Category — Iditarod

The first 11 are in Cripple, the rest are on the trail between Ophir and Cripple. Those in bold have completed their mandatory 24-hour stop.

1 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
2 Paul Gebhardt (69)
3 Zack Steer (26)
4 Martin Buser (13)
5 Ed Iten (32)
6 Ken Anderson (9)
7 Silvia Willis (40)
8 Hugh Neff (16)
9 Aliy Zirkle (17)
10 Rohn Buser (37) [rookie]

11 Jeff King (11)
12 Cim Smyth (2)
13 Jon Korta (71)
14 Jason Mackey (36)
15 Kjetil Backen (42)
16 Lance Mackey (6)
17 Hans Gatt (38)
18 William Kleedehn (66) [rookie]
19 Rick Swenson (61)
20 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
21 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)
22 Jim Lanier (4)
23 Aaron Burmeister (14)
24 John Baker (67)

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I’ve referenced the mandatory 24-hour layover at a check point, but the only team that gets to leave after exactly 24 hours is Robert Bundtzen (97), currently in 32^th place. Cim Smyth (2), currently in 12^th place, won’t get to leave for around 27 hours, as this is where the starting advantage is evened out. At two minutes a team, Bundtzen didn’t get to leave Willow for more than three hours after Smyth, so now he gets the three hours back. This means that after everyone has taken their “24-hour” stop, position on the trail is the true position in the race. Up until that point, the apparent leaders may not be the actual leaders.

Paul Gebhardt (69) had a six-hour lead going to Cripple and everyone assumed he would be there first, but as Bobby Burns wrote: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”. Apparently he became disoriented and wandered off the trail, losing about 6 hours and $3,000.

DeeDee Jonroe (39) was surprised to discover when she arrived at Cripple that she was the first team in and had won the Dorothy Page Halfway Award and $3,000 in gold nuggets.

Not a lot of change in the leader board:

1 Paul Gebhardt (69)
2 Hugh Neff (16)
3 Zack Steer (26)
4 Silvia Willis (40)
5 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
6 Martin Buser (13)
7 Ed Iten (32)
8 Ken Anderson (9)
9 Aliy Zirkle (17)
10 Rohn Buser (37) [rookie]

The people on the board still have to take their mandatory 24-hour stops, while Kjetil Backen (42) [14^th ], Lance Mackey (6) [18^th], and Jeff King (11) [19^th] just finished theirs. The first 14 teams are beyond Ophir on to the halfway point at Cripple.

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Current Standings:

1 Paul Gebhardt (69)
2 Hugh Neff (16)
3 Zack Steer (26)
4 Silvia Willis (40)
5 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
6 Martin Buser (13)
7 Ed Iten (32)
8 Ken Anderson (9)
9 Mitch Seavey (33)
10 Ramey Smyth (48)

The top 9 have left Ophir for Cripple.

A number of the people you are used to seeing on this are taking their mandatory 24-hour stop and will be back tomorrow. There is still a mandatory 8-hour rest between Ruby and Unalakleet, and the final 8-hour stop in White Mountain.

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If you run in the Iditarod and finish among the top 20 there’s some cash at the end of trail, but there are other awards along the way.

Lance Mackey won the Spirit of Alaska Award by being the first into McGrath. PenAir gave him a spirit mask and a $500 credit on his air freight bill.

The Dorothy Page Halfway Award awaits the first team into Cripple and $3,000 in gold nuggets.

The First to the Yukon Award is waiting in Ruby. It’s 3,500 5,000 one-dollar bills and a gourmet meal.

The Gold Coast Award is for the first musher to reach Unalakleet. They get a trophy and $2,500 in gold.

The overall winner gets a new pickup truck and about half of the total prize money, in the $80-90K range.

Truth be told, if you aren’t one of the first three or four into Nome, you are probably out of pocket for the race unless you have sponsors. Just think what it costs to feed 16 sled dogs who are working hard for two weeks.

In case you were wondering, when I was in Alaska, I was not aware of a business that was unable to deal with gold as readily as greenbacks, including bars.

Here’s the current leader board:

1 Mitch Seavey (33)
2 Lance Mackey (6)
3 Jeff King (11)
4 Kjetil Backen (42)
5 Paul Gebhardt (69)
6 Jim Lanier (4)
7 Aaron Burmeister (14)
8 Sebastian Schnuelle (68)
9 Jessie Royer (3)
10 Sigrid Ekran (24)

Obviously Jessie leads the women and is back in her accustomed place, Sebastian, also from Whitehorse, carries the Yukon flag. Rohn Buser (37) as moved to 21^st place to continue to lead the rookies.

With Silvia Willis (40) 12^th, DeeDee Jonrowe (39) 13^th, and Aliy Zirkle (17) 19^th, if there were any lingering doubts after the reign of Susan Butcher, sled dog racing is not a “boys club.”

Lance Mackey won the PenAir Spirit of Alaska award for being the first into McGrath, but he knows that he needs an hour lead on Kjetil Backen to be truly ahead because of the difference in start times.

