Category — Iditarod

This is looking like the final day of the race with all of the active teams between Nome and Koyuk.

Sarah Stokey looks like her team is striking, as is Rob Cooke’s. They must have wind at White Mountain. As a survival reaction a lot of sled dogs will lay down with their tails to the wind if it’s cold. If you don’t have a good weather leader, you are stuck.

Standings at 9:00PM CDT:

Finished at Nome
41 Justin Savidis (46)
42 Cody Strathe (59)^Q
43 Paige Drobny (75)
44 DeeDee Jonrowe (45)
45 Nathan Schroeder (4)
46 Jodi Bailey (14)
47 Monica Zappa (8)
48 Michael Williams, Jr. (40)
49 Melissa Owens Stewart (82)
50 James Volek (15)
51 Tim Pappas (64)^R
52 Becca Moore (22)
53 Alan Eischens (54)
54 Robert Bundtzen (26)
55 Noah Pereira (21)^R
56 Miriam Osredkar (65)^R
57 Tom Jamgochian (78)^R
58 Kristin Knight Pace (47)^R
59 Ryne Olson (44)
60 Trent Herbst (58)
61 Matthew Failor (63)
62 Elliot Anderson (69)^R
63 Larry Daugherty (43)^R
64 Patrick Beall (53)^R
65 Lisbet Norris (7)
Beyond Safety
66 Sarah Stokey (71)^R
Beyond White Mountain
67 Rob Cooke (56)
Beyond Elim
68 Kristin Bacon (42)^R
69 Kim Franklin (34)^R
70 Cindy Gallea (73)
At Elim
71 Mary Helwig (49)^R Φ
[Read more →]

Ellen has the Red Lantern at the coast and Billy Snodgrass scratched at Unalakleet. It’s a shame to get so close and have to stop.

Alas, Ellen has followed in Billy’s sled tracks and scratched been withdrawn by the ITC at Unalakleet. Mary Helwig at Shaktoolik has inherited had the Red Lantern thrust upon her by the ITC.

Nathan Schroeder’s team is having a strike over working conditions, as happened to Brent Sass earlier. The feeling is that the Seaveys may have convinced their teams to run without rest, but not all teams are that dumb.

Nathan’s team finally decided to go to Nome in 45th place.

Standings at 9:15PM CDT:

Finished at Nome
31 Katherine Keith (85)
32 Allen Moore (5)
33 Ed Stielstra (50)
34 Jason Mackey (67)
35 Jason Campeau (24)
36 Tore Albrigtsen (52)
37 Martin Buser (48)
38 Karin Hendrickson (76)
39 Kristy Berington (83)
40 Anna Berington (23)
41 Justin Savidis (46)
42 Cody Strathe (59)^Q
43 Paige Drobny (75)
44 DeeDee Jonrowe (45)
45 Nathan Schroeder (4)
46 Jodi Bailey (14)
47 Monica Zappa (8)
48 Michael Williams, Jr. (40)
Beyond Safety
49 Alan Eischens (54)
50 Melissa Owens Stewart (82)
51 James Volek (15)
[Read more →]

Ellen and the Red Lantern are beyond Nulato this morning as almost two dozen teams look forward to a hot shower and a bed.

If you want to see some really pretty puppies, Rob Cooke (56) & Lisbet Norris (7) are running all Siberian teams.

Standings at 9:30PM CDT

Finished at Nome
11 Noah Burmeister (39)
12 Richie Diehl (38)
13 Robert Sørlie (37)
14 Paul Gebhardt (55)
15 Jessie Royer (3)
16 Ken Anderson (81)
17 John Baker (66)
18 Travis Beals (28)
19 Ray Redington Jr (18)
20 Brent Sass (32)
21 Kelly Maixner (17)
22 Hugh Neff (70)
23 Sigrid Ekran (27)
24 Linwood Fiedler (41)
25 Michelle Phillips (30)
26 Geir Idar Hjelvik (79)^R
27 Mats Pettersson (36)
28 Ketil Reitan (6)
29 Lars Monsen (68)^R
30 Dag Torulf Olsen (35)^R
31 Katherine Keith (85)
32 Allen Moore (5)
33 Ed Stielstra (50)
Beyond Safety
34 Nathan Schroeder (4)
35 Jason Mackey (67)
36 Jason Campeau (24)
[Read more →]

The top finishers were both named Seavey – Dallas first, and his dad, Mitch, second. It looks like Ellen will pick up her third Red Lantern. She is at Galena this morning.

