Category — Iditarod

Lots of news today.

Jim Lanier and Trent Herbst are going for the “Halfway” award at Cripple [$3000 in gold nuggets last year] while the leaders at Takotna have finished their 24-hour and are hitting the trail again. The Busers are taking their 24-hour at Ophir.

Silvia Furtwängler (54) of Norway became the team to scratch. She decided exit the race at Nikolai because of concerns for her own health, after spending almost a full day to make the run from Rohn to NiKolai. She and Sigrid Ekran (24), also of Norway, were the only two of the three teams not from North America this year. [My apologies to Curt Perano (61) of New Zealand.]

Ryan Redington (67) has scratched at Takotna ‘for personal reasons’. He was down to 10 dogs and didn’t seem to be able to move up.

Jim Lanier scored the $3K in nuggets for arriving at Cripple first. I assume that he and Trent will stop for their 24-hour break there, Leaving the front of the race to Mitch and Dallas Seavey with John Baker and Aliy Zirkle chasing.

Obviously Aliy likes leading rather than chasing, so she rested before Cripple and blew through the checkpoint, and Mitch had to play catch-up and go after her. John Baker will continue with his plan, and will not react to anything until the end of the race.

Wade Marrs scratched at Ophir. He didn’t like the look of his dogs. That probably means they are off their stride, or their eating habits, i.e. they aren’t doing what they always do, and you don’t know why. It could be a virus, just fatigue, or even one of the dogs going into heat, but if you can’t pin it down you don’t know how serious it is. There are always more races.

At 11:30PM CST:

Beyond Cripple
1 Aliy Zirkle (14)
2 Mitch Seavey (35)
At Cripple
3 Jim Lanier (3)
4 Trent Herbst (16)
5 Dallas Seavey (34)
6 John Baker (11)
7 Jeff King (10)
8 Lance Mackey (18)
9 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
10 Sonny Lindner (59)
11 Sigrid Ekran (24)
12 Michael Williams Jr (51)
[Read more →]

Aliy won the Spirit of Alaska award when she blew through McGrath and arrived 39 minutes before John and Mitch in Takontna for her 24-hour layover. That said, Mitch will get to leave 3 minutes before Aliy because of the start time adjustment. Her team is ready to run with the best.

While Lance chose to take his 24-hour break at McGrath, Martin decided to take it further down the trail.

Update 9:50PM CST: [Note: Last year Trent stayed on the trail while others took their 24-hour breaks and won the ‘Halfway’ award. He may be planning to do it again.]

At Ophir
1 Martin Buser (41)
2 Rohn Buser (62)
3 Jim Lanier (3)
Beyond Takotna
4 Trent Herbst (16)
At Takotna
5 Aliy Zirkle (14)
6 Mitch Seavey (35)
7 John Baker (11)
8 Jeff King (10)
9 Dallas Seavey (34)
10 Ray Redington Jr (2)
11 Paul Gebhardt (25)
12 Hugh Neff (27)
13 Aaron Burmeister (44)
14 Sonny Lindner (59)
15 Gerry Willomitzer (23)
16 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
17 Michelle Phillips (26)
18 Peter Kaiser (28)
19 Jake Berkowitz (29)
20 Rick Swenson (60)
[Read more →]

The ‘Burn’ on the trail to Nikolai is on tap today. Hopefully the snow has covered the worst of it and there won’t be any injuries to dogs, people, or sleds this year.

The standings as of 11:30PM CST: [There was a traffic jam at Nikolai as the first 6 teams wanted to leave at the same time]

Beyond Nikolai
1 Aliy Zirkle (14)
2 John Baker (11)
3 Jeff King (10)
4 Lance Mackey (18)
5 Mitch Seavey (35)
6 Hugh Neff (27)
7 Paul Gebhardt (25)
8 Dallas Seavey (34)
9 Ray Redington Jr (2)
10 Aaron Burmeister (44)
11 Gerry Willomitzer (23)
12 Rick Swenson (60)
13 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
14 Kelley Griffin (20)
15 Michael Williams Jr (51)
16 Ramey Smyth (21)
17 Brent Sass (50)^Q
18 Cim Smyth (8)
19 Tom Thurston (5)
20 Josh Cadzow (55)^Q
[Read more →]

Things are starting to sort themselves out this morning as the major contenders move to the front before the ‘carnival ride’ between Finger Lake and Nikolai – the most “interesting” part of the race.

