With arguably the toughest trail in Iditarod history, and 23 scratched mushers, in 16 days, 11 hours and 56 minutes, Ellen can still be extremely proud just to have finished this grueling race. Halverson, who is 46 and a native of North Dakota started mushing nearly 15 years ago and moved to Alaska in 1998. She was the last one to finish this years race, and only 14 minutes behind Donald Smidt from Wisconsin.

Brooks Disqualified

There has been a cloud of controversy surrounding the Iditarod this year because of the disqualification and investigation of musher Ramy Brooks. Things got bad for Brooks as he was on the Bering Sea coast, on his way to the final checkpoint of Safety, it was there that one of Brook’s dogs died. Heartbroken, Ramy continued onto Safety and told the checker there that he would like to scratch from the race. The checker tried to get a hold of the Race Marshall in Nome but was unable to do so, vets checked out Brooks’ dogs and advised that he continue the last 22 miles into Nome. Once Brooks arrived in Nome he was not checked in until an investigation could be done on the death of his dog, the process that one would normally go through at the checkpoint. About 6 hours later he was checked into Nome in 15th place, instead of 12th.

It wasn’t long after that when rumors started flying about allegations made against Brooks stating that as he was passing though the village of Golovin, he “spanked” two of his dogs that refused to continue on the trail, it was reported that he used a thin piece of wood, used as a trail marker to hit his dogs. This action was seen by a teacher in the village and some students. The students went home, told their parents, and a parent notified race officials. Brooks was disqualified from Iditarod 35 on the evening of March 17th, a few hours after Nome’s “Meet the Mushers” gathering, where I noticed a obviously troubled Brooks. A panel of 3 investigators had been meeting, and unanimously agreed to disqualify Ramy Brooks from the 2007 Iditarod.

Since that time, it has been reported in the media that the extent of Brooks’ abuse to his dogs in Golovin was more than originally confirmed. The teacher is claiming that Brooks punched and kicked each of his dogs when the team stopped outside of the village. Another accusation is that Brooks’ mother – Roxy Wright, a famed musher assisted Brooks’ by standing on the back of his sled while he was trying to get his dogs to continue. This violates another Iditarod rule about the type of help you can get while out on the trail.

Race Marshall Mark Nordman has said that a investigation will continue looking into these events, and right now it is just the word of one person against another. The result of an inquest could be a permanent ban from the Iditarod for Brooks. Ramy has accepted is disqualification from this year’s race and does not dispute the original story but has not made a comment on the details that came out later. The investigation into Brook’s dog death coming into Safety suggest that the two incidents are not related.

GB Jones’ Dog Found

You may remember a while back we reported that GB Jones decided to scratch from the Iditarod after one of his dogs got loose and was lost. Jones chose to scratch so he could find his dog Aafes. After 11 days in the Alaskan Wilderness, two volunteers found the dog near the checkpoint of Rohn. According to Jones’ website Aafes was airlifted out of the Alaska range and was given a physical health exam by the Bering Sea Animal Clinic in Anchorage and is reported to be in relatively good health. Jones’ also adds that Aafes is been doing lots of sleeping and eating since, and when found she was still wearing her blue dog coat, her harness, a bandanna and green Iditarod tag.

The Iditarod Awards Banquet wrapped up a few hours ago in the Nome Rec Center, it was an amazing dinner of Halibut, Prime-Rib, prawns, and fresh strawberries. Its always fun to hear stories as told by the mushers, and see the awards all given out. We were there taping the whole banquet, and have now posted it online for you to enjoy. We weren’t able to get a feed from the microphone itself, but we did have a recording device on the stage just to the right of the podium, so you are able to hear pretty much everything that is going on.

It’s split up into five sections, and unfortunately because of the manner in which this was all able to come together, we ran out of juice about half way through and missed some of the middle mushers as I went and literally ran into Nome to get some fresh batteries for the recording device. We tried to make it happen as best as possible.

You can also see pictures of the event by clicking (here)

Things will start to wind down on Sunday afternoon with the Iditarod Awards Banquet where the prize money is handed out, after that there will just a handful of mushers left out on the trail…but don’t worry, they get their own Banquet once the red lantern comes in.

