Iditarod 2013 – Day 13
The final ten teams are heading west into Nome. Luan finally dropped a dog from his team at Elim, but Mikhail’s team is still intact.
Update: The Alaska Dispatch reports that May has been found after she trekked back almost to the start from the Burn. She has lost weight and her feet are a mess, but she seems fine otherwise.
Miscellany: Jim Lanier and Bob Chlupach have both competed in the Iditarod since the 1970s, in five different decades. If Christine Roalofs (37) makes it to Nome it will be thanks, in part, to the tubing clamps, wire, duct tape, and birch branch that have been holding her sled together since the Burn. Unlike the ‘big guys’, Christine doesn’t own a backup sled.
Update: Bad news – Dorado, a 4½-year-old male on Paige Drobny’s team, has died after being dropped at Unalakleet. The Iditarod Trail Committee is not being very transparent about the circumstances of the dog’s death, and are talking about high winds and drifting snow.
Finished At Nome
40 Karin Hendrickson (29)
41 Aaron Peck (58)
42 Kristy Berington (20)
43 Anna Berington (31)
44 Jodi Bailey (4)
45 Mike Williams Sr (35)
46 Gerald Sousa (49)
47 Louie Ambrose (53)R
Beyond Safety
48 Angie Taggart (40)
At White Mountain
49 Luan Ramos Marques (47)R
50 Mikhail Telpin (63)Q
51 Cindy Gallea (17)
At Elim
52 James Volek (66)R
53 Christine Roalofs (37)R
54 Bob Chlupach (43) Φ
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.
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4 comments
Glad to hear that Mae has been found. It’s a wonder to observe the survival skills of these tough animals. But it sounds like they treated her like a queen once she was found. Copper River red salmon should have improved her mood.
I noticed the two Beringtons and Jodi Bailey arrived in together. Sticking together is probably not a bad plan. Ditto for Travis Beals, Justin Savidis and Matt Giblin.
Christine Roalofs left Koyuk about three hours ago, but Bob Chlupach still hasn’t left? Could this be a case of their not updating as you mentioned? Otherwise, it could be a problem. It would be a shame to get so far and not be able to finish. I didn’t know he’d been doing this for so long.
Plus, I can’t believe her sled held together this long. Marshall must have done a pretty good job on it. And it took a lot of fortitude on her part to slog on. Then again, after you’ve paid all that money and worked hard all year, you’re going to finish this dang thing if there’s any way at all.
Mae was a lead dog, so she was familiar with the trail and decided to go home. Once she was close to home she didn’t object to a ride, I noticed.
The Beringtons keep playing with people’s minds. You wouldn’t believe all the time I have spent reversing their order in the standings because people misidentified which one came in first and which left first. Whether or not you can travel with a group depends more on the dogs than the people. Travis, Justin, and Matt were having their own race within the race.
Bob plans on finishing, so he is taking solid rests at the checkpoint. His dogs are in great shape and posting good times. If he wasn’t taking longer rest breaks, he would have already passed Christine, and she knows it. The checkpoints are close enough together that he doesn’t need to camp on the trail from now to the end, so he’s in good shape to pick up another belt buckle and the Red Lantern.
You were wondering about the seeming lack of scratches early on, well it just took a bit for the damage to show itself. I feel bad for Cindy Abbott. She hung on a long time, but compensating for her leg injury apparently over stressed something else. It is amazing that of the dozen people who have scratched only two of them were rookies. Charley ran out of dogs, and Cindy couldn’t care for the puppies because of the pain.
Once she was close to home she didn’t object to a ride, I noticed.
Too true! 🙂
That’s good news on Bob. I just checked the standings and noticed that he’s left Elim now about an hour and 15 minutes behind Christine.
Yes, it’s a real shame about Cindy. With her disease, I would think that she had a fairly big hurdle in the first place, but if she hadn’t had the injury, I’ve no doubt she would have had a decent showing.
Oh no, I just read the bottom of your post. Poor Dorado. And I agree with you, just what does an “incident caused by high winds and drifting snow” mean? The animal was in a dog lot waiting to be removed and seemed “otherwise healthy”. Very strange.
Bob has made up a lot of time on Christine and his team is definitely faster. I expect him to be at Safety first, unless he decides to relax. Even if he wants to slow down, I’m not sure that his team does given the much better trail they are on because of the cold.
That’s the problem with compensating for an injury, you have to be careful or you will pull something because you don’t have your normal point of balance. Hay bales and dog food are not light, and really cold temperatures which means bulky clothes, don’t help. It is too bad, but then more people have climbed Mt Everest than finished the Iditarod and Quest combined.
The Trail Committee has gone corporate on this. It sounds like there was a break down in communication, and the dog was stranded in a bad place. It was an accident, so admit it and apologize, don’t try to hide the facts. There would be a lot fewer malpractice suits in this country if doctors would learn to admit mistakes and apologize rather than stonewalling. This was a terrible thing, so don’t make it worse by dragging it out.