Iditarod 2013 – Day 6

It is 6AM on the trail between McGrath and the Yukon River and the temperatures are above freezing. This is not good news if you are on a dog sled.

Martin is managing to take full advantage of his early strategy and has arrived for the meal and cash given to the first musher to reach the Yukon, but he had to wade in water to do it. This is not the March in Alaska that I experienced, when I went through Arctic survival school near Fairbanks in temperatures down to -45°F.

Aliy has taken the lead and it looks like Martin is going to take the 8-hour mandatory stop on the Yukon in Anvik. Aliy has an hour lead on Aaron and two hours on Jake, which is not much at this point in the race. Everyone has to take an 8-hour on the Yukon, so the lead will change.

Martin is back in front having finished his 8-hour in Anvik, while Aliy et al. wait theirs out in Grayling. Martin has 5 hours on Aliy, so it will come down to the race to rest ratio the teams use. Jake still has all 16 puppies, and is posting good speeds, but if he starts reducing the rest periods, the speed won’t last. Martin has a plan that has proven to work this year, so he won’t alter it.

Joar Ulson of Norway has been having an impressive race for a veteran, and this is his first time on the Iditarod. He is the latest of a long string of Norwegians to take on the Iditarod, and he obviously has done his homework.

Beyond Grayling
1 Martin Buser (2)
2 Aliy Zirkle (27)
3 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)^R
4 Nicolas Petit (16)
5 Jessie Royer (30)
6 Mitch Seavey (36)
7 Jeff King (18)
At Grayling
8 Aaron Burmeister (24)
9 Jake Berkowitz (44)
10 Sonny Lindner (67)
11 DeeDee Jonrowe (28)
12 Paul Gebhardt (11)
13 Ray Redington Jr (52)
14 Peter Kaiser (10)
15 Dallas Seavey (19)
Beyond Anvik
16 Lance Mackey (5)
At Anvik
17 Ken Anderson (6)
18 John Baker (13)
19 Matt Failor (61)
20 Cim Smyth (51)
Beyond Shageluk
21 Michelle Phillips (7)
22 Robert Bundtzen (23)
23 Brent Sass (62)
24 Wade Marrs (57)
At Shageluk
25 Josh Cadzow (55)^Q
26 Ramey Smyth (38)
27 Kelley Griffin (9)
28 Jessica Hendricks (54)
29 Kelly Maixner (25)
30 Allen Moore (48)
31 Curt Perano (45)
32 Justin Savidis (34)
Beyond Iditarod
33 Gerry Willomitzer (21)
34 Michael Williams Jr (46)
35 Aaron Peck (58)
36 Mike Williams Sr (35)
37 Linwood Fiedler (42)
38 Karin Hendrickson (29)
39 Jason Mackey (12)
40 Kristy Berington (20)
41 Anna Berington (31)
42 Richie Diehl (65)^R
43 Paige Drobny (14)^Q
44 Mike Ellis (50)
45 Jodi Bailey (4)
At Iditarod
46 Jim Lanier (59)
47 Travis Beals (22)^R
48 Matt Giblin (64)
49 Gerald Sousa (49)
50 Rudy Demonski Sr (39)
51 Charley Bejna (15)^R
52 Mikhail Telpin (63)^Q
Beyond Ophir
53 Cindy Gallea (17)
54 Louie Ambrose (53)^R
55 Michael Suprenant (33)
56 Luan Ramos Marques (47)^R
57 Angie Taggart (40)
58 Bob Chlupach (43)
59 Jan Steves (26)
60 Christine Roalofs (37)^R
61 James Volek (66)^R
At Ophir
62 Cindy Abbott (60)^R

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.