Iditarod XL Day 9
Aliy spent an hour less on the trail between Shaktoolik and Koyuk than Dallas did, so it is all down to rest time. He has a little over an hour and half lead, but he is running a rest deficit.
At this point it is who is the best judge of the amount of rest the puppies need, and then the amount of rest they need, to make the run to White Mountain, where there’s an 8-hour mandatory stop before the 77 mile sprint to Nome.
Update at Noon CDT: Aliy left Koyuk 22 minutes after Dallas.
Dallas dropped a dog at Koyuk and is down to 10, while Aliy has 12. John Baker is holding to his rest schedule. He also had a faster run to Koyuk than Dallas.
Update at 8:45 PM CDT:
Beyond Elim
1 Dallas Seavey (34)
At Elim
2 Aliy Zirkle (14) +0:32
Beyond Koyuk
3 Aaron Burmeister (44)
4 Ramey Smyth (21)
5 Mitch Seavey (35)
6 Peter Kaiser (28)
7 John Baker (11)
8 Ray Redington Jr (2)
At Koyuk
9 Ken Anderson (39)
10 Michael Williams Jr (51)
11 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
12 Sigrid Ekran (24)
13 Sonny Lindner (59)
14 Brent Sass (50)Q
Beyond Shaktoolik
15 Michelle Phillips (26)
16 Paul Gebhardt (25)
17 Hugh Neff (27)
At Shaktoolik
18 Rohn Buser (62)
19 Anjanette Steer (32)R
20 Martin Buser (41)
21 Rick Swenson (60)
Beyond Unalakleet
22 Lance Mackey (18)
23 Colleen Robertia (42)
24 Jodi Bailey (6)
24 Ed Stielstra (45)
25 Nicolas Petit (9)
27 Kelley Griffin (20)
28 Mike Santos (22)R
At Unalakleet
29 Braxton Peterson (63)R
30 Gerry Willomitzer (23)
31 Gerald Sousa (58)
32 Bruce Linton (36)
33 Jim Lanier (3)
34 Ryne Olson (46)R
35 Cim Smyth (8)
Beyond Kaltag
36 Tom Thurston (5)
37 Curt Perano (61)R
38 Karin Hendrickson (43)
39 Scott Janssen (37)
40 Justin Savidis (38)
41 Kelly Maixner (12)
42 Matt Giblin (52)
43 Kristy Berington (31)
44 Anna Berington (33)R
At Kaltag
45 William Pinkham (4)
46 Trent Herbst (16)
47 Karen Ramstead (56)
48 Hank Debruin (48)Q
49 Travis Cooper(19)R
50 Art Church Jr (64)
Beyond Nulato
51 Jaimee Kinzer (30)R
At Nulato
52 Matt Failor (57)R
53 Michael Suprenant (13)
54 Kirk Barnum (47)
Beyond Galena
55 Dan Seavey (65)
Beyond Ruby
56 Jan Steves (40)R
57 Bob Chlupach (49)
The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Iditarod, while italics indicates Yukon Quest winners. The numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers. The small “R” indicates a total rookie, while the small “Q” indicates an Iditarod rookie who has completed a Yukon Quest.
These are the official standings. That means they are official, not that they are correct. Things jump around a lot as people decide to update the standings. This problem is especially bad in the back of the pack, as no one bothers to update those standings when the lead is changing.
This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.
All posts on the Iditarod can be seen by selecting “Iditarod” from the Category box on the right sidebar.
2 comments
Hard to believe they’re already coming into White Mountain and it’s almost over – at least for the winner! But there’ll still be lots of people coming in for the next couple of days – they’re spread out all the way back to Galena.
Colleen Robertia is headed to Koyuk and it appears that her husband is seriously worried about her. Apparently, the first mushers through missed a big wind that blew in after they had moved through. With the -20 and -30 degree weather, the wind chill is dangerous. http://rogueskennel.com/blog/ I just checked the weather and it looks as if the winds have died down now, but the group she’s traveling with still haven’t arrived in Koyuk yet.
There’s a lot of snow on the trail this year and it’s drifting. The leaders didn’t have to contend with the wind, but they have been plowing snow, which may be a factor in the end game.
The dogs know what to do, and the mushers should follow their lead and hunker down until it blows over. There is no point in fighting the dogs and wind.
If the GPS units on Iditarod are similar to those on the Quest, there is a ‘panic button’ to summon help if you need it, but the smart move would be to circle the sleds as a windbreak and wait it out. The air temperature isn’t that bad out of the wind.