Looks like there will be no new episode next Tuesday, I can only assume its because most of us will be watching election coverage.  The next episode premiers on Nov. 11th, make sure you tune in.

Here are our “re-blogs” from the section of the trail that was covered in tonight’s show.

Iditarod 2008, Episode 3: McGrath – Cripple

1. Takotna: 24-hours of Confusion – The pack thins out
2. Ophir: 24-hour Check-up
3. Ophir: The 24-hour Choice
4. Cripple: Big Day for DeeDee & Details on the Ruby Award

I’m working on a big blog entry to post after this show finishes up to quickly catch everyone up on what has transpired since last march in Iditarod news… and what we know about Iditarod 2009!

This week we’ve got more “re-post” coverage of the 2008 Iditarod, allowing you to follow along reading our coverage from the period of the race that was shown in tonight’s second episode on the Discovery Channel.

Iditarod 2008, Episode 2: Rainy Pass – Nikolai

1. Rainy Pass: Into Rainy Pass & The GPS Impact

2. Rohn: Backen is Back!

3. Nikolai: The lead pack will change into Nikolai

4. Nikolai: Mackey out of Nikolai, Garnie out of the race

Over the next few weeks as the show airs, I’ll be going back providing links to the posts that I wrote during the period of the race that happened during each episode.  For those of you who didn’t follow along last March, you’ll get to re-live how we saw the race unfold… you’re seeing it on TV, but now you’ll get one more perspective as if it was happening all over again.

Iditarod 2008: Ceremonial Start – Rainy Pass

1. Anchorage: The Race is on!

2. Willow: The 2008 Breakdown

3. Yentna: Goodbye Willow – Hello Alaskan Wilderness

4. Rainy Pass: Into Rainy Pass & The GPS Impact

Let us know what you thought of the Iditarod show on Discovery this week…. post your comment below!

I’ll be back next week with more thoughts and a repost of the next series of blogs! (of course you can always read ahead too!).

I did want to remind everyone one last time though that this evening will be the premier of “Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod” on the Discovery Channel. It will be the most comprehensive look at the Iditarod to date as it seeks to follow not just the leaders of the race (as most coverage has done in the past) but those all through the entire pack of mushers. There were nearly 30 teams that were outfitted with cameras during last years race. The production company that has been working on this show for the last 8 months is the same group that has done the very high quality, and very entertaining “Deadlest Catch” and “Ice Road Truckers”.

The video below is 2-time consecutive Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey appearing recently on Conan O’Brian to promo the Discovery show.

UPDATE 10/18 – I just updated the post to include the actual video of Lance on Conan….

TOUGHEST RACE ON EARTH: IDITAROD

World Premiere Series Begins Tuesday, October 14 at 10PM ET/PT

Discovery Channel continues its exploration into and chronicling of the fascinating world around us with the groundbreaking six-part series TOUGHEST RACE ON EARTH: IDITAROD.  Defining adventure programming, the world premiere series provides a rare look into one of the harshest races in one of the most beautiful and challenging places on the planet – The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.  Across frozen rivers, barren tundra, mountains and thick forest in freezing temperatures, this grueling 1,150 mile race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska puts mushers and their dog teams through the ultimate test of human and animal teamwork and endurance.  Filmed in March 2008, this series tells stories through the eyes of the men and women who dared to take on the ultimate test of human and animal teamwork and endurance.  The intense preparation and training of race veterans and rookies alike show what it takes to compete not only against each other, but also Mother Nature.

As you know Ken Anderson had the lead from Safety to Nome.  But it
was one of the close finishes of the day.  Several times on his way
down the Nome beach he had to stop and straighten out his dogs.
There are lots of fans and rubberneckers on the trail this year.
Some getting too close to the mushers and their dogs.  Ken Anderson,
was clearly stressed in trying to maintain his lead over Martin
Buser.  Ken could be seen waving people off the trail as he’d
frequently look back to make sure he still had his lead.

It’s been a good race day.

Chris has been taking pictures of mushers coming into Nome and will be posting them on the site soon! 

He arrived at 9:52am, audio to be posted soon…. Ken Anderson just beat Martin Buser by about a minute……more info as it emerges.