I’d bet that Rick Swenson would love to have had that headline appear in the papers back in 1978 when he came in second place to Dick Mackey by just a brief moment in what is the most dramatic finish in Iditarod history. For the five time champion this year things are different; Rick hasn’t seen the top 10 since 2004, or won the race since 1991. He joked at the Musher’s Banquet in Anchorage that he was hoping to make this year his sixth victory, even losing a significant amount of weight before the race by going on Atkins. Rick wasn’t able to do as well as he hoped, coming in 26th place…but how he got that position is a fun story. He arrived under the Burled Arch just 1 second in front of rookie Silvia Willis. In what was to spectators very reminiscent of that Swenson/Mackey race up front street in 1978, Rick and Silvia started the battle out on the sea ice in front of Nome. Rick left Safety 20 minutes before Willis and she kept gaining on him during the last few miles into town. They were running as fast as they could all the way in the chute and Rick got luck this time and kept his lead.

Our top twenty consisted of the usual suspects, the Smyth brothers Ramey and Cim, Hugh Neff, Hans Gatt, Aaron Burmeister, and Jessie Royer coming in 22nd.  Jason Barron came in 14th, he was definitely hoping to better this year, describing last year’s eighth place finish as a “competitive camping trip”.  Jason’s dad John Barron has ran Iditarod 26 times, never with a win.  Rookie of the year contender Sigrid Ekran got into Nome in 21st position.

Sorlie arrives.

Robert Sorlie may have come in this year in 12th place, but like any true Iditarod Champion, he is always looking forward to next time.  Sorlie has the best record out of any other Iditarod musher this decade, he finished 9th his rookie year in 2002 and he won the race the next year, and won again next time he won in 2005.  Coming into the race I knew the field was competitive, but I almost expected Sorlie to win, thats what he does.  Maybe it was the trail, maybe it was the puppy team, or maybe it just wasn’t Robert’s year.  Coming in looking tired, and a man of few words Sorlie told the media that he was happy to be in Nome.  Sorlie is part of a three person team from Norway which also includes Kjetil Backen, and Sorlie’s nephew Bjornar Andersen, however Robert is the musher who runs Iditarod most often and has the best record.  Backen came close to winning in 2004, a year that Sorlie took off, however after the death of a dog just outside Unalakleet Kjetil lost his lead, but still managed to finish in 3rd place.  Bjornar ran as a rookie in 2005 and was rookie of the year after his 4th place finish, in 2006 he was the sole representation for team Norway, and finished in a strong 6th place.  You can hear an archive of Sorlie’s live finish at the bottom of this post.

Ramy Brooks Dog Death

Checking into Saftey is usually just a formality, mushers pick up their bib here and get ready for the final 2 or 3 hour trip into Nome. But this year for Ramy Brooks was different. On the trail from White Mountain one of Brook’s dogs died.  When he got to Safety and told the officials, everyone agreed he should take the dog into Nome with him to the trail committee could do a full investigation.  I went out to Cape Nome on snowmachine and saw Ramy come in, he did look tired but there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary about his run.  We went down to the finish line to announce his arrival and for the first few minutes things went as usual. Ramy arrived, hugged friends and family, fed his dogs and answered a few questions from the media.  But then he was quickly rushed out of the chute and what normally is about 15 minutes of hugs, media questions, and official checking in, was only 5-7 minutes and Ramy never signed in.  After Brooks left the chute Race Marshall Mark Nordman told the media that Brooks had a dog die along the way and wouldn’t be checked in until the cause of death could be determined.  Nominally, if that had happened at a checkpoint the musher would be held there until they were released.  Ramey went from a 11th place finish to a 15th.   Brooks comes from another historic mushing family and has been behind a sled pretty much his entire life.  Even at 15th this year is quite an improvement from Ramy’s worst finish ever last year when he came in 31st.  He finished second in 2002 and 2003, and has finished in the top ten four other times since he started running the Iditarod in 1994.  Brooks is one of those guys who will win someday, he has great skill and a strong team, he is just waiting for the year when everything will go right.

above: Tollef Monson arrives as the last member of this year’s top ten 

Lance Mackey claiming his first Iditarod championship last night doesn’t put an end to this year’s epic race.  So often in the media news outlets will say that “The Iditarod Ended” when the first place musher arrives into Nome.  Anyone familiar with the race would know how incorrect that statement is.  The goal for 70% of those mushers isn’t to finish first, its to complete the race, finish with a strong & healthy team, and to place as high as possible.  After Lance arrived this year, there were still 59 other mushers waiting for the moment when they can pass under the burled arch in Nome.

