“Cancer Survivor Lance, leads international race…coverage on OLN”…sound familiar? 

Iditarod 2006 is definitely underway. Right now the race leader is Lance Mackey who is the only musher so far to pull into the “Finger Lake” checkpoint, he did so at 6:19am this morning. Right behind Lance is Rookie Bryan Bearss who left Skwentna last night. We’re only 194 miles into this years 1112 mile race, so its very hard to see how things will pan out. Normally in this race, it isn’t until over halfway through that real race leaders start to emerge, and you might have some idea who your top ten finishers will be.

The Iditarod is an interesting event, its more marathon than sprint, more “NFL” than it is the superbowl. I say that because out of the 81 mushers who entered the race this year, there is only a handful who really wish to do well. Infact, the top twenty are the only ones who make any money from the event and at the starting line on Saturday one musher said they had aspirations of making the top 25. Most people who run the Iditarod do it for themselves. They love the challenge, they love the dogs and the love the outdoors. That isn’t to say they won’t go broke running the race, but they don’t have any grand ideas about finishing just ahead of race veteran Jeff King.

Jeff King leads me to the group of competitors who are just that, competing for the top slots of the race. There are about 20 mushers this year who could easily win the race, and an even higher number who could place in the top money making twenty. You’ve got Rick Swenson who has won the race more than anyone else, in three decades for a total of 5 times (currently in position number 52). Martin Buser (currently in position 37), who ran in second place for 80% of the race last year, only to finish 13th has won 4 times. Lance Mackie hasn’t yet won the Iditarod, but managed last year to break a record by placing 5th, because just weeks prior he won the Yukon Quest, another 1000 mile race that starts in Alaska and ends in Canada. He won that race again this year. The have been several winners of both races, but never in the same year and Lance wants to see that change in 2006.

Other mushers to watch out for in the 2006 Iditarod:

Doug Swingly:
This four time Iditarod Campion (currently in 3rd place) was claiming last year as his “re-tooling year”. He had a very young team that he chose to train on the trail himself, instead of having a handler do it, like many other professional mushers do. I spoke with Doug at the finish line last year and he said that he will win in 2006. Taking lessons from Muhammad Ali, coming up to this year’s race he still had that attitude. He’s got a strong, young team of veteran dogs.

Ed Iten:
This musher, from outside Kotzebuee Alaska has placed higher and higher each year he has run the race, leading up to a second place finish last year. Ed lives and breathes dogs & mushing, keep your eye open for what could possibly be another “sleeper” finish for this Alaskan.

Posted by admin on Monday, March 6th, 2006 at 9:09 am.