For More on this year’s Iditarod Finish:

• Once, twice – two times a Champion
• Jeff King Second into Nome

Listen to: Lance Mackey Wins Iditarod 2008 – KICY AM (Nome, AK)

King is one of a handful of successful mushers who haven’t been able to bring home the record-tying 5th Iditarod Championship…. The late Susan Butcher was on her way in 1989, but similar to this year wasn’t able to hold the lead to Joe Runyan after leaving White Mountain. Martin Buser, and the recently retired Doug Swingley have also attempted a 5th championship.

Probably the most defining moment of King’s race came just over 24 hours ago when he arrived into Elim three minutes behind Mackey – both mushers headed inside the checkpoint to take a few hours break and when Lance put his gear down to take a nap, so did King. Mackey didn’t fall asleep but waited for King, and after only 1 and a half hours rest, Mackey headed out onto the trail while King slept back in the checkpoint. King woke up less than an hour later and gave chase to Mackey, but was never able to catch up.

Audio from KICY of Lance Mackey winning his 2nd consecutive Iditarod is being uploaded right now and will be posted soon, along with Photos taken by Iditablog photographer Chris Carlson.

(above: Mackey takes a few moments with each of his dogs on the sea ice moments before entering Front Street, Mackey speaks to his father on a cell phone under the burled arch after winning the 2008 Iditarod)

In one of the closest Iditarods in recent history, Lance Mackey and Jeff King led the race for most of the last week coming into some checkpoints just minutes apart. There were many times over half the race, and even the last 24 hours it was impossible to predict who was going to be crossing under the burled arch first, but we can now congratulate and celebrate with the entire Mackey family as at 2:46am:

LANCE MACKEY WINS HIS SECOND IDITAROD TITLE IN TWO YEARS.

Its a tough feat that’s very rarely done, but back to back Iditarods are still possible and this whole thing is even more amazing given the fact that Mackey just won his fourth consecutive Yukon Quest title just a mere few weeks ago.

History was going to be made this morning, regardless of which of the two mushers arrived into Nome first, Jeff King came into this year looking for his 5th Career Iditarod win, a number that would have tied him with Rick Swenson as the most winning-est musher in history. Martin Buser, Doug Swingley, Jeff King, and the late Susan Butcher have all attempted to make the monumental leap from being a 4 time champion, to being a 5 time champion but all have come very close, but have been unsuccessful. We’re expecting Jeff to arrive into Nome in just under an hour from now.

We’ll have audio in just a few moments, and will have more pictures coming in throughout the next few hours from Iditablog photographer Chris Carlson.

The next, even more contested spot in this year’s Iditarod is for third place as Ramey Smyth, Ken Anderson, Martin Buser and Hans Gatt all left White Mountain within half an hour of each other. I’m sure that the next 70 miles for these competitors will be pretty stressful as the difference between 3rd and 6th will be separated by just a few moments. Ramey Smyth has been an “up and coming” musher for the last few years after his 4th place finish in 2004. Smyth is one of those guys that you least want to go up against in the final stretch of the trail, he has won the Nome Kennel club’s “fastest from Safety to Nome” award six times and has been called one of the best closers in Iditarod history. Ken Anderson is also an up and coming musher, his best finish was fifth in 2003, although he was in Jeff King’s shoes just a few weeks ago as he battled Lance Mackey in the Yukon Quest and narrowly lost to the reigning champion. Martin Buser was looking for his 5th Iditarod win this year just like King, however was the first to admit his schedule was not competitive enough to go up against Mackey and King. Finally, Hans Gatt is looking to improve his Iditarod best of 12th back in 2000 with a top ten finish this year, however Gatt knows the thrill of victory all to well as he won the Yukon Quest three times in a row over 2002-2004.

The most interesting part of this year’s top ten is the amount of successful Quest mushers that have run both races back to back with mostly the same teams. Mackey proved last year that you could be competitive in both races without sacrifice. Look for the Iditarod to change even more over the next few years as it feels the “Mackey effect”.

Leaving Elim early this morning, Lance Mackey made what could be one of the best strategic decisions of this incredibly close Iditarod. Mackey arrived into Elim running just a little bit slower than Jeff King who arrived within 3 minutes of the reigning champion. Mackey did what he has done at most checkpoints along the cost, he cut his rest time a little short and forced King to consider doing the same. Jeff King has said he won’t fall into that cycle of shorter rests, which ultimately effect the performance of his team, he contends that his longer rests are what have allowed him to continuously run faster times than Mackey was showing. The run from Elim to White Mountain this morning was different, this time King wasn’t able to catch up with Mackey and the hour that had elapsed between when Mackey left Elim, and when King left Elim remained an hour as the two mushers arrived into White Mountain, Mackey at 8:53am, and King at 9:50am.