Lance, really did change the face of the Iditarod with a win this year.  He proved that it a musher could not only be a fierce competitor in both the Yukon Quest & the Iditarod in the same year, but you could win both as well. He also brought a new era of Iditarod Champions into the race, and he proved that the race doesn’t belong to long time veterans like Jeff King, MartinBuser, Doug Swingley, or even Mitch Seavey.  All of these mushers have run the race for years and many thought that they owned the race.  Mackey is just one of a handful of contestants who have entered the Iditarod arena for the 5th or 6th time, each time showing the strength of their team.  This year’s 3rd place finisher 33 year old Zach Steer represents that same new school way of thinking.  Zach, in his 3rd Iditarod finish ever beat out two 4-time Iditarod champions, a 5 time champion, a two time Norwegian champion and dozens of other extremely talented teams.

Paul Gebhardt arrived into Nome two and a half hours after Lance at 10:28pm, Steer came in next at 3:46am, Buser at 4:07am, and Jeff King arrived at 6:07am. Ed Iten, Ken Anderson, John Baker, Mitch Seavey, and Tollef Monson round out the top 10.

This really was one of the more competitive and surprising Iditarods in history, and it will be exciting to hear all the stories at the Musher’s Banquet on Sunday.  I’ll be in Nome until then and will keep heading down to the finish line chute to talk to mushers as they arrive. I also hope to give you a taste of Nome in some videos and articles over the next few days!

AND on that note, I hope to do a few more podcasts now that I’m done traveling, and plan on recording one tomorrow afternoon.  I need you to call our toll free number (866-731-6332) with your thoughts and reactions on Lance’s victory, the top ten, and the mushers still out there.  All calls used in our podcast will be entered to win a Nome/Iditarod prize pack……and amoung other things will include a Lance Mackey 2007 championship dog bootie from Unalakleet!

Steer & Buser are fighting for 3rd place – Live on KICY in under 20 minutes! I’m headed down to Front street for the broadcast!

update – 4:45am: Steer arrived at 3:46am, Martin at 4:07am Audio of the arrival to be added in the morning! – Next up: Jeff King around 6:00.

At 8:08pm Lance Mackey won his first Iditarod Championship.

View photos of Lance’s win (here)

Two and a half hours later Paul Gebhardt arrived and claimed his second place title.

to download just Mackey’s win (click here – 1mb)

For the Stream:

(click here) and then click on “Listen”

For Live Webcams:

BSSD Finish Line Cam:

IditaProject Finish Line Cam
http://65.74.124.66/view/view.shtml
Username: iditaproject
Password: bssd06

City of Nome Camera:

http://www.nomealaska.org/vc/cam-page.htm

at 4:44 Lance Mackey passed his last checkpoint before becoming an Iditarod Champion.

Look for Mackey to arrive in Nome around 7pm-ish

In the attached video, Paul Gebhardt leaves White Mountain after his 8 hour layover in second position. Can he catch Lance Mackey?

I’m here at the checkpoint at White Mountain where Paul Gephardt, Martin Buser, Zach Steer and now Jeff King are all waiting and resting during their mandatory 8 hour layover. Paul stands to leave this checkpoint in just about 15 minutes, and will most likely arrive into Nome in second place later this evening. The most real race is now going to be for third place, with Martin Buser and Zach Steer coming in just 15 minutes apart. Steer told me that he is going to push his dogs into Nome trying to place as high as possible, but Martin can be very elusive. They left the previous checkpoint of Elim just about an hour apart and Zach had a little bit of a faster pace. Zach couldn’t be happier even if he does come in fourth, in Anchorage at the start of the race Steer was one of the mushers hoping to place in the top twenty, he was so impressed with his team he said, that early in the race he changed his goals to a top 10 finish, and now he is looking at finishing 3rd or 4th.

Jeff King’s team is finally looking a bit better than they did in Unalakleet, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to make up the 2 hours that he is behind Martin and try for 3rd place himself. Ed Iten could also be a contender, he has been known to make dramatic pushes into Nome.

Of course, the big story is still all about Lance Mackey, he left White Mountain just as my plane arrived around 9:40 this morning. Lance not only will become the first musher to ever win two long distance races in the same year (he won his third consecutive Yukon Quest, another 1,000 mile race two weeks ago), but Mackey will also become the third member of his family to take home a championship.

Paul Gephardt described his Iditarod career in the phrase “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” coming in second in 2000, and in the top ten four other times.

It will be later this afternoon/evening when we can expect to see Lance in Nome, it quickest anyone has ever made it from White Mountain to Nome is 10 hours, average is somewhere around 11 or 12.

View photos of White Mountain (here)

I’m headed into White Mountain this morning, look for photos this afternoon!

