Mackey was leading the pack for a while, but according to the new GPS feature on the Iditarod website, it looks like Kjetil Backen will be the first musher to check into Nikolai later this afternoon. Its been difficult having to guess where the leaders are when only a small handful of the mushers have these tracking units and you’ve got to guess who is in between based on the current standings. Some of the mystery and excitement is taken away however when you get that first report that a musher who was hours behind is now leading the race going into the latest checkpoint. But this feature sure is fun to have!
With Backen taking over a 7 hour rest in Rohn, along with Steer, Gebhardt, Burmiester, and Gerry Willomitzer also all taking a few hours off to rest, you can expect to see the current leaders of Mackey, Neff, King, Seavey and the Smyth Brothers all go back down in the standings as they take time to catchup and let their team have some downtime. This is where some of the greatest strategy comes into play as teams must decide when and where to take their breaks. Every musher knows that each run they have is only as good as the rest they also take in order to keep their teams fresh and full of energy. A long fast run can put you to the top of the leader-board, but if other mushers are taking smarter breaks, your lead won’t last for long. This concept of smart breaks is why many teams come into the race with a pre -set schedule on when and where they will rest, and how long of runs they will attempt. This is something that team Norway, and Kjetil Backen is notorious for as his schedule has always been challenging for others to keep up with, which gives a lot of credit to his dogs.
Following your schedule too close however can sometimes cost you big. In 2006 Jeff King and Doug Swingley were battling it out for the top position and while King was more flexible with his schedule and adjusted to his competitors and the weather conditions, Swingly kept going with his plan and when King took a risk and went for a long run to get out ahead, it left Swingley in the dust and cost him the race. Doug came back the next year and spoke about how he was going to “race stupid” and be riskier with his decisions, not leaning to much on a plan that might not fit the conditions.
A few days ago we broke down some of the potential leaders of the race, this afternoon we will continue that series and talk about who we might be seeing in the top ten this year.