March 14, 2006

• The race is almost won.

  The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race isn’t anywhere near over, because the
  Red Lantern, still held by Ben Valks, has only just gotten to the Yukon
  River.  He appears to be taking his mandatory 8-hour river rest at
  Ruby, where he had been for about five hours when I brought up the
  latest standings at around 11:40.
  

  King and team leaving Koyuk – photo credit Al Grillo/AP.

  Jeff
  King got into White Mountain at 6:34 with thirteen dogs.  He’s
  required to rest his dogs there for eight hours before the run to
  Safety and on to Nome, as is Doug Swingley who checked in at 9:41 with
  eleven dogs, and all the other mushers who make it that far. 

  Observers in Elim last night said that Jeff’s team is looking a lot
  stronger than Doug’s.  From what I heard of both men’s voices on
  the radio this morning, those dogs better be in better shape than their
  mushers, or they’ll never make it.  Both men were having a hard
  time making their mouths work well enough to form words, but that might
  have been because some reporter stuck a microphone in their faces while
  their lips were still chilled from the trail.

  DeeDee Jonrowe regained third place from Paul Gebhardt between Koyuk
  and Elim when his moving ahead without resting his dogs backfired on
  him and they slowed down.  DeeDee checked into Elim at 3:46 this
  morning, rested for about two and a half hours, and checked out exactly
  three hours behind Doug Swingley, at 5:19.  Within the next four
  hours Paul Gebhardt, John Baker, Bjornar Andersen and Ed Iten had gone
  through the Elim checkpoint and were out on the trail to White Mountain
  behind DeeDee.

  [update at 12:34:  Gebhardt recovered third place from Dee Dee
  between Elim and White Mountain.  Paul checked in at 11:59, and
  she followed at 12:24.]

  [update at 3:55 PM:  Jeff King left White Mountain at 2:34,
  returned fifteen minutes later to drop one dog, then took off again
  toward Safety.  He should be getting into Nome about midnight.]

  Currently resting in Elim are Lance Mackey in eighth place, followed by
  Jason Barron, Mitch Seavey, Sonny Lindner, Aliy Zirkle and Aaron
  Burmeister.

  Martin Buser leaving McGrath a week ago on day 4
   - Photo credit: Official Iditarod photographer Jeff Schultz
  The
  pack is strung out along the coast through Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, and
  Koyuk.  Resting in Koyuk right now, Martin Buser is in 26th
  place.  He was in thirtieth place and uncharacteristically bummed
  out when he was talking to the APRN reporter last night.  The
  reporter mentioned that Marty flashed his “trademark smile” only once
  during the interview. 

  He talked about his several incidents of bad luck during this race,
  about hitting the tree stump and having his sled come apart.  He
  said that he’s just concentrating on finishing the race, not even
  considering himself to be in competition any more.  He said it
  would be pointless to try to make a move from thirtieth place. 
  “If this is a mid-life crisis,” he laughed, “it must mean I’ll live to
  be 96.”

  The media seem to have gotten their fill last year of the visually
  impaired young woman (that blind girl who sees better than my husband
  and the musher now in second place, Doug Swingley).  Besides the
  paid ad I saw on the Anchorage Daily News’s website at the start of the
  race, the only time her name has come up in my searches during this
  race was one two-line blurb on the website of a TV station in her home
  state.  I have seen a few photos of her seeing-eye musher Tim
  Osmar, but none of her.  Tim was out of Kaltag in 57th place in
  the latest standings.

  The husband and wife team of rookies, Norwegians Tore Albrigtsen and
  Tove Sorensen, who have been staying together throughout this year’s
  race, are in 27th and 28th places, ahead of all the rest of the rookies
  and almost thirty race veterans.

  If you want to watch the (winner’s) finish of the race, keep an eye on the nomecam tonight.  Mushers will be straggling into Nome for the next week or so.
  
  The Augustine Volcano has been active again for a week or more,
  emitting steam, ash plumes, and “hot avalanches.”  There is a new
  lava dome building, which could cause some spectacular fireworks when
  it collapses. 

  • 6:08 pm
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