Lance Mackey widened the gap between himself and Paul Gebhardt. Lance Mackey, now into White Mountain as of 1:30 this morning is in a really good position to win this year’s Iditarod Sled Dog Race. Once Mackey got into White Mountain he started his mandatory 8 hour layover, making it impossible for another musher to leave before him. Paul Gebhardt got into the western Alaska village checkpoint three hours later, at 4:15am, making him the only real threat to Lance’s victory. Other mushers contending for 10 ten spots this year includes surprise phenom Zach Steer, and former 4 time Champions Jeff King & Martin Buser. For a long time it looked like we were going to have a record tying 5th Iditarod champion this year with King & Buser leading the race for much of the trail, however even though Jeff King arrived into Unalakleet first on Sunday, he left last out of the lead pack four, and with a team that was more tired than others, was never able to recover and overtake Gebhardt or Mackey. King is now looking at a potential 5th place finish, but he is going to have to fight Iditarod veterans Ed Iten, Ken Anderson, John Baker and Mitch Seavey.

Coming into this year’s race many claimed it was the most competitive field ever in race history, with multiple 4 time champions and a handful of mushers who have never won before, but are still very good this year’s title was not going to be handed over very easily to any one musher. Tough trail conditions caused injuries to a record number of mushers, forcing Iditarod legends Doug Swingley & DeeDee Jonrowe to scratch. Who knows what we would be seeing right now if those to had been able to continue on, but all we can do now is wait for a winner to arrive into Nome, probably around 8 or 9pm this evening.

Is the pack separating, or are Mackey & Gebhardt getting ready to burn out?

Paul Gebhardt left Koyuk just about 20 minutes after race leader Lance Mackey, however Mackey was able to get a nice 3 hour rest and Gebhardt stopped just long enough to feed his dogs & grab a cup of coffee from the Koyuk checkpoint. Martin Buser arrived just about an hour after those two left, but decided to stick around a while and rest his dogs. Also coming in for a rest is Zack Steer who passed up Jeff King while King was resting in Shaktoolik.

Sunday afternoon King arrived first into Unalakleet, a lead that didn’t last long as three other competitors arrived within an hour, and out of those four King ended up leaving last.

From Koyuk mushers head West to Elim. It should be Tueday sometime when we will start to see mushers arrive into White Mountian where they will be required to take an 8 hour layover before the final stretch into Nome.

Paul Gebhardt was the fourth musher to arrive into Unalakleet this afternoon but after 4 hours of rest, he was the first to leave. Lance Mackey, who was the second to arrive out of the lead pack four got up from his nap first and went outside to start working on his sled before heading out of town for the next checkpoint of Shaktoolik. Lance took his time after he got up, milling around the checkpoint talking with locals, and even taking a few minutes to watch footage of himself as it was being edited for the versus tv network. Paul got up next and was quicker at getting his team ready. Martin Buser and Jeff king left just a little after the first two, all four of them left within an hour of each other.

Both Jeff King & Martin Buser are hoping to win their 5th Iditarod, a number that would tie the current record. Meanwhile, Lance Mackey & Paul Gebhardt are looking to win their 1st, and if you ask Jeff King, it might not be him winning that would be the best story:

(audio interview: “To tell you the truth, i very much want to win this, but if I don’t, I hope Lance does because its a real magical story, and uh.. I think it would be dull if one of us would win it four times, or 5 times as opposed to someone was not supposed to have won it, who wants it that bad….who has a magical run. Ok, there’s a fairy tale ending that doesn’t involve me as much. But thats one of two scenarios I hope plays out over the next two days” – Jeff King)

One thing that we do know is that normally its not to hard to predict a winner at this point in the race, but right now with a top four coming in and leaving so close together….its going to be a tight race all the way to Nome.

On the Iditarod Trail, I’m Josh Rogers

It was at 3:35pm on Sunday afternoon that Jeff King became the first musher to reach the Bering Sea coast and the checkpoint village of Unalakleet. He received the Wells Fargo Gold Coast award and $2,500 in Gold Nuggets. The real story this time isn’t about who came in first, it’s who came in second about 40 minutes later. Lance Mackey passed Paul Gebhardt who left Kaltag a few minutes before him. He also passed Martin Buser who was about an hour ahead of him out of Kaltag. Martin did arrive 2 minutes later in 3rd place and Paul Gebhardt 5 minutes after that. The race to Nome is on!

