90 miles of a 1000 mile race doesn’t seem so bad. These are people that could have finished, just a shame. Oh well, it’s the Iditarod rules and they can enforce them the way they want. It just seems to disrespect the time, money, effort and love each of the mushers put into this race. It’s what makes the Iditarod great, not the committee. But hey it’s a committee, they have to have rules to enforce.

They were 90 miles behind because of the weather they encountered on the Yukon – Grayling to Kaltag took them forever. Their teams were healthy and they wanted to continue. The Quest allows people to continue if they want to, but tells them they are on their own. Actually the locals at the checkpoints will take care of them and more than once the Red Lantern has arrived after the banquet in both races, but members of the Quest ruling body live in both of the terminal cities used by the race, while the ITC is based in Anchorage.

One year I had to find a local Nome blogger to know the Red Lantern had arrived because everyone on the ITC left Nome as soon as the banquet ended.

Were Tara and Steve so egregiously far behind the others that it constituted “slacking”? Isn’t that what the standard is supposed to be, someone who is intentionally not doing their best? I can never remember what the wording is for the regulation on that one. The Red Lantern notwithstanding, it would seem to me that letting people finish the race if they are able to finish is an important thing. After all, they paid big bucks (to the committee that decides this stuff) and put years of effort into preparing for it. I say let them at least finish. I think the only reason the committee cares is they’re all ready to go home and just don’t want to fool with the stragglers. They can give the awards, have the banquet, and call it a day.

Tara is only 15 minutes behind Steve out of Kaltag, so it depends on her will and her puppies.

Sled dogs are the most amazing of all the working dogs. Their physiology is off the charts. There isn’t another mammal on the planet that can eat 20K+ calories a day and lose weight. As hyper as my Mother’s poodle was, if he ate more than a cup of kibble a day he would baloon, which he did because Mom didn’t want his bowl to be empty.

I think the biggest problem has been the relative warmth on the trail. The puppies like it around 0°F.

No women in the top 10 this year, dang! Looks like Tara Cicatello is good for the Red Lantern, although she’s not that far behind Steve Watkins. You never know.

Best thing so far is that I haven’t heard of any dogs being hurt (or worse) so far. I watch the races for the dogs. I am an unrepentant animal lover, and as you have probably figured out, am goofy for dogs. Got it honestly from my daddy! At one time, he had 13 beagles in tow on the farm where he grew up.