; Zoya DeNure & Michael Suprenant had medical problems; and the other eight had unhappy puppies. This is a sled dog race, and if the puppies aren’t happy, the racing stops.
Bruce Linton (65) was concerned that he might have to scratch when his insulin pump froze on the run through the Yukon River valley. Fortunately, he was able to get what he needed at the next checkpoint.
I am happy to report that no dogs have died this year, which is the first time this has occurred in the race’s history. After last year’s sad losses, there has been more effort in ensuring that rookies are doing effective dog care. The other plus was that the warmer weather occurred at the start of the race when the dogs were in much better shape to tolerate the heat. The experienced mushers ran at night to reduce overheating problems.
Below the fold are the final standings
Finishers:
1 Lance Mackey (49)
2 Hans Gatt (20)
3 Jeff King (15)
4 Ken Anderson (51)
5 John Baker (8)
6 Ramey Smyth (21)
7 Sebastian Schnuelle (35)
8 Dallas Seavey (19)
9 Hugh Neff (56)
10 Mitch Seavey (41)
11 Ray Redington, Jr (9)
12 Zack Steer (47)
13 Gerry Willomitzer (55)
14 Martin Buser (37)
15 Jessie Royer (6)
16 Aliy Zirkle (50)
17 Sven Haltmann (42)
18 Sonny Lindner (44)
19 Paul Gebhardt (7)
20 Rick Swenson (57)
21 Dan Kaduce (64)R
22 DeeDee Jonrowe (31)
23 Cim Smyth (3)
24 Jim Lanier (43)
25 Bruce Linton (65)
26 Michael Williams, Jr. (59)R
27 Michelle Phillips (36)R
28 Peter Kaiser (67)R
29 Thomas Lesatz (62)
30 Gerald Sousa (48)
31 Robert Nelson (32)
32 Jason Barron (71)
33 William “Middie” Johnson (16)R
34 Matt Hayashida (12)
35 Allen Moore (54)
36 Colleen Robertia (61)R
37 William Pinkham (40)
38 Quinn Iten (28)R
39 Kristy Berington (38)R
40 Cindy Gallea (39)
41 Sam Deltour (66)
42 Blake Freking (11)
43 Tamara Rose (26)R
44 Art Church, Jr (24)
45 Wattie McDonald (4)R
46 Lachlan Clarke (63)
47 Newton Marshall (14)R
48 Billy Snodgrass (70)
49 Trent Herbst (60)
50 Chris Adkins (33)R
51 Dave DeCaro (52)R
52 Ross Adam (18)
53 Jane Faulkner (22)R
54 Scott White (13)R
55 Celeste Davis (58)R
Teams that scratched:
56 John Stewart (69)R, White Mountain, 7 dogs, unhappy puppies
57 Hank Debruin (45)R, Nulato, 13 dogs, unhappy puppies
58 Ryan Redington (25), Galena, 11 dogs, unhappy puppies
59 Warren Palfrey (27), Galena, 10 dogs, unhappy puppies
60 Judy Currier (72), Galena, 13 dogs, back injury
61 Emil Churchin (53)R, Rohn, 13 dogs, unhappy puppies
62 Tom Thurston (68), Ophir, 11 dogs, unhappy puppies
63 Linwood Fiedler (2), McGrath, 11 dogs, unhappy puppies
64 Justin Savidis (10)R, McGrath, 15 dogs, runaway puppy
65 Karen Ramstead (29), McGrath, 14 dogs, personal reasons
66 Kathleen Frederick (46)R, Rohn, 14 dogs, equipment problems
67 Karin Hendrickson (23), Rainy Pass, 16 dogs, equipment problems [busted sled]
68 Zoya DeNure (5), Rainy Pass, 15 dogs, medical problems
69 Michael Suprenant (30), Rainy Pass, 16 dogs, medical problems
70 Pat Moon (17)R, Rainy Pass, 15 dogs, head injury
71 Kirk Barnum (34), Rainy Pass, 12 dogs, unhappy puppies
7 comments
After last year’s sad losses, there has been more effort in ensuring that rookies are doing effective dog care.
i’m really glad to hear this. after reading about last year’s race i was convinced that not enough was being done along these lines. one of the many problems is that the flip side of ‘happy puppies’ means that many dogs are sometimes too willing to go on [and happily too] if their human asks them to.
Rookie Celeste Davis (58) of Deer Lodge, Montana got to the burled arch in 13 days, 5 hours, 6 minutes, and 40 seconds. Her finish was the fastest for the last competitor in the Iditarod, and would have been the record for the race prior to 1981.
wow! just, wow!
.-= last blog ..Run, ntodd, run! =-.
Every dog will make it home this year. Of all the records broken in 2010, that’s the best one, hands down. I enjoyed this year’s race more than any, and I think that’s part of the reason – none of those heart shattering stories about the loss of a great dog.
Ah well, it’s over for this year.
P.S. Checked out that .pdf doc you mentioned, Bryan. What an attitude.
If a total long distance rookie like Wattie McDonald can bring all 16 dogs in a “puppy team” [the dogs are rookies too] to Nome, and Colleen Robertia can bring 14 “runts, rejects, and rescues”, and Sebastian Schnuelle can arrive in 7th place with 13 dogs, there is no reason for all of the dogs being dropped along the trail.
Sebastian sets his pace and keeps to it so the dogs know what they will be asked to do from day to day. There are some who are campaigning for more checkpoints, but Sebastian feels that extra checkpoints would be harder on the dogs, and prefers the much wider spacing on the Yukon Quest. People have a tendency to push the team to make a checkpoint, rather than stopping when it’s time to stop.
The vets were extra cautious this year, hoping to avoid the problems from last year.
Once again, thanks for your pulling all this info together every year. I know it’s time consuming, but it’s much appreciated. You always take the time to give such nice detailed answers to what is probably *clueless* questions. But hey, I’m learning. 🙂
If I didn’t want to do it, Juanita, I wouldn’t.
I really would hate to see the end of sled dog racing because that would be the end of the breeds. It has almost happened several times with the St. Bernard, as the original source of the breed, a Swiss monastery, has almost been shut down several times, since the need for the dogs has almost disappeared. These are working dogs, and they need to work.
Actually a couple of dogs and a small sled wouldn’t be out of place in the Blue Ridge, or anywhere in the mid to northern Appalachian Range. If you are going to get snow, you need some way of getting around. 😉
Hey, as soon as I get them strapped up, ya’ll will be the first to get the photos of my sliding off the Parkway and crashing down Rock Castle gorge.
BTW, I’m still waiting on your cat sled. 🙂
If I try to harness the cats, you’ll read about it in my obituary. 😉