View photos (Here)

It won’t be long now until we start to see mushers arrive into Unalakleet. Now its not only the regional media that has arrived, but we are seeing the official media here too (the versus network, iditarod.com reporters, and Jon Little from Cabela’s Iditarod). The town is a buzz about when everyone will arrive. Right now, it also could be a case of WHO will arrive. Martin Buser left Kaltag just 15 minutes after Jeff King, but he also came in later and took less of a rest. Paul Gebhardt and Lance Mackey came in just about two hours later but are running their dogs just a little bit faster. Its 90 miles from Kaltag to here in Unalakleet, and many at the checkpoint here think mushers will stop and rest at old woman cabin just 30 miles out of town to shorten a stay once they arrive.

You can view photos of my first day here in Unalakleet by (clicking here) or navigate to the Iditablog Gallery.

Take a look over on dogsled.com and try to catch the live stream of the mushers coming in, provided by the Bering Straight School District.

Here in Unalakleet with the prospect of a musher arriving sometime soon its not so much about who is coming in, but when they are coming in. Everyone from lifetime residents to freelance writers in this small town are speculating about when the first teams might arrive. Each person has a different opinion as to how long the run from Eagle Island to Kaltag will take, how long it takes from Kaltag to Unalakleet and finally how much rest a musher would need to be planning. A lot of the residents that I’ve talked to while I’ve been here have plans to go up river tomorrow on their snow machines and find out for themselves who will be the first to reach the Bering Sea coast.

The media has started to congregate, television cameras, reporters and photographers have filled this small town’s streets, all looking for a distinctively “Unalakleet” shot. The old native grocery store has turned from an empty shell of a building into a makeshift Iditarod headquarters. The Covenant church gymnasium had to cancel open gym basketball because the floor will be covered with dozens of race volunteers, veterinarians and other officials.
So whether its Buser, King, Mackey or even Gebhardt Unalakleet couldn’t care less, they are just ready for the party to get started.

I’m here in Unalakleet though as we wait for the mushers to reach the coast of the Bering Sea.

Martin Buser, Jeff King, Lance Mackey, and Paul Gebhardt are all on their way from Greyling to Eagle Island and from there it will be a long trek to Kaltag, and Unalakleet will be the next big destination from there. I’ve reached my “halfway point” starting out this morning in Anchorage one week after mushers left this town. I’m heading up to Nome today and from there will try to catch a plane out to Unalakleet to give you coverage of the Well’s Fargo Gold Coast award.

Buser arrived and left Greyling just under half an hour before King showed up, and just under 3 hours before Mackey. With half an hour separating the top two teams, there isn’t going to be anyone calling a winner for anytime soon. The real question will be if Mackey and Gebhardt can catch up with the top two. It shouldn’t be to hard….but very fun to watch if it happens.

Look for video & audio coming from Unalakleet soon.

Martin Buser was the first musher to arrive in the village of Anvik on the banks of the mighty Yukon River.  The Millennium Hotel in Anchorage sponsors a prize to the first musher who reaches the Yukon, its one of the most coveted in the race.

Martin, who arrived at 10:45am this morning will be treated to a seven course meal prepared on a camp stove by Millennium’s Executive Chef Mick Hug.  The menu consisted of consists of a king crab apple tower with horseradish cream, followed by smoked corn bisque and goat cheese dumpling. The main courses include a seafood course of prawns and scallops with pancetta and pomegranate mustard and a meat course of seared ostrich medallions. The final three courses for the feast are a jicama salad followed by bittersweet chocolate crepes and a cheese plate with pear poached in port. A carefully selected fine wine is served with each plate.

The “after dinner mint” of $3,500 crisp $1 bills is also presented to Buser this year . I’d ask for an Andes mint too.  Mushers are required to take an 8-hour layover somewhere on the Yukon, we’ll see if Buser chooses to let his meal digest before heading onto Greyling, and then Eagle Island.

Martin Buser & Jeff King have blown through Shageluk and are on their way to Anvik. Who will be the first musher to the Yukon and to the AMAZING meal that waits for them there? Mackey & Gebhardt are following right behind went through the check point just under 2 hours later.  Zach Steer should be to Shageluk any minute now.
But, in the meantime .

Lets run down the list of weird events that have happened so far, making this one of the strangest Iditarods in recent history.

We started out with an extremely competitive field, numerous former winners and a handful of young, experienced mushers looking for a win to usher in a new era of Iditarod champions.

Within the first full day of mushing we saw four time Iditarod champion Doug Swingly scratch from second place because of broken ribs due to an injury on the trail to Rainy Pass.

A few hours later, one of the most veteran mushers on the trail this year, DeeDee Jonrowe got injuries from that same section of trail that caused her to scratch the race.

In all, to date there have been 16 mushers to scratch, an extremely large majority of those scratches coming into Rainy Pass.