Dallas finished in 8 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes, and 16 seconds of racing with an average speed of 4.74MPH. [Take the total time and subtract the mandatory time spent at checkpoints.]

At 9:00PM CDT:

Finished at Nome
1 Dallas Seavey (16)
2 Mitch Seavey (19)
3 Aliy Zirkle (13)
4 Wade Marrs (33)
5 Peter Kaiser (11)
6 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (31)
7 Nicolas Petit (12)
8 Ralph Johannessen (77)
9 Jeff King (61)
10 Scott Smith (62)
11 Noah Burmeister (39)
12 Richie Diehl (38)
Beyond Safety
13 Robert Sørlie (37)
14 Paul Gebhardt (55)
15 Jessie Royer (3)
16 Ken Anderson (81)
17 John Baker (66)
[Read more →]

Someone will pass under the Burled Arch today. Dallas is running his usual ‘no rest’ end game, but it’s up to his puppies to make good on his gamble.

So far, Dallas’s puupies are making him look good.

Ray Redington Jr. is carrying the family colors alone as Robert scratched at Galena. Robert was in 46th, which is good for a rookie run. It wouldn’t be the Iditarod without Redingtons, Mackeys, and Seaveys running.

Ouch – Lance scratched at Galena, and Cim Smyth & Jim Lanier scratched at Kaltag. Lance’s puppies have been having some GI problems. A lot of injuries early on are beginning to ache.

Someone, probably Dallas, will be in Nome in the early morning hours.

The standings at 9:15PM CDT:

Beyond White Mountain
1 Dallas Seavey (16)
At White Mountain
2 Mitch Seavey (19)
3 Brent Sass (32)
4 Aliy Zirkle (13)
Beyond Elim
5 Wade Marrs (33)
6 Peter Kaiser (11)
7 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (31)
8 Noah Burmeister (39)
9 Ralph Johannessen (77)
10 Nicolas Petit (12)
11 Robert Sørlie (37)
12 Michelle Phillips (30)
13 Jeff King (61)
14 Scott Smith (62)
[Read more →]

Brent was first to the Norton Sound with the top three arriving in less than 2 hours.

Ryan Redington scratched at Ruby leaving Ray Jr. and Robert to represent the family

At 9:00PM CDT the standings:

Beyond Shaktoolik
1 Dallas Seavey (16)
2 Brent Sass (32)
3 Aliy Zirkle (13)
4 Mitch Seavey (19)
5 Wade Marrs (33)
At Shaktoolik
6 Noah Burmeister (39)
7 Peter Kaiser (11)
8 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (31)
Beyond Unalakleet
9 Ken Anderson (81)
10 John Baker (66)
11 Robert Sørlie (37)
12 Jeff King (61)
13 Ralph Johannessen (77)
14 Michelle Phillips (30)
15 Nicolas Petit (12)
16 Hugh Neff (70)
17 Paul Gebhardt (55)
18 Ray Redington Jr (18)
19 Scott Smith (62)
20 Jessie Royer (3)
21 Kelly Maixner (17)
22 Richie Diehl (38)
23 Travis Beals (28)
[Read more →]

Fairbanks News-Miner has a bare-bones report of the incident:

“Race officials said [Aliy] Zirkle, currently running in third place, was approaching Nulato when a person on a snowmobile repeatedly attempted to harm her.

One dog on her team received injuries that officials described as non-life-threatening.

[Jeff] King, a four-time Iditarod champion, was behind Zirkle and fared worse.

King was 12 miles from Nulato when three of his dogs were hit by the snowmobile.