It won’t be until almost 5pm that Mackey will be able to leave White Mountain, and almost 6 when King can leave, from there the two will be sprinting to the finish line in Nome almost 80 miles away.. Look for a winner to arrive somewhere between 2 and 5am Alaska time.

We’ll be back in a few hours to look at the incredible race for third place….. it might even be closer than the race for first.

From ADN – The twenty closest Iditarod Finishes ever:

(No. 1) 1978: Dick Mackey beat Rick Swenson by 1 second.
(No. 2)1982: Rick Swenson beat Susan Butcher by 4 minutes.
(No. 3) 1977: Rick Swenson beat Jerry Riley by 5 minutes.
(No. 4) 1975: Emmitt Peters beat Jerry Riley by 27 minutes.
(No. 5) 1993: Jeff King beat DeeDee Jonrowe by 33 minutes.
(No. 6) 2005: Robert Sorlie beat Ed Iten by 34 minutes.
(No. 7) 1979: Rick Swenson beat Emmitt Peters by 41 minutes.
(No. 1981: Rick Swenson beat Sonny Lindner by 48 minutes.
(No. 9) 1986: Susan Butcher beat Joe Garnie by 55 minutes.
(No. 10) 1989: Joe Runyan beat Susan Butcher by 1 hour, 5 minutes.
(No. 11) 1984: Dean Osmar beat Susan Butcher by 1 hour, 34 minutes.
(No. 12) 1983: Rick Mackey beat Eep Anderson by 1 hour, 40 minutes.
(No. 13) 2003: Robert Sorlie beat Ramy Brooks by 1 hour, 49 minutes.
(No. 14) 2002: Martin Buser beat Ramy Brooks by 2 hours, 3 minutes.
(No. 15) 2007: Lance Mackey beat Paul Gebhardt by 2 hours, 19 minutes.
(No. 16) 2004: Mitch Seavey beat Jeff King by 2 hours, 21 minutes.
(No. 17) 1985: Libby Riddles beat Duane Halverson by 2 hours, 26 minutes.
(No. 18) 1990: Susan Butcher beat Joe Runyan by 2 hours, 28 minutes.
(No. 19) 1996: Jeff King beat Doug Swingley by 2 hours, 49 minutes.
(No. 20) 1994: Martin Buser beat Rick Mackey by 2 hours, 50 minutes.

In 1983 the Nome Kennel club had been recently working with the new Iditarod Sled Dog race, and managing the Nome aspect of this exciting new venture.  It was decided that in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the All Alaska Sweepstakes, it would be run again on its original course, and using the original rules.  Rick Swenson competed with 22 other mushers on that original course and went home with the trophy and the $25,000 winner take all purse.  Even after winning 4 Iditarods, Swenson only was able to come within 10 hours of Iron Man Johnson’s record, coming in at 84 hours.

This year’s race will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the All Alaska Sweepstakes and competitive dog mushing, and will be offering one of the largest purses in mushing history, $100,000 winner-take all.  Even though the race is winner-take-all, the 14 other mushers entered in this year’s race will have something to look forward to.  Right now in Nome there is a contest for the “All Alaska Sweepstakes” Queen, members of the public can vote for a queen by a $5 vote.  The winning queen’s vote money will allgoto the second place musher as their prize, and all other queen vote money will be spread out among the other mushers in the race.

Just like in 1983, this year’s race will operate on the very same rules that the original races operated on, this means that every musher must sign a bill of sale for their dog team over to the Nome Kennel Club, and the Kennel club will take ownership of a team if a musher breaks the rules along the trail.  This also means that while its 200 miles to Candle, the mushers will then turn around and travel back to Nome on the same trail in order to finish the race.  Every musher must also finish the race with the very same number of dogs as they started with at thebeginning of the race.  The rules differ pretty dramatically from today’s current Iditarod rules, and are interesting to read.  (click here for the full rules)

It should be an amazing race, and will be an exciting follow up to this year’s Iditarod, especially since both front-runners Lance Mackey and Jeff King are signed up, as are Mitch Seavey, Ed Iten, Ramy Brooks, Hugh Neff, and other big time mushers.