Mushers heading up the wrong trail into Rohn has become a theme for this year’s race. Even veterans like Ed Iten were fooled for a short period of time onto the wrong trail, and turned around. However some never figured out what added 40 miles to their run until they made their way into the checkpoint.

We had a 61 year old musher get lost on the trail for a little over a day, forcing search crews to be sent out. She was found and is continuing in the race.

Then yesterday GB Jones lost a dog completely while he was on the wrong trail. He proceeded to the next checkpoint hoping that the dog would be there waiting for him. When it wasn’t, Jones decided to withdraw from the race so he could search for his lost team member.

AND, we still don’t have a clear leader in the race. Right now Martin Buser & Jeff King are battling it out, but surprise competitor Zach Steer came out of no where a few days ago to lead the race and he is still a contender, along with pretty much the entire top 15. Everyone is running so close that one storm or one amazing run could change the entire dynamic of the leader board.

Buser & King arrived into Iditarod just minutes apart around 4:35pm Alaska time Thursday afternoon.  Martin made the run from Ophir in just under 10 hours, and Jeff under 11 hours.  With fresh teams off of their 24 hour layover it took a considerably shorter amount of time than the first pack that arrived very early this morning. Lance Mackey was first to arrive Thursday morning with a trip time of over 17 hours, and Paul Gebhardt came in at almost 14 hours.  Mackey probably wasn’t pleased to see the two 4 time champions arrive this afternoon, he has to sit there and wait until around 2:30am until he can leave.

Zach Steer & Jason Barron should be checking into Iditarod any time now, and if they took a lot longer, it could be because they rested on the trail and are getting ready to blow through.

It should be fun to watch!

The cloud of mystery that is the Iditarod 24 hour layover continues to confuse spectators as they try to interpret the current standings. Lance Mackey was the first musher to reach the checkpoint of Iditarod EARLY Thursday morning, receiving GCI’s Dorthoy Page halfway award. Lance took almost 17 and a half hours to reach the halfway point in the race from the previous checkpoint of Ophir, Paul Gebhardt came in a few minutes after Lance with a much quicker pace and probably less stops along the way. Six hours later Ed Iten, and Mitch Seavey who have been running together for most of the race arrived, followed by Tollef Monson and Cim Smyth.

The big question right now is where those mushers will take their mandatory 24 hour layover, its safe to say that most of them are planning to stay in Iditarod, but you never know who will continue up the trail. Zach Steer, Jeff King, Jason Barron, Martin Buser, Ali Zerkle and Aaron Burmiester are all coming off of their day long rest and headed out of Ophir and into Iditarod. It remains to be seen who will come out ahead after all this is over, but what we do know is that in a day or two everything will be much more clear.

Question for tonight’s podcast, call us at 1(866)731-6332, answer our question and be entered into a drawing for a Iditarod prize pack.

Q: Who do you think is going to come out ahead of the 24 hour layover??

The following takes place between 10pm and 11pm.
Jack Bauer may be able to save the world in just 24 hours on Fox’s hit TV show, but to mushers competing in the Iditarod 24 hours is just enough time to get some good sleep and rest their dogs.  Many top mushers have decided to take their mandatory 24 hour layover in the small checkpoint of Ophir.  Zach Steer got in at almost 3am on Wednesday, Jeff King and Martin Buser both got in between 4am and 4:30.  Some might speculate that this puts them at a clear advantage over the mushers like Lance Mackey, Paul Gebhardt, Mitch Seavey, and Ed Iten who all arrived significantly later than the leaders, but decided to head on to the halfway point of this year’s race, the ghost town of Iditarod.   Its very rare for the first musher to reach the halfway point to go on and win the race, especially in a year where no one musher has a distinct lead.

Right now with so many mushers doing their 24 hour layover, and others putting it off as long as possible it’s almost impossible to look at the current standings and figure out who the top 10 is.  Another thing to keep in mind when looking at the standings is that each musher’s layover is going to be different based on their starting position.  The earlier they left the starting chute the longer they have to sit and wait.  A musher like Zach Steer who left Willow in 7th position has an extra 2 hour, 32 minutes to add to his mandated layover, and Robert Sorlie who left in 50th position only has an extra 1 hour, 6 minutes to add to his 24 hours.  Remember I said there was strategy in picking your starting order?
Look for Paul Gebhardt to keep going after most other contenders pull over for their day long break.  For the last few years Paul has marathoned all the way to or past the first checkpoint on the Yukon before taking his 24 hour break.

