Iditarod – Day 7
The people who have completed their 24-hour layover are back in front, while the people who delayed it are on theirs.
There is an 8-hour layover that has to be taken on the Yukon, so things will even out. At Ruby are the top three finishers at the Yukon Quest this year, Hans, Lance, and Hugh, as well as Jeff and Mitch who have proved they know how to win this race. There has been some snow in the area, so there will be some trail-breaking that will be more work for the dogs on the leading team, but the temperature is back down in the dog comfort region. Currently [9AM local, Noon CST] in Ruby there is light snow and an invigorating -26°F [-32°C].
At Galena
1 Jeff King (15)
Beyond Ruby
2 Lance Mackey (49)
3 Hugh Neff (56)
4 Mitch Seavey (41)
5 Hans Gatt (20)
6 Sonny Lindner (44)
7 Sebastian Schnuelle (35)
8 Ken Anderson (51)
9 John Baker (8)
At Ruby
10 Sven Haltmann (42)
11 Gerry Willomitzer (55)
12 Rick Swenson (57)
13 Aliy Zirkle (50)
14 Cim Smyth (3)
15 Ray Redington, Jr (9)
16 Zack Steer (47)
17 Paul Gebhardt (7)
18 Ramey Smyth (21)
19 Jason Barron (71)
20 Jessie Royer (6)
21 Dallas Seavey (19)
22 Martin Buser (37)
23 Jim Lanier (43)
24 Michael Williams, Jr. (59)R
Beyond Cripple
25 Gerald Sousa (48)
26 DeeDee Jonrowe (31)
27 Peter Kaiser (67)R
28 Ryan Redington (25)
29 Dan Kaduce (64)R
30 Bruce Linton (65)
31 Michelle Phillips (36)R
32 Robert Nelson (32)
33 Quinn Iten (28)R
34 William “Middie” Johnson (16)R
35 Thomas Lesatz (62)
36 Allen Moore (54)
37 Matt Hayashida (12)
38 William Pinkham (40)
At Cripple
39 Judy Currier (72)
40 Warren Palfrey (27)
41 Colleen Robertia (61)R
42 Kristy Berington (38)R
43 Blake Freking (11)
44 Cindy Gallea (39)
45 Lachlan Clarke (63)
Beyond Ophir
46 John Stewart (69)R
47 Billy Snodgrass (70)
48 Art Church, Jr (24)
49 Scott White (13)R
50 Dave DeCaro (52)R
51 Tamara Rose (26)R
52 Chris Adkins (33)R
53 Wattie McDonald (4)R
55 Newton Marshall (14)R
55 Sam Deltour (66)
56 Trent Herbst (60)
57 Ross Adam (18)
At Ophir
58 Tom Thurston (68)
59 Celeste Davis (58)R
60 Jane Faulkner (22)R
At Takotna
61 Emil Churchin (53)R
62 Hank Debruin (45)R
At McGrath
63 Linwood Fiedler (2)
64 Justin Savidis (10)R
65 Karen Ramstead (29)
The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Iditarod, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, and the small “R” indicates a rookie.
Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.
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2 comments
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday when I checked in Jeff King was in 7th place, and Lance Mackey was in 10th. Now, King is first, Mackey second AND it looks like they’ve both finished the 24 hour and 8 hour layovers. Whew!
Things DO change fast, well, at least from my perspective. I’m sure the mushers would beg to differ…
At least the dogs have better weather for them. Enjoyed reading your take yesterday from the dogs point of view. I could see exactly what you were talking about. I can only imagine the look that some of these dogs must give their mushers, as in “you want me to do WHAT?”.
This is what the 24-hour mandatory stop does to the race, it scrambles the leader board in the middle because individuals get to decide when to take it.
Susan Butcher was successful because she understood and bonded with her dogs. The dogs were willing to do whatever she wanted because it was “fun” and there was food at the end of it.
In the 2009 Quest a young musher totally misjudged the food he would need for his team, and they just quit. He understood what happened and told people that he failed the dogs. The dogs didn’t trust him anymore, so they wouldn’t pull. If you don’t make your best effort to understand your dogs, you might finish the race, but you’ll never know how fast those dogs will run, because you gave them no reason to run fast.
Every time they stop, no matter how tired they are, the best mushers take the time to care for their dogs and to praise them all. Dogs don’t need a lot from humans, but they had better get what they need.