Rachael Scdoris (55) is in 72^nd place.

The first 10 are at or just beyond Takotna, while the back of the race is in Rohn.

Current leader board:

1 Lance Mackey (6)
2 Jeff King (11)
3 Kjetil Backen (42)
4 Paul Gebhardt (69)
5 Zack Steer (26)
6 Hans Gatt (38)
7 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
8 Hugh Neff (16)
9 Mitch Seavey (33)
10 Rick Swenson (61)

Hans Gatt and Gerry Willomitzer are leading the charge for Canada, and both are from Whitehorse in the Yukon, which has a sled dog on a snow pile in it’s coat of arms.

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The Anchorage Daily News has a nice piece on the back of the race about Kim Franklin (79) the rookie from Cottered, England currently in 92^nd place. She figures this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and is taking her time to enjoy the trail. But Trent Herbst (85) of Homer, Alaska in 94^th place, was fooled by markers leading to a local cabin and lost hours of trail time before he discovered his mistake.

Current standings:

1 Lance Mackey (6)
2 Hugh Neff (16)
3 Jeff King (11)
4 Mitch Seavey (33)
5 Cim Smyth (2)
6 Ramey Smyth (48)
7 Kjetil Backen (42)
8 Zack Steer (26)
9 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
10 Paul Gebhardt (69)

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Via the Achorage Daily News here are the current top ten teams:

1 Kjetil Backen (42)
2 Aaron Burmeister (14)
3 Gerry Willomitzer (7)
4 Paul Gebhardt (69)
5 Hugh Neff (16)
6 Lance Mackey (6)
7 Zack Steer (26)
8 Hans Gatt (38)
9 Rick Swenson (61)
10 Warren Palfrey (44)

Backen is in Rohn, while the next 20 teams are between Rainy Pass and Rohn. Those still not in Rainy Pass are dealing with snow, which would have been heavy and wet at time with the daytime temperatures getting just above freezing.

In her second Iditrod, Sigrid Ekran (24) is the leading woman at 16^th, while Rohn Buser (37) is the leading rookie at 17^th.

Because of the rules Rachael Scdoris (55) ended up having to start last to coordinate with her “guide”, Joe Runyan (83), but she is at 90^th in Finger Lake.

While Lance Mackey is currently the furtherest along the trail, the Norwegians made a big move yesterday stopping to rest just before the climb to Rainy Pass. Both Sigrid Ekran(24) and Kjetil Backen(42) stopped at mile 106 and should be moving shortly with the sunrise.

Every team pursues their own strategy when determining when and where to stop.

Added: The Anchorage Daily News has more.

The first teams are more that 50 miles from the re-start at Willow moving at around 10mph through the 28°F temperature that has been prevalent up to Rainy Pass. The temperature is 20 degrees less on the other side of the Pass.

The mushers are required to take two 8-hour breaks and one 24-hour break on the trail, but they will probably push on if the dogs want to run, stopping only to provide food and water. Water is vital after Rainy Pass because the colder temperature mean drier air and dehydration is a major problem in the Arctic, even as you are surrounded by ice and snow. The dehydration will really weaken you and cloud your judgment, if you ever had a hangover you understand dehydration because that’s the largest part of the problem.

If you’re into that sort of thing, a PDF of the official rules is available on-line. In addition to everything else, you have to come up with $3K to enter this race, so these are some serious people who really want to do this.

The real race has begun in Willow, with teams signing out at recorded times to provide space along the trail. It started at 2PM Alaska Standard Time which is -9 UTC, or 3 hours earlier than my time. You have to check the Official Race Site to find out who is winning because it is based on actual times for team, not their place on the trail and there are mandatory 8 and 24-hour layovers during the race. There is 10 and a half hours of sunlight with sunrise at 8AM, but the teams will gain about 6 minutes a day during the race, and the moon is waning from the last quarter, so it’s no help.

The Weather Underground has a special page for Iditarod Weather, which has a map where you can see the current weather at the check points when you put your cursor on them, and the distance between the points when you put your cursor on a trail segment. Currently there is light snow falling at the beginning of the course.

The USGS has an Alaska earthquake map for the current week, and Alaska constantly has earthquakes, but most of then are small.

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The ceremonial start of the Iditarod takes place today in Anchorage, with the real racing segment starting Sunday from Willow.

There are 96 teams starting the race, most from the US and Canada, but there are also 9 mushers from Europe: Sigrid Ekran(24) & Kjetil Backen(42) from Norway, Rudi Niggenmeier(52) & Benedikt Beisch(64) from Germany, Dries Jacobs(65) & Sam Deltour(63) from Belgium, Fabrizio Lovati(77) from Italy, Benoit Gerard(91) from France, and Kim Franklin(79) from the UK.

I’ll be keeping an eye on Lance Mackey(6), last year’s winner, and Rachael Scdoris(55).

The course is looking a lot better than last year’s, but one weather front can change everything.