From KICY – Kim Slade, the Wells Fargo Teacher on the Trail calls in another report from Nikolai. Kim talks about Mike Williams and his message to native students in bush Alaska.

From KICY – Kim Slade, the Wells Fargo Teacher on the Trail calls in a report Nikolai. Kim talks about the village, and what happens when mushers come in. She also talks about what her presentation to the kids in Nikolai looks like.

Cancer Survivor Lance, leads international race – We’re not talking about Lance Armstrong, this time its musher Lance Mackey who is starting to make headlines around the world.

Lance Mackey has stayed in the front of the pack long enough In this years Iditarod to start making people think he might have what it takes to win his first Championship.  Even with all the leap-frogging Lance has continued to show the strength of his team and his perseverance to win the race.
Mackey, who’s trying to become the third member of his family to win the Iditarod, was the first musher to arrive in Takotna on Tuesday night .  Lance isn’t taking his position for granted though, he knows it’s a tough competitive field.
Lance, who is competing in his sixth Iditarod the same number that was lucky for his father, Dick, and brother, Rick said his chances of winning got better when Swingley and Jonrowe scratched.  Even if Lance doesn’t win this year, all he wants is a good run and a healthy team.

In this podcast we cover:

Dangerous Finger Lake to rainy pass:

• Scratched Mushers

• Doug Swingly
• DeeDee Jonroe
• Melanie Gould
• Lachlan Clark
• Jaques Phillip

Current Race update and analysis as of: 6:07pm PST
Your Comments : 866-731- 6332

• 8 year old Zachary Anthony
• Matt Hammersley – Tanglefoot Sled dog racing team UK -

Could this be the year for a young musher?

Now we are learning that same section caused an injury to fan favorite, DeeDee Jonrowe forcing her to withdraw from this year’s Iditarod, yesterday March 5th. DeeDee broke the pinky bone in left hand after taking a fall just a few miles before she reached the Rainy Pass checkpoint. Jonrowe, who has never won an Iditarod but come very close many times taking home the second place trophy three times, and placing in the top ten 12 times. Some could say that DeeDee’s most important win didn’t come from the back of a dog team it was her triumph over a battle with breast cancer. In July 2002, Jonrowe was diagnosed with the disease. Three weeks after completing chemotherapy, she competed in the Iditarod, placing 18th. The story was widely publicized, and in 2003 she won the Most Inspirational Musher Award, and was named the honorary chair of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

With Doug Swingley out of the race, and mushers like Lance Mackey & Cim Smyth constantly leading or in the front of the pack, this could be a very different Iditarod than many people predicted. However, there is so much “leap frogging” going on right now with lead teams running on such different rest schedules, that we won’t see a true race leader until down the trail, perhaps not even until after the halfway point. Sorlie checked into Rohn 8th along with John Baker (7th) and about 10 minutes behind Sebastian Schnuelle (6th). John Baker seems to be running pretty tight with Sorlie, it will be interesting to see if and when these two separate. Even if Sorlie/Baker came in with more rest than Mackey, Lance is still carrying a little under 5 hours lead time on the Norwegian. Right now Lance’s real competition is right behind him. Martin Buser has got one heck of a team this year, after his less than impressive finish last year it looks like Buser is back for keeps this time. Back in January Martin won the competitive Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race, but it wasn’t his impressive finish over reigning Kusko & Iditarod champion Jeff King that had the other mushers talking, it was the fact that Martin’s 17 year old son Rohn took 4th place, showing the true strength of the families kennel.

We’ll be doing a podcast tomorrow and need your comments. Today’s Podcast question is about Doug Swingley scratching from the race. Tyrell Seavey at Ultimate Iditarod says word on the street is that before the race Dougie had thought of making this his last run, but we’ve heard that one before. Do you think this will make him more determined for next year? How does this effect your top ten predictions? What are your thoughts or commentary on the race so far? Give us a call toll free on our comment line: 866-731-6332 and leave us your thoughts. All callers who are featured in the podcast will be entered for an Iditarod/Nome prize pack.

In Theresa Daily’s interview with Martin he tells us what he is expecting, what additional gear he is packing this year, and what that means for the dogs.

Expect some new audio posted tomorrow as we send reports to KICY. We’re also working on our next podcast update of the race, and need your help. Call into our toll free number, (866)731-6332 and let us know what you think, who you’re rooting for and maybe even a top ten prediction. Throughout the race anyone who calls in and leaves a message that we use in a podcast will be entered to win an Iditarod/Nome prize pack, sent straight from the finish line!

