March 5, 2008
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Iditarod Day “5″
On this fourth day of the thousand-plus-mile sled dog race, twelve of the fourteen front-running teams are resting in the Takotna checkpoint.
Why?
Pie.
Not only pie, but steak, and great big cheeseburgers. Jan Newton’s hospitality and cooking have turned Takotna into the most popular stopping point on the trail. Most of the teams in there now are expected to take their mandatory 24 hour rests at Takotna. Some others are stopped at the previous checkpoint in McGrath for their 24s, and two teams, Mitch Seavey’s and Hugh Neff’s, with fourteen dogs each, blew through Takotna 25 minutes apart this morning, on toward Ophir, to get some more distance before the day warms up.
Snowfall has brought a big change to the trail, which until last night had been clear, smooth and fast. Everyone has to work harder in fresh snow, especially those out front breaking trail.
Lance Mackey was first into Takotna, about 2 AM, after having had to drop Hobo, one of his best leaders, at a previous checkpoint. Standings on iditarod.com are conflicting with what I heard on APRN this morning, on where the dog was dropped. I don’t have that degree of uncertainty, however, about the result of Hobo’s loss to Lance’s team. I heard him tell the public radio reporter that it’s like driving “without a steering wheel.” He said his team now has no real lead dog and, “four swing dogs.”
Less than half an hour behind Lance and his fifteen dogs were Denali National Park Ranger Jeff King, with sixteen, and Kjetil Backen of team Norway with fifteen dogs. Paul Gebhardt arrived in Takotna with all sixteen of his starting team, an hour behind Backen. An hour and a half behind Gebhardt, Jim Lanier pulled in with his sixteen.
Also in Takotna at 8:23 AKST were Aaron Burmeister (13 dogs), Sebastian Schnuelle (16), Jessie Royer (14), Sigrid Ekran (14), Silvia Willis (14), DeeDee Jonrowe (15), and Ray Redington, Jr. (?)
On the trail out of McGrath toward Takotna are Zack Steer (14), Ed Iten with his full team of sixteen, Ramy Smyth (13), Warren Palfrey (14), Martin Buser (15) and Louis Nelson, Sr. with fifteen.
Twelve teams are in McGrath, having arrived there between about 1 AM and 6:30. They include Hans Gatt, Aliy Zirkle, and Rick Swenson. Rohn Buser is in McGrath in 25th position, still holding the lead for Rookie of the Year. In close running for Rookie of the Year is William Kleedehn in 27th.
Rookie Dries Jacobs, in 93rd position, is the current Red Lantern. Veteran musher Joe Garnie, who had intended to make this his farewell run, a chance to see old friends along the trail, scratched in Rainy Pass.
slave_slutangel wrote that she was, “really amazed that there is still nothing in the news about the race.” Thank PETA and a few extremists in the Humane Society for that. They have threatened boycotts, pickets and other forms of retribution against all major media if they dare even to hint that they support the Iditarod.
Comments (7)
Oh! That explains why I haven’t heard anything about the race from other sources…
Odd – I can remember when the race was covered on major networks…
Again, thank you for updating the race…. i have no idea what PETA is griping about with those dogs. The dogs are taken care of very well and there is no cruelty at all. The musher drops dogs when a problem arises. There are vets all along the trail. They are not neglected. Those dogs live to run the trail and are happiest when they do.
i was wondering why there is not even a small drop of talk about the race. And thanks to PETA, not many people really know it is still going on each year. So again, i thank you from the bottom of my heart for these updates. hugs and hope you stay warm.
I wondered why I hadn’t heard anything on the news….not even on CNN.
Ditto…I always thought the drivers almost gave their lives for their dogs….Peta is nuts..
I wondered a few years ago why I’d never heard of this race or anything about it before. I too do not understand the fuss that PETA or any of those ilk would be making. How many hundreds (thousands?) of years have there been sled dogs in the North?
Well having to deal with PETA and HUSA and a lot of other animal rights organiztions which is really after my breed of Dog…they do it cause they can and most people don’t take the time to educate themselves about what the issues really are
Thanks for the update!!
I’m still working to remember who’s who, but thanks to your up to the minute reporting, I’m getting there…
You mention rookie, Dries Jacobs, in 93rd position, as being the current ‘Red Lantern’. Is this a term for last position?
Excuse if you’ve already covered this…..I must have missed it…..as you can see, I run a day behind on my reading posts….
Hugs….