I will be in Nome for the entire race, and will be bringing you updates, pictures, audio, and video on the race from a firsthand prospective – on the trail and in Nome.

As Lance Mackey and Jeff King approached (and reached) the native village of Koyuk this morning he was able to hold his lead. According to GPS tracking on the Iditarod website, its been a close race since leaving Shaktoolik about half an hour apart, at times King was about a mile behind Mackey, and at other times running 3 or 4 miles behind.  They arrived into Koyuk around 1:30pm just under 10 minutes apart.

All of these villages along the Bering Sea coast (Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain) are amazing places with beautiful and friendly people.  When living in Nome I had the opportunity on several occasions to spend time meeting the people who live in these small communities (usually 200-300 people live in these villages on the Iditarod trail, except for Unalakleet where nearly 1,000 people live).  The people of this area were our listeners while working at KICY, and would always welcome us into their home.  It is a tough region to live in, and the awkward mix of modern life and the subsistence lifestyle has never been stronger.  With an average of 15-20% of all families in these villages living below the poverty line (mainly because there are very few jobs in each village) the need to remain subsisting off the land is great, however satellite television and DSL Internet are so common now in villages that much of modern American culture is also part of daily life.  Many of these villages are “dry” locations, due to the abuse of alcohol and its extremely negative effects on these remote places, despite so many challenges the people of the region remain strong and find ways to survive.  The Iditarod is something that everyone in the villages look forward to and enjoy being a part of.

I’m still curious whats going to happen between Mackey and King, in Unalakleet yesterday Lance spoke to reporters about how he just wanted to do well, how he was already thinking about next year’s team, and if you go back to the beginning of the race in Anchorage Mackey always talked about wanting to have a good showing in the All Alaska Sweepstakes over winning his second Iditarod. Compare that to King – he was the first into Unalakleet and immediately mentioned going onto winning his fifth Iditarod this year, bragged on his team, and had a pretty upbeat attitude.  Last year after coming into Unalakleet Jeff King sounded like Mackey did this year, he told me about how if he didn’t win, he hoped Lance would because it was “such a magical story”.  Perhaps Mackey’s quotes this year were taken out of context when I read them, he’s holding King back pretty well right now…..but Nome isn’t just right around the corner either.

Later today on I want to talk about the All Alaska Sweepstakes that starts in just about two weeks, the impact that it’s had on this year’s Iditarod, and what makes this upcoming race so special.

As the leaders head up the coast on their final leg to Nome, I want to take a minute and make a few predictions on what we will see over the next day, feel free to make some of your own by calling the toll free number, or leaving comments in the area below.

Prediction #1
King is on his way to overtaking Mackey again.  Things played out earlier today in Unalakleet just like they did last year.  King came in first, Mackey over an hour later, but after cutting the rest short Mackey took off earlier and got ahead.  I’m guessing thats where the similarities will stop.  King has a stronger team, and will overtake Mackey either on the way to Shaktoolik or Koyuk.

Prediction #2
Someone is going to make a mad dash and either catch up, or come close to catching up with Mackey and King.  Many mushers hold out until this final leg up the coast and pull out all the stops to sprint into Nome. Look for Backen, Seavey, Gatt, Gebhardt, or a wildcard (Swenson?) to really change what the top five will look like….as I said in a previous post, many of those spots are totally unclaimed right now.

The situation isn’t quite the same however this year, in 2007 Lance was the one doing the passing coming into Unalakleet, he had been working his way up the standings over the previous days and passed Martin Buser on the way from Kaltag, he wasn’t leading the race like he was this year.  King also was running a team of only 12 dogs, this year he has managed to keep all 16 that he started with, and continues to look very strong.  Last year Mackey ended up cutting his rest short in Unalakleet and left earlier than Jeff King did, and King never caught up, Lance ended up leading the race all the way to Nome.

Its not to late however for some of the other contenders, as they fight for first, second or third place. Paul Gebhardt left Kaltag just two hours after Jeff King did, Ramey Smyth, Zach Steer, Hans Gatt, Martin Buser, Rick Swenson and a ton of others still have plenty to fight for as some positions in the top 5 are up for the taking.

