Iditarod 2013 – Day 8
Aliy has a lead of just under 2 hours over Aaron, and Martin is a half hour behind them.
The Yukon was not a fun place for puppies. Jessie Royer had to leave 3 of her 12 dogs behind when she left Kaltag, but they have a lot of new dogs to meet at the dog clinic.
You don’t normally have to deal with the wet-dog-odor during the winter in Alaska because the sled dog coat is water repellant and the cold air provides freeze drying. If a dog happens to fall into a river and gets out fairly quickly, a roll in the snow to speed the freezing, and one good shake dries them out in the low humidity of extreme cold. The problem is that when a sled dog gets really soaked, it takes forever for their undercoats to dry out.
The other big problem is cut paws caused by the pads softening in the wet. The booties help to prevent a lot of cuts, but they can’t stop them all.
Mitch Seavey was First to the Coast by passing three other teams to get there. Aliy and Martin are keeping to their schedules, so I expect them both to be back and blow through Unalakleet.
Beyond Unalakleet
1 Mitch Seavey (36)
2 Aaron Burmeister (24)
3 Jeff King (18)
4 Aliy Zirkle (27)
5 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)R
6 Ray Redington Jr (52)
At Unalakleet
7 Jake Berkowitz (44)
8 DeeDee Jonrowe (28)
9 Sonny Lindner (67)
10 Martin Buser (2)
11 Dallas Seavey (19)
12 Nicolas Petit (16)
13 John Baker (13)
14 Peter Kaiser (10)
Beyond Kaltag
15 Jessie Royer (30)
16 Paul Gebhardt (11)
17 Ken Anderson (6)
18 Lance Mackey (5)
19 Cim Smyth (51)
20 Brent Sass (62)
21 Josh Cadzow (55)Q
22 Michelle Phillips (7)
23 Michael Williams Jr (46)
24 Robert Bundtzen (23)
25 Ramey Smyth (38)
At Kaltag
26 Jessica Hendricks (54)
27 Matt Failor (61)
28 Kelley Griffin (9)
29 Kelly Maixner (25)
30 Curt Perano (45)
31 Justin Savidis (34)
Beyond Eagle Island
32 Allen Moore (48)
33 Linwood Fiedler (42)
34 Aaron Peck (58)
35 Karin Hendrickson (29)
36 Wade Marrs (57)
37 Jim Lanier (59)
38 Paige Drobny (14)Q
39 Mike Williams Sr (35)
40 Richie Diehl (65)R
41 Jason Mackey (12)
42 Rudy Demonski Sr (39)
43 Mike Ellis (50)
44 Matt Giblin (64)
45 Kristy Berington (20)
46 Anna Berington (31)
At Eagle Island
47 Travis Beals (22)R
48 Gerald Sousa (49)
49 Jodi Bailey (4)
Beyond Grayling
50 Charley Bejna (15)R
51 Louie Ambrose (53)R
At Grayling
52 Luan Ramos Marques (47)R
53 Angie Taggart (40)
54 Cindy Gallea (17)
Beyond Anvik
55 Mikhail Telpin (63)Q
At Shageluk
56 Christine Roalofs (37)R
57 Bob Chlupach (43)
58 Jan Steves (26)
Beyond Iditarod
59 Gerry Willomitzer (21)
60 James Volek (66)R
61 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.
