Red Lantern 2011
Sixty-two teams and 990 dogs left Willow. Forty-seven teams and 450 dogs made it to Nome. Only a third of the 15 teams that didn’t make it were rookies. There were no dog deaths during the race, which is a result of much tougher screening all along the trail.
The weather was wonderful for the mushers, but many of the dogs that were dropped were probably affected by the heat, and not “kennel cough”. During the first part of the race, the speeds were very high for the temperature, as a number of veteran mushers noted.
John Baker won by moving at a fairly consistent pace for the entire race, while Ramey Smith was somewhat erratic, with bursts of speed followed by long stops. He was part of group that was racing among themselves early on, and ended up further back than they normally would be. There has been a tendency by some to treat the race as a series of sprints, while John treated it as a marathon from the beginning.
Will Peterson provides some more information on the interaction between Ellen Halverson and Heather Siirtola at the back of the pack.
Scott Janssen (32), the “Mushing Mortician” [he is a funeral director in Anchorage and gave himself the nickname], figures the belt buckle he received as an Iditarod finisher cost him about $120K. When a single dog needs 12,000 calories/day during the race you can see why the numbers are really measured in tens of thousands to run the race. You need sponsors if you aren’t independently wealthy.
There are a lot of awards and prizes handed out at the end of the race.
As the winner, John Baker received a 2011 Dodge Ram 4/x/4 quad cab pick up truck and $50,400.00. As the first musher to Unalakleet he received the Gold Coast Award, a trophy and $2,500 worth of gold nuggets.
John’s lead dogs, Velvet and Snickers, were awarded the Lolly Medley Golden Harness Award. I seem to remember that they get steaks in addition to the embroidered gold harnesses.
As the first musher into Iditarod, Trent Herbst, won the Dorothy G. Page Halfway Award, a trophy and $3,000 in gold nuggets. Trent also won the Most Improved Musher Award by moving up to 25th this year from 49th in 2010. That netted him a second trophy plus $2,000. His fourth grade class in Ketchum, Idaho have some bragging rights.
Aliy Zirkle won the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for outstanding dog care throughout the Race while remaining competitive. She received a glass etched trophy and a free entry fee for Iditarod XL.
Aliy’s husband, Allen Moore, was chosen for the Sportsmanship Award by fellow mushers. He received a trophy and a $500 gift certificate.
The Rookie of the Year Award with its $2,000 and trophy went to Nicolas Petit. That should convince Jim Lanier that he was right to give Nicolas “the keys” to the Northern Whites Iditarod team.
The Mushers Choice Award as the most inspirational was given to Rick Swenson for staying in the race despite a broken collarbone. He received an Iditarod Limited Edition Gold Coin, valued at $3,300. I will avoid commenting on what I think of the decision.
The Herbie Nayokpuk Memorial Award given to the person who most closely mimics “Herbie, The Shismaref Cannon Ball” in his/her attitude on the trail was won by Paul Johnson. He received a free freight allotment on Northern Air Cargo, a walrus ivory scrimshawed trophy, and $1,049 in “pocket change” inside of a NAC jacket. Paul equaled the fastest time between Safety and Nome, but wasn’t eligible for the award because he didn’t finish in the top 20.
The Fastest Time from Safety to Nome Award with its $500 prize went to Lance Mackey,
The First To the Yukon Award for the first musher into Anvik was won by Hugh Neff, who said it is the first thing he has won on the Iditarod. It includes a seven course dinner cooked on a Coleman stove by professional staff in Anvik and $3,500 in one dollar bills as the “after dinner mint”.
Another long-time musher, Martin Buser, won the Spirit of Alaska Award as the first musher into McGrath. Martin received an original “Spirit Mask” and a $500 credit on PenAir.
The Golden Stethoscope Award was given to Dr. Samantha Yeltatzie, DVM, as the most helpful vet on the trail.
The Golden Clipboard Award for the most outstanding checkpoint went to Unalakleet.
And, of course, Ellen Halverson took home her second Red Lantern trophy.
Pete Kaiser got lucky at the Banquet and scored a new 4-Wheeler by pulling the right key out of the bag. Mushers use 4-wheelers to train their dogs in the fall before there is enough snow for the sled.
6 comments
There were no dog deaths during the race, which is a result of much tougher screening all along the trail.
good! glad to hear this.
