March 20, 2009

• Iditarod Day 14

  

  The Iditarod website calls it Day 14, but it has really been only 12 days since the real start in Willow.  I guess it’s irrelevant.  They have it right in the standings.  The latest team into Nome is Robert Nelson in 29th position at 12:15:41 with 12 dogs in a time of 11 days 22 hours 15 minutes 41 seconds.

  You can check the standings yourself for details.  I’ll hit some highlights here.

  Mackey won again, of course, only the third musher in history to win three Iditarods in a row, with 15 dogs (his full starting team minus Chucko), setting a record for winning with the most nearly intact team (most dogs left at finish, fewest dropped along the way, etc.)  After Schnuelle in second and Baker in third place, the rest of the top ten came in close together yesterday:
  Mitch Seavey with 10 dogs
  Cim Smyth with 9 dogs
  Dallas Seavey with 9 dogs
  Aaron Burmeister with 10 dogs
  Jessie Royer with 13 dogs
  Ramey Smyth with 8 dogs
  Hans Gatt with 13 dogs

  Jessie Royer was the first woman into Nome.  Dee Dee Jonrowe finished thirteenth, Aliy Zirkle seventeenth (Her husband Allen Moore is in White Mountain at this time, in 34th position.  She must have gotten first pick of the dogs this year. ), and Judy Currier finished 26th.

  “Huge Mess” Hugh Neff, who finished fifteenth, got some serious frostbite in the wind on Norton Sound.

  Two mushers who surprised a few people this year by finishing out of the top ten were four-time champion and current holder of the all-time fastest under-nine-days speed record,  Martin Buser, in 18th place, and the only five-time champion, Rick Swenson, in 25th.

  Chad Lindner is out of White Mountain now, in 30th position, practically assured of the title Rookie of the Year, unless something serious happens to him or his team.  Next rookie after him, Harry Alexie, is currently waiting out his 8 hour layover in White Mountain in 36th position.  He will not be eligible to hit the trail until after 6 this evening.

  Jen Seavey dropped one of her pups-in-training in Eagle Island.  She and the remaining 15 yearlings got into Shaktoolik in 48th position, more than an hour ahead of Tim Osmar and Rachael Scdoris.

  Alan Peck and Timothy Hunt are keeping each other company at the back of the pack.  They might end up using a coin flip at the end, as others have done before them, to decide who goes first and who gets to keep the Red Lantern trophy for last place.  Or, they might, as others have done, turn it into a race from Safety.  I guess it depends on whether they think of the Red Lantern as a trophy or a booby prize.

  Ed Iten and Melissa Owens were the latest mushers to scratch.  Rob Loveman and his fans are reportedly disgruntled over his being compusorily withdrawn as non-competitive.

  The Awards Banquet in Nome is scheduled for Sunday, March 22, at 3:30 PM.  Given where the remaining teams are on the trail and their average speeds thus far, it looks likely that Alan Peck and Dr. Tim Hunt won’t be in Nome by then, but Jen Seavey and the 23 other teams still on the trail could make it.  Unless something intensely interesting happens before then, my next Iditarod Update will cover the Awards Banquet and the awards.
  

  • 7:11 pm
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