Iditarod 2016 – Day 10

by Bryan

6 comments

1 JuanitaM { 03.15.16 at 1:16 pm }

Congratulations to both of the Seaveys, they must be really happy to have come in together. So it looks like Dallas has had three and Mitch has had two. One or the other has held the title for the last four years. Nothing against either of them, but I was sort of hoping someone new might win this year.

Speaking of which, Aliy looks to be coming in third which is most respectable in this crowd, that’s for sure. Someone wrote on Facebook the other day that “Superman wears Aliy Zirkle pajamas!”. So funny.

I have a lot of respect for Brent Sass. Apparently he left White Mountain in third place, but returned immediately because he could see his dogs needed more rest. He gave up his placing because his dogs needed him to be a leader. That’s a good guy.

Several of the ones I try to keep up with scratched early on. Zoya, Jim Lanier, Lance Mackey and Scott Janssen in particular. Looks like Jim may have fractured his shoulder, poor guy. Lance sought medical attention for a possible infection in his hands which does not sound good. I wonder if his hands were so numb, he wasn’t aware of it happening, similar to diabetic neuropathy where an infection starts up but the person doesn’t feel it right away.

2 Bryan { 03.15.16 at 2:31 pm }

Jim has been the oldest musher on the trail for several years and the only way you can get him to scratch is if he can’t take care of his dogs. With a bad shoulder you can’t swing the hay bales or feed bags. It would also be a serious challenge to put booties on dogs who don’t really want them. Zoya, Jim, and Scott are all extremely careful about the well-being of their puppies – If the dogs can’t be cared for or don’t want to run, they will all accept it and scratch. There have been more than one old-timer who had to be withdrawn, because he couldn’t accept that he couldn’t care for his dogs.

Brent’s dogs just didn’t respond with any enthusiasm after being harnessed. If you see videos of happy teams at the end of a race, you’ll see puppies that want to go, go, go. Dallas, Mitch, Aliy, etc. have to plant a snow hook to hold the sled while they are checking out, because the dogs want to go, especially if they can see other packs running. If Brent’s dogs didn’t feel it, what would be the point of starting? Brent made the right decision, but it was just another sour experience for him at the Iditarod.

Lance’s dogs have had some sort of GI problem, and it could be some of the food got contaminated. Lance has a low tolerance for the cold because of frostbite, and I seriously doubt his sense of touch in his hands is all that great. If he cut his hands and it got infected doctoring his dogs, he could be in real trouble. The good news is that it looks like his team is ready and will do great things next year.

3 JuanitaM { 03.16.16 at 6:52 am }

Well, it certainly has to be disappointing for Jim to have scratched two years in a row now. Prior to that he had, I think, about 15 years of finishing the race with no scratches. In his photos, he appears to be in pretty fair health in general (if it’s a recent photo), but at 75 it may be time to take it a little easier than a 1,000 mile race! He’s had an amazing run, but most people half his age wouldn’t be able to go that trip. These are some tough people out there.

Yeah, Lance could really be in trouble this time. Infections in hands that already have compromised circulation can turn scary. Hopefully he got medical attention in time.

One person that I really miss being there is Newton Marshall. I think he had problems getting funding, but he always hung in there and was really helpful to others when they were in trouble. I’m surprised someone hasn’t sponsored him. Then again, if I had to choose between Alaska or Jamaica in March…

4 Bryan { 03.16.16 at 8:05 am }

Running the Iditarod costs $30K+, and that’s the race, not what it costs to train and support two dozen dogs for a year to train for it. The people who do it have to come up with a lot of money up front. Jimmy Buffet supported Newton’s campaign, but I don’t know if it was Jimmy or Newton who lost interest. Newton got frost bitten a couple of times, and that will turn you off the Arctic – Once burned, twice shy…

Jim was lucky it wasn’t a hip, and his wife is probably going to be pointing that out for the next year. Karin Hendrickson is young enoough to bounce back from three fractured vertebrae and only miss one year, but after 50 it takes a whole lot longer.

5 JuanitaM { 03.16.16 at 5:17 pm }

I didn’t remember that Newton had gotten frostbite, and yeah that would do it for me. Then again, I haven’t been bitten with the sledding bug myself. I enjoy keeping up with it, but would never consider attempting it. Bicycling with the furry friends is my idea of a sport. We had a nice bike ride today with them chasing me through the neighbors property, and that was plenty of exercise for me!

The weather is fine here now with the March winds blowing and the temps in the mid 70’s. Leaves aren’t out yet, but it appears that winter is basically over this year. The predictions for the next couple of weeks are fair, and then we’ll be in April. It’s not impossible to have a few cold days in April (even a flurry or two), but it doesn’t last. The next cold day I’ll burn the last of the firewood and enjoy it.

Noticed that Allen Black is headed to Nome right now with 14 dogs left! Good for him. Nicolas Petit is the only other person in Nome that managed to hang on to that many dogs. Ellen is down to 9 dogs, so I wonder if she’ll actually make it. She’s out of Kaltag, so we’ll know more when she hits the next checkpoint.

6 Bryan { 03.16.16 at 8:15 pm }

Cim Smyth scratched when he was down to 6 puppies. He could have continued with 6, but why bother. There have been a lot of people losing dogs early. It was probably in the early sections with little or no snow. No one wants to run on concrete.

It looks like Ellen wants to finish, even if it means another Lantern.