Will Peterson provides some more information on the interaction between Ellen Halverson and Heather Siirtola at the back of the pack.
interesting tale, thanks for linking it. i didn’t follow the race very closely this year and i would have missed that one. in fact, thanks for all your race reporting!
The Rookie of the Year Award with its $2,000 and trophy went to Nicolas Petit. That should convince Jim Lanier that he was right to give Nicolas “the keys” to the Northern Whites Iditarod team.
i do enjoy rooting for the jamaicans, the purebred siberians, the runts and misfits, and now the all-whites. glad to see they did well.
I’m really annoyed that I can’t find a single picture of the team on the trail that doesn’t require paying the Iditarod Trail Committee its $20 bribe. You would think that the all white team would be a draw, especially since Petit was the leading rookie, but no one took the picture and posted it.
Reporting almost ceased Friday afternoon. You lose people if you don’t cover their team, and their team may be in the back. This is one of the reasons I won’t pay the bribe – they stop reporting early, and they don’t update the back of the pack.
Aliy Zirkle won the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for outstanding dog care throughout the Race while remaining competitive.
I’d say she probably deserved that after the scare of thinking her dog was dead. That would be a terrible fright, but I expect it usually goes to someone that gets further along the trail. Even after the dog revived, she bowed out of the race over concern of the health of her dogs. There are some that might not.
I will avoid commenting on what I think of the decision.
Awww, come on, tell us what you really think. Personally, I hope he doesn’t inspire anyone else to get up to that sort of foolishness. A broken collarbone…at his age…dumb. If he lives to get any older (and I have my doubts, he’ll probably expire from some idiocy or other), the additional damage done to that collarbone will haunt him for life. We need to come up with a name for another award. One he more deserves. The Dumb A** of the Month award. Something.
Just finished reading the Eye on the Trail article on Halverson/Siirtola. Now that’s a strange little story. Wonder what happened there? Whatever, it sounds like Halverson was in a generous mood that night.
You’re thinking of Zoya DeNure and her dog, Miller. Zoya scratched because she couldn’t just leave as there was something wrong with Miller, but no one knew what.
Aliy is a framing carpenter, like her husband, when she isn’t mushing. They have a contracting business and kennel. She is the only woman to win the Yukon Quest, but runs in the Iditarod now, as that’s what her sponsors want.
Testosterone poisoning, clear and simple, but not as simple as Rick. It as dumb as a race marshal having to withdraw Mitch Seavey when he nearly sliced off his index finger. When people do that sort of thing, I really have to question how well they take care of their kids or dogs. Alaska is a survival situation, you don’t take unnecessary chances unless you have to to survive. Some of these people are Darwin award candidates.
You have to understand the altered mental state of people who have been sleep-deprived for most of two weeks. They are apt to do strange things. Some of the pictures show people who are dehydrated along with everything else. Dallas Seavey had it right, that you have to watch your hydration on the trail, especially if it gets really cold, because you sweat a lot under all of those layers, and the air sucks out the moisture. That’s why I hang around until the bitter end, because the people at the back are fighting a lot of different problems and conditions, and there are no crowds to cheer them on.
You’re thinking of Zoya DeNure and her dog, Miller.
Hey, you’re absolutely right. How stupid of me. For some reason, apparently, I have an altered mental state right now. It’s been a whacky couple of months for me, but hopefully things will calm down here now, and my mind will return to me by and by.
And yeah, much of the time the most interesting stories and events do not come from the winner of the race. I seem to remember one year, a musher got off trail and ended up at a cabin at the end of the trail. I would think that ordinarily in a situation like this, the locals would be helpful and generous to a lost Iditarod musher. In this case, the old gent at the cabin basically told him to get off his property and go back by the way he came. Evidently, he was utterly unimpressed by the fact that this guy was in a blowing snowstorm and struggling to find his way in this Alaskan tradition called the Iditarod.
I’m just really glad to hear that no dogs died again this year. The first year that I kept up with it, there were dogs that died, and I almost didn’t follow it the next year.
Thanks for all the work you do each year to bring us the days events. It’s always great to hear about the mushers, and especially the dogs. I really appreciate it.
That was Trent Herbst back in 2008. The guy who owned the cabin had used trail markers from an earlier race to mark his “driveway”. The guy turned out to be one of those people who go to Alaska to avoid dealing with people.
I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it, Juanita, but you’re welcome.