Aliy made the run from Rainy Pass to Rohn at better than 12mph, but it is all downhill. The standings are listing the speed at 19.65mph, but that’s a mistake. [She made 48 miles in less than 4 hours]. She made it to Rohn 11 minutes after Hugh, but left Rainy Pass 30 minutes after he did. Her puppies want to run. [Note: She will stop on the trail and camp within a couple of hours to feed and rest the dogs. When they work, they eat – a lot.]

At 11:30PM CST:

Beyond Rohn
1 Aliy Zirkle (14)
At Rohn
2 Hugh Neff (27)
3 Ray Redington Jr (2)
4 Lance Mackey (18)
5 Aaron Burmeister (44)
6 John Baker (11)
7 Kelley Griffin (20)
8 Jeff King (10)
9 Paul Gebhardt (25)
Beyond Rainy Pass
10 Rick Swenson (60)
11 Nicolas Petit (9)
12 Jim Lanier (3)
13 Cim Smyth (8)
14 Sonny Lindner (59)
15 Mitch Seavey (35)
16 Anjanette Steer (32)^R
17 Michael Williams Jr (51)
18 Peter Kaiser (28)
19 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
20 Jake Berkowitz (29)
[Read more →]

Ray Redington Jr. led off at 2PM AKST [5PM CST] but his brother Ryan won’t get to leave until 4:10PM AKST [7:10PM CST].

The sun sets at 6:34PM AKST, but the moon is 86% full tonight and the skies are forecast to be clear. The temperature at start time was 19° F [-7° C]. There is snow forecast from Willow to Skwentna tomorrow, with temperatures in single digits.

Things should be fast for the teams up front, but the back of the pack will probably being pushing snow as the sleds in front degrade the trail.

I will wait until later to post positions, which are still in the parade order from yesterday.

Ray made it to Yentna at 5:44PM AKST [8:44PM CST] and left five minutes later.

At 11:30PM CST:

Beyond Yentna
1 Ray Redington Jr (2)
2 Jodi Bailey (6)
3 Tom Thurston (5)
4 William Pinkham (4)
5 Cim Smyth (8)
6 Jeff King (10)
7 Nicolas Petit (9)
8 DeeDee Jonrowe (17)
9 Aliy Zirkle (14)
10 Kelley Griffin (20)
[Read more →]

The ‘Steps’ are back. After the start of the parade today, the Trail Committee had to put the Happy Valley Steps back into the race. According to reports from the trail breakers, heavy snow and wind conditions are making the alternate route impassible.

At least the snow should cushion the Steps.

These reports are not making me optimistic about possible conditions at Rainy Pass. That’s a nasty weather area most of the time, and if the wind is kicking up, finding the trail will be a problem. It sounds like John Baker’s record will be safe this year.

As you look at the list of mushers you will note a number of people have shared last names.

Seavey – Dan begat Mitch who begat Dallas
Buser – Martin begat Rohn
Redington – Ray and Ryan are brothers
Smyth – Cim and Ramey are brothers
Berington – Kristy and Anna are identical twin sisters.

Jim Lanier is breaking with his tradition and will not be running an all white team this year. He needed to fill in some positions and couldn’t find the dogs in his Northern Whites Kennel. At 71, even with a hip replacement he keeps on mushing. But then, Dan Seavey is three years older than Jim.

I’ve mentioned several times that moose are insane. Except for cows and their calves, and a short time in the Fall, moose even hate other moose. People often end up shooting moose, because there is no other way of stopping their attack. Of course, under Alaskan law, if you kill it, you eat it, or get ready for a major [four trailing zeroes] fine.

If you have to shoot a moose to protect your dogs, even in a sanctioned race, you still have to stop and butcher the animal, then take several hundred pounds of meat on the sled with you. Hopefully the weather is cold or you are close to civilization.

The heavy snow this year is leading to more moose encounters than normal. Moose don’t like to break trail through the snow any more than humans do, so they will use any roads or trails they find.