82 mushers and their teams left downtown Anchorage beginning at 10am this morning and made their way down an 11 mile course. Then then packed up and got ready for the re-start tomorrow afternoon in the small town of Willow about an hour outside of Anchorage. The ceremonial start included a lot of just that, ceremony. Senator Lisa Murkowski was there to honor the memory of 4 time Iditarod champion, Susan Butcher, who passed away after a fight with leukemia in 2006. Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin declared today Susan Butcher Day. Senator Murkowski, Nome Mayor Denise Michaels, and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich then ceremoniously cut the ribbon that signified the start of the race. Each musher had a passenger in their sled. Prior to the race fans of the iditarod bid on an online action for the privilege to ride shotgun. Some “idita-riders” paid up to 7,500.00 for the 11 mile ride.

Perry Solmonson of Plain, Washington was the first musher to leave Anchorage, and Rookie Musher Jeremy Keller from Glennallen Alaska was the last to leave. In-between you had a range of mushers from 5-time champion Rick Swenson, to a rookie who admitted he got behind a sled for the first time a month ago. About half of the teams are brand new to the race this year, not everyone is aiming to be a contender, many just want to finish.

At the Ceremonial start on Saturday morning, 4th Avenue in downtown Anchorage turns into an Alaskan festival. Men with cougar head hats & fox fur jackets walk down the street, children line up to get the autograph of their favorite musher, and families get downtown early to make sure they get a good spot to view the day’s activities. Mushers leave downtown Anchorage in the same order that they will depart onto the trail on Sunday.

Thursday at the Musher’s banquet the racers picked their bib number and the order that they leave the starting chute. Those that registered for race first, got first pick at when they want to leave. There is even strategy in this choice, some mushers choosing to be the very first out, and some mushers choosing to let everyone else go ahead of them for the first few miles. Everyone’s time gets evened out during their required 24-hour layover.

As you look down the list of mushers, and the order that they will be departing, it looks like the younger mushers, the next generation waiting to get their chance at an Iditarod Championship are all leaving early, while other more experienced mushers are choosing to leave a bit later. Names like Paul Gephardt, Jessie Royer, Ramey Smyth, Cim Smyth, Ramy Brooks, Zach Steer, and Jason Barron aren’t only the names of mushers you can expect to see coming into Nome in the top 10 or 20, but they will be the first to hit the trail on Sunday afternoon. In contrast, Iditarod Champions like Martin Buser, Mitch Seavey, Doug Swingley, Jeff King, Rick Swenson, and Robert Sorlie are all leaving the starting chute considerably later in the race.

Does this really matter? Isn’t everyone’s time adjusted anyway? Everyone is leaving within two hours of each other, what type of difference can this really make? Every musher has a different view on how the race is to be run, each musher has a different idea on how long of runs and rests to take… but they are all striving to win. We will see which strategy work best this year, with this year’s trail, and with this year’s weather.

In this podcast we cover:

• Who we are
• 2007 iditablog partnerships
  • dogsled.com
  • KICY AM/FM
• 2007 Winner speculation

If you are new to the Iditarod, we’ll attempt to break down what will make the 35th running of this extreme race the most competitive in years, if not in the entire history of Iditarod:

This year we have two reigning defenders returning to reclaim their status as Iditarod Champion. Jeff King won his fourth career Iditarod in 2006, and Norwegian musher Robert Sorlie who is back after a one year hiatus after his win in 2005. Both are coming back winners and aren’t looking to go home empty handed. But they aren’t the only ones with high aspirations,  Lance Mackey hasn’t ever won the “Last Great Race to Nome” but his dad and brother have…and they both won it on their sixth attempt, all wearing bib number 13, the same number Lance plans to be wearing as he starts the race for the 6th time this year as well.. While Lance doesn’t have any Iditarod wins, he is already labeled an Alaskan Hero. He has survived cancer and just a few weeks ago won another prestigious long distance race, the Yukon Quest for the third year in a row. Doug Swingley has four career wins under his belt, three of them consecutive (1999-2001). Before the race last year (in which he came in a close second) he gave himself three years to win two more championships before his permanent retirement. If that’s going to happen he has a lot of work ahead of him this year. Anyone else making that claim might just sound like a big talker, but when Doug says it he can back it up.
There are many others who have a really good shot at winning this year, so we’ll continue to break down the competitive field in Iditarod 35 over the next few days looking at a prospective top ten, and top twenty. That’ll take you up to the start, and re-start this weekend. Look for regular daily updates during the race, including our new podcasts.

I’d love to hear your prediction as to who will win this year, go ahead and email me: jerogers@radioalaska.org or leave a comment on this post.