Nash, a 3-year-old male, was killed. Crosby, another 3-year-old male, and Banjo, a 2-year-old male, received injuries and are expected to survive.”

Nulato is a small community so “a suspect has been identified” and I would guess that “chemicals” were involved.

If you read the rest of the article, there is confusion: Dallas Seavey won the race last year and he is the son of Mitch Seavey, who is leading at Noon CST in Kaltag.

Update: One Arnold Demoski, 26, of Nulato is currently ‘enjoying the hospitality of the Alaska State Police while helping them with their inquiries’. Mr. Demoski said he was drunk.

Nash and Crosby were part of the same 4 puppy litter. Their other litter mates were Stills & Young.

Brent Sass is in the lead this morning, and while Mitch is starting 2nd he still needs an 8-hour, which Aliy has already completed. It is down to how fast is your team and how little rest can you and the team exist on…

Ellen left the Red Lantern in the care of Billy Snodgrass in Ophir. Alas, Billy returned the favor at 4:30PM.

There is some information that both Aliy and Jeff King were harassed by a snowmobile on the trail into Nulato. The Iditarod Trail Committee have made it nearly impossible to find out what’s going on without “donating” to their “non-profit” corporation. [Update in separate post]

Rick Casillo & Scott Janssen have both scratched. Rick lost his lead dog to an injury in a fight with another male. [Many of the females are in heat, a good reason to run the race at a different time.]

Standings at 8:30PM CST.

Beyond Kaltag
Brent Sass (32)
Aliy Zirkle (13)
Dallas Seavey (16)
Wade Marrs (33)
Mitch Seavey (19)
John Baker (66)
At Kaltag
7 Robert Sørlie (37)
8 Nicolas Petit (12)
9 Peter Kaiser (11)
10 Noah Burmeister (39)
11 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (31)
12 Jeff King (61)
[Read more →]

For the first time since the start of the race we have an undisputed leader – Brent Sass. Jeff King is the only one of the top 50 who hasn’t completed a 24-hour, Brent really is the leader without an asterisk.

Aliy beat Brent to Galena by an hour, but he blew through to re-take the lead.

It looks Aliy is taking her 8-hour. Dallas has already taken his at Ruby, so the real racing will begin.

Update at 9:00PM CST:

Beyond Galena
1 Brent Sass (32)
At Galena
2 Aliy Zirkle (13)
3 Mitch Seavey (19)
4 Noah Burmeister (39)
5 Robert Sørlie (37)
6 John Baker (66)
7 Dallas Seavey (16)
Beyond Ruby
8 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (31)
9 Wade Marrs (33)
10 Nicolas Petit (12)
11 Ray Redington Jr (18)
12 Jeff King (61)
13 Scott Smith (62)
14 Kelly Maixner (17)
[Read more →]

This morning Ellen Halverson is definitely not where she wants to be – at the tail end of the race. Ellen already has two Red Lanterns and definitely doesn’t want a third. OTOH, she is one of only about 750 people who have finished an Iditarod.

Kim Franklin has dropped well back in the rankings after her team got loose on the trail beyond Rohn. The Hertfordshire, UK musher had to walk to Nikolai. In her first attempt at the race her lead dogs chewed through their lines and escaped which led to her disqualification.

Jeff King is really putting off his 24-hour break.

Charley Bejna scratched at McGrath. He waited until after his 24-hour, but was down to no more than 11 puppies. The early warm weather can cause health problems for dogs as well as people.

Standings at 9:00PM CST:

At Ruby
1 Jeff King (61)
Beyond Cripple
2 Brent Sass (32)
3 Aliy Zirkle (13)
4 Ken Anderson (81)
At Cripple
5 Dallas Seavey (16)
6 Noah Burmeister (39)
7 Robert Sørlie (37)
8 John Baker (66)
9 Kelly Maixner (17)
10 Ralph Johannessen (77)
11 Nicolas Petit (12)
12 Mitch Seavey (19)
13 Hugh Neff (70)
14 Wade Marrs (33)
15 Peter Kaiser (11)
16 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (31)
17 Paul Gebhardt (55)
18 Scott Smith (62)
19 Michelle Phillips (30)
[Read more →]

This morning it looks like Dallas is going to take his 24-hour in Cripple, the halfway point on the race. Takotna is the most popular checkpoint for the 24-hour and they have developed the resources to deal with it.