Irving, a wheel dog on Karen Ramstead’s team was put on the injured/reserve list as the result of a muscle tear to a rear leg caused by a moose encounter on a training run outside of Willow.

On Friday, Demon, a new lead dog on Zoya DeNure’s team received bruises to his shoulders from a moose on a trail in Anchorage, across from a ‘Jiffy Lube’ and strip mall.

Zoya really wants Demon to run, as a reward, the ultimate ‘good boy’, because he is one of her ‘rescues’. I hope he gets his chance, but I doubt he will make the whole trip. Zoya and the vets will be watching him closely.

The Susan Butcher Day parade of teams that marks the ceremonial beginning of the Iditarod started at 10AM AKST [1PM CST] in light snow.

There is plenty of snow at the start, with up to two feet reported on the trail, but it is powder. It will be fast for the front, but the trail can break down, and the wind can move it around and create white-out conditions. You can’t make snowballs or snowmen out of powder snow, it doesn’t pack.

The real racing starts tomorrow from Willow with the re-start. I expect the experienced teams will move quickly to the front to avoid the trail breakdown.

There are four winners of the only the Yukon Quest, and four winners of only the Iditarod, as well as two, Lance Mackey and Jeff King who have won both.

Lance is in a rebuilding phase, with younger dogs, but he will probably add some more veterans to his Iditarod team than he used on the Quest team he just ran.

John Baker is back and there is no reason to think he will change his strategy of ‘cruise control’ that won last year. Velvet and Snickers will set the pace and John’s team will move along at their trot – the most efficient use of their energy. This is a distance team, not sprinters, and they can keep it up seemingly forever. Warm weather is the only thing that will really bother these dogs. They set the overall record time for the race on the tougher Southern trail: 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds.

The Mushers List is after the fold [Read more →]

Things should be nice on the trail as long as the freezing weather holds, because there has been a lot of new snow to cushion things, and the puppies are much happier with cold weather.

Like the Quest, the moon is cooperating with a waxing crescent going to full on March 8^th for those who want to run at night. The day was 10 hours and 16 minutes in Anchorage, and 10 hours in Nome. It is lengthening by almost 6 minutes a day in the South, and nearly 7 minutes a day at the northern end of the trail.

Speaking of puppies, the Anchorage Daily News is posting a lot of articles on the dogs, mostly on lead dogs, past and present. The ‘Howl of Fame’ article covers some of the great lead dogs of the past. It takes a leader gets into what mushers look for in lead dogs.

Then they cover one of the great of the current dogs, Silver, who is running his last race and first Iditarod this year at 10 years old. The Yukon Quest named its award for heroic acts by a dog, for Silver, with very good reason.

There is another nice piece about Sadie, a leader on Zoya DeNure’s team. Keep in mind that Zoya and John run their kennel with “rescues, runts, and rejects”, dogs other people didn’t want.

These races are about the dogs. That’s why it is called ‘Sled Dog Racing’, not ‘Musher Racing’.

Updating an earlier post, Mike Williams is being replaced by his son, Mike Williams Jr. Mike caught pneumonia this winter, and was in no shape to run the Iditarod, so his son replaced him.

When the Iditarod starts there will be 66 teams on the trail, three more that last year, but well down from the peak years. I noticed 5 names that have withdrawn who have either been around forever, or provided a new element to race.

The kilted supporters of Wattie McDonald of Scotland will not be in evidence this year. They shook things up at the start last year.

Jessie Royer and Tamara Rose of Fairbanks have both withdrawn. Jessie said it was a matter of money, and people can certainly understand that. It will still be odd not seeing her in the top ten.

Native Alaskan mushers Mike Williams and Robert Nelson have also decided to sit out this year, and money probably played some part in their decisions.

The truth is that running the Iditarod cost $30K+ when you add it all up. If you add in the cost of transportation to start line, and then home from the finish, you need a really good year to afford it. When things are bad, the sponsors just aren’t there.

Another change of note is to the trail itself between Finger Lake and Rainy Pass. Alaska Public Broadcasting reports that the Iditarod Trail Altered To Avoid ‘Happy River Steps’. The ‘Steps’ have eaten a lot of sleds, and mugged more than a few mushers. If you’re lucky, the sled will break into pieces suitable for making splints for your broken bones.

