Comments on: Iditarod 2016 – Day 12

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 14:09:50 +0000

The Yukon Quest is still Arctic; the Iditarod is Lower 48. The whole thing and the ITC have become corporate, bottom-line, next quarter. Almost all of the real work is done by volunteers, but the decisions are made by ‘sponsors’.

It is difficult for anyone to cover the Iditarod because of all of the media restrictions put on everyone involved. The whole thing with paying for GPS is just too annoying.

By: JuanitaM

JuanitaM — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 13:24:33 +0000

I think your third paragraph above says it all. They just didn’t want to have someone get a third Red Lantern due to the optics of it. The Quest is becoming more and more interesting to me every year. The people who run it seem so much more sensible. I have no problem with someone being withdrawn if their dogs are having problems, or if the musher is injured or sick and just too hardheaded to know it’s time to let go. I can see that happening, and it would be appropriate for a judgment call in a case like that.

As you said, other teams did not have nearly the good attitude of Ellen’s, yet they stayed. It just didn’t look good.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 23:36:44 +0000

It was a totally arbitrary decision made because the ITC thought Ellen was going after the Red Lantern on purpose.

Brent spent more than 16 hours dropping from 3rd to 20th because his team went on strike, like Rob Cooke, Sarah Stokey, Nathan Schroeder. Why weren’t they withdrawn? Hell, their teams were refusing to race, but Ellen’s wasn’t.

They have a corporate empire and marketing didn’t like the visuals of Ellen getting a third Red Lantern. This is why the Quest is more fun. In 2012 they let Marcelle Fressineau and Mikhail Telpin finish after the checkpoints had officially closed. They made it over 5 days after the winner. Telpin was the Siberian hunter who started & finished with a 9 dog team and a sled he built himself. The Quest treats teams like adults.

By: JuanitaM

JuanitaM — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 14:16:35 +0000

According to the records, Ellen was about 16 hours behind Mary which doesn’t really seem like a lot to me. It’s not like she was “days” behind which might have fit the spirit of the rules if that were the case. The volunteers wouldn’t have to stay very much longer at the checkpoints than they already have – less than a day. For a race that is a week and a half long anyway, 16 hours just doesn’t seem all that big a stretch.

I agree, after all the costs and work that’s involved for someone to be allowed to compete, I think this call stinks. I’m not crazy about this Iditarod committee crowd in the first place, so I’m not really surprised. Seems like every year they make some decision that leaves me baffled.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 00:39:16 +0000

She was behind, but then she would catch up because her team was rested. That rule is applied unequally. She paid her entry fee, and for the food, to just arbitrarily withdraw her because you don’t think they’re trying hard enough is crap. Brent, Nathan, Sarah all dropped out of competition because their teams refused to move. It took Sarah almost 17 hours to go from White Mountain to Safety. Some dogs don’t like the wind in their faces and will stop, but that doesn’t mean they are goofing off. Ellen definitely did not want another Red Lantern.

By: JuanitaM

JuanitaM — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 20:07:40 +0000

Looks like the Iditarod Committee withdrew Ellen based on the rule that she was “not competitive”. Apparently, she was willing to go on and her dogs were in good shape, so the committee may have been stretching the rule a bit. I mean, after all, whoever is last in this race isn’t really competitive in one sense of the term. I always assumed that rule was reserved for people that weren’t really trying or were lollygagging just to say they had won the Red Lantern.

Was she all that far behind Mary Helwig, the next lagging sled?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 23:11:02 +0000

They con the dogs into believing it is a great game, until they push the game too far, as Brent and Nathan found out.

Indianapolis, Indiana is 1000 miles due North, and I don’t want to drive a car there, much less a dog sled. The problem is, after you have made it to the Norton Sound, you really should go on to Nome because dog sleds and snowmachines are pretty much the available modes of transportation until the ice melts except for Nome.

By: JuanitaM

JuanitaM — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 19:07:35 +0000

Yeah, it looks like Ellen is still plugging along. Bless her heart…

It amazes me that more teams don’t just lay down. I mean, a thousand miles is a ridiculously long slog. It would be like me trying to sled from Roanoke, VA to Dallas, TX in a week and a half. People forget how enormous the state of Alaska really is. I know it, and I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. The dogs must wonder if their “person” has completely lost his mind.