Hans Gatt, veteran musher and well known sled builder has decided to scratch. He was one of the first builders advocating the sled with the ‘trailer’.

Updated at 8:30PM CST:

At Cripple
1 Dallas Seavey (16)
Beyond Ophir
2 Noah Burmeister (39)
3 John Baker (66)
4 Robert Sørlie (37)
5 Jeff King (61)
6 Lance Mackey (72)
7 Kelly Maixner (17)
8 Ralph Johannessen (77)
At Ophir
9 Brent Sass (32)
10 Nicolas Petit (12)
11 Ken Anderson (81)
12 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (31)
13 Ketil Reitan (6)
14 Scott Smith (62)
15 Sigrid Ekran (27)
16 Cim Smyth (10)
17 Martin Buser (48)
[Read more →]

Lance Mackey is the leader this morning as the teams head towards Nome in cooler weather beyond the Alaskan Range.

One of my favorite teams, Zoya Denure and her collection of ‘rescues, runts, and rejects’ has scratched at Rainy Pass. That first part in the heat wasn’t easy on puppies.

Updated at 9:30PM CST.

Beyond Nikolai
1 Brent Sass (32)
2 Noah Burmeister (39)
3 Dallas Seavey (16)
4 Mitch Seavey (19)
5 Wade Marrs (33)
6 Peter Kaiser (11)
7 Aliy Zirkle (13)
8 Robert Sørlie (37)
9 Nicolas Petit (12)
10 Ketil Reitan (6)
At Nikolai
11 Lance Mackey (72)
12 Hugh Neff (70)
13 Paul Gebhardt (55)
14 Jason Mackey (67)
15 Jeff King (61)
16 Rick Casillo (20)
17 Michelle Phillips (30)
18 Ralph Johannessen (77)
19 Cim Smyth (10)
20 Richie Diehl (38)
[Read more →]

This race has more checkpoints than I-5 [SoCal humor] and a lot of the action is going to take place at night because it has been in the 40s so far and that’s hot for the puppies.

Jan Steves (25) is the first musher to scratch. He left the race at Skwenta. Martin Koenig (86) joined Jan at Skwenta.

The standings as of 9:30PM CST:

At Rohn
1 Hugh Neff (70)
Beyond Rainy Pass
2 Noah Burmeister (39)
3 Paul Gebhardt (55)
4 Jason Mackey (67)
5 Nicolas Petit (12)
6 Lance Mackey (72)
7 Richie Diehl (38)
8 Kelly Maixner (17)
9 John Baker (66)
10 Brent Sass (32)
11 Peter Kaiser (11)
12 Dallas Seavey (16)
13 Aliy Zirkle (13)
14 Katherine Keith (85)
15 Wade Marrs (33)
16 Ralph Johannessen (77)
17 Mitch Seavey (19)
18 Ketil Reitan (6)
19 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (31)
20 Jeff King (61)
21 Sigrid Ekran (27)
22 Cim Smyth (10)
23 Rick Casillo (20)
[Read more →]

And they’re off at two minute intervals at 5PM CDT [2PM AKST].

Beyond Willow

1 Scott Janssen (2)
2 Jessie Royer (3)
3 Nathan Schroeder (4)
4 Allen Moore (5)
5 Ketil Reitan (6)
6 Lisbet Norris (7)
7 Monica Zappa (8)
8 Charley Bejna (9)
9 Cim Smyth (10)
10 Peter Kaiser (11)
11 Nicolas Petit (12)
12 Aliy Zirkle (13)
13 Jodi Bailey (14)
14 James Volek (15)
15 Dallas Seavey (16)
16 Kelly Maixner (17)
17 Ray Redington Jr (18)
18 Mitch Seavey (19)
[Read more →]