Update: The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner article on the course change includes a video of Aliy Zirkle’s passage down the steps in 2010 when conditions were perfect with deep new snow cushioning the rocks underneath. That is the best it gets. With less snow, and perhaps ice on the rock shelving, the ‘Steps’ get very ‘interesting’.

These are the trail distances between checkpoints.

Willow – Start
Yentna Station – 52 miles [84 km]
Skwentna – 34 miles [55 km]
Finger Lake – 45 miles [72 km]
Rainy Pass – 30 miles [48 km]
Rohn – 48 miles [77 km]
Nikolai – 75 miles [121 km]
McGrath – 54 miles [87 km] [Spirit of Alaska]
Takotna – 18 miles [29 km]
Ophir – 25 miles [40 km]
Cripple – 59 miles [95 km] [Dorothy Page Halfway]
Ruby – 112 miles [180 km] [First to the Yukon]
Galena – 52 miles [84 km]
Nulato – 52 miles [84 km]
Kaltag – 42 miles [68 km]
Unalakleet – 90 miles [145 km] [Gold Coast]
Shaktoolik – 42 miles [68 km]
Koyuk – 48 miles [77 km]
Elim – 48 miles [77 km]
Golovin – 28 miles [45 km]
White Mountain – 18 miles [29 km]
Safety – 55 miles [88 km]
Nome – 22 miles [35 km]

The items in italics after checkpoints are awards for being first to those points.

The distance is from the previous checkpoint. Some teams in the early going will travel at 12 mph [20kph] or better with all 16 dogs eager to go.

Yes, next Saturday is Susan Butcher Day in Alaska, which means the start of the Iditarod.

Sixty-two teams and 990 dogs left Willow. Forty-seven teams and 450 dogs made it to Nome. Only a third of the 15 teams that didn’t make it were rookies. There were no dog deaths during the race, which is a result of much tougher screening all along the trail.

The weather was wonderful for the mushers, but many of the dogs that were dropped were probably affected by the heat, and not “kennel cough”. During the first part of the race, the speeds were very high for the temperature, as a number of veteran mushers noted.

John Baker won by moving at a fairly consistent pace for the entire race, while Ramey Smith was somewhat erratic, with bursts of speed followed by long stops. He was part of group that was racing among themselves early on, and ended up further back than they normally would be. There has been a tendency by some to treat the race as a series of sprints, while John treated it as a marathon from the beginning.

Will Peterson provides some more information on the interaction between Ellen Halverson and Heather Siirtola at the back of the pack.

Scott Janssen (32), the “Mushing Mortician” [he is a funeral director in Anchorage and gave himself the nickname], figures the belt buckle he received as an Iditarod finisher cost him about $120K. When a single dog needs 12,000 calories/day during the race you can see why the numbers are really measured in tens of thousands to run the race. You need sponsors if you aren’t independently wealthy.

[Read more →]

The snow storm was saved for the first day of Spring and the last day of the race, just as a reminder of what things can be like, and usually are, for the Iditarod.

Ellen has given the Lantern to Heather by leaving a couple of minutes before her, and they came off the mountain last night to run the last of the race into the blowing snow. The windchill is 15°, which is not extreme, as long as the team will run into the wind. They should be in around lunch time.

Update: They are beyond Safety and Heather returned the Lantern to Ellen with a 4 minute lead. They are not going to break Celeste Davis’s Red Lantern record.

Update: No one else seems to be interested, but it would appear that Ellen and Heather are setting up a race in Nome. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a photo finish to resolve the Red Lantern. Both are now down to 9 puppies, and I assume they have left everything but survival supplies at Safety for the final run. Heather arrived 14 minutes before Ellen, but they both spent an hour at Safety, and left a couple of minutes apart. They are having their own private race within the race.

Update: Heather is in after 13 days 19:24:13 and Ellen receives an unwanted second Red Lantern after 13 days 19:45:49.

At Nome

40 Matt Giblin (60)
41 Tom Thurston (25)
42 Scott Janssen (32)^R
43 Angie Taggart (19)^R
44 Kirk Barnum (47)
45 G.B. Jones (40)
46 Heather Siirtola (50)
47 Ellen Halverson (26) Φ [Read more →]