Jeff King is getting closer and closer to overtaking Lance Mackey and leading this year’s Iditarod as the mushers approach the coastal village of Unalakleet.  Earlier this morning Mackey made what could end up being a vital mistake and lost a few precious hours to this closest competitor.  Lance was less than an hour from Nulato and not realizing how close he was, still thinking he had a long ways to go, decided it was going to be best for him and his team to pull over for a few hours and rest.  He staying and camped for three hours before pushing along and soon realizing he was just a few miles outside of the checkpoint.  He had been planning to keep pushing on, spend a healthy 6 or 7 hours inNulato before blitzing right on through Kaltag and onto Unalakleet.  By the time he got into Nulato it was nearly 10am, and King arrived just two hours later at nearly noon.

By 4:30pm both Mushers had left Nulato and headed onto Kaltag, which is 42 miles away…Mackey was still just over an hour and a half ahead of King.  Now on the trail Jeff continues to have a little bit quicker of a team and is approaching Mackey, at this pace King *could* be the first musher into Unalakleet on Sunday afternoon or evening.

Mackey was the first one into Ruby, and this afternoon he was the first one out of Ruby. Mackey, coming off of pushing very hard over two long streches of the trail took his manditory 8-hour layover at the first available checkpoint out of the four that are along the Yukon River. Mackey led the race today by over two hours to Jeff King who arrived mid-morning, its still Backen in third however his grip on the other two has loosened quite a bit since a few days ago when everyone was just about half hour apart… Backen arrived into Ruby 6 hours after Lance arrived, and only 2 hours before Mackey was set to leave. Kjetil, who got in at 1:37pm is now running much closer to Mitch Seavey & Hans Gatt who arrived respectively at 1:57pm, and 2:09pm.
Down in the comments of an earlier post, Lee asked

“..Why would the leader put up with the loss of race focus (and alcohol with each course) when caring for his dogs, checking equipment and resting are the real priorities? As an outsider with no expertise whatsoever, I’d get a raincheck for the meal, a receipt for the cash, one photo with the cash and a huge grin and get back to race priorities. Especially if I had only 14 dogs and a hungry Jeff King was close behind with all 16 of his. But then, I’ve always been strange!”

The truth is Lee, sometimes a musher coming into this checkpoint (Ruby even years, and Anvik northern years) will do just that, grab a quick bite and pose for a quick photo before heading down the trail. Mackey left Takotna a few days ago and saw the pace at which other teams were running (Backen and King) and thought that he might be able to run through Ophir and Cripple and into Ruby even though it wasn’t part of his original plan. When he left Cripple King was a few hours behind him and was in the middle of resting his dogs. Mackey knew that both of them were going to have to take those 8 hours off sometime over the next day or two once they got to the Yukon River, and if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it at a point when you can fill up on some good food. In short, he felt like it wasn’t irresponsible to take his “8″ at this point in the race, had he felt differently I’m sure he would have breezed through like others have in the past. Turns out that King is also taking his 8 hour rest at Ruby as well and there was no time lost – there was plenty of time left in his layover to get some sleep and tend to his team!

P.S. While writing this report I’ve been listening to today’s Iditablog Song of the day: Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs.

Just about an hour ago (at 7:32am Alaska time) Lance Mackey completed a long 112 mile trek from Cripple to make him the first musher to reach the Yukon, and the village of Ruby. As I reported last night the first musher to this checkpoint (and Anvik on the southern route) wins $5000 and a gourmet meal prepared over a campstove by the Executive Chef of the Millennium Hotel. I’m sure that after such a long trek, going an average of 10mph he is going to enjoy this meal….and I’m sure his wife will enjoy the dinner when they get to do it all again later on in Anchorage after the race.

Lance might be looking over his shoulder though, because Hans Gatt left Cripple just about 2.5 hours after he did, and there is a crew of Jeff King, Rick Swenson, Kjetil Backen, Aaron Burmiester, and Mitch Seavey who all left within 6 hours of Mackey. Some of these mushers like King, Backen, and Seavey had MUCH longer rests in Cripple than Mackey did, so look for them to possibly move on, while Lance will most likely take his Yukon River 8-hour layover in Ruby.

We had a request earlier to talk about some of the mushers who have scratched from the race, I’m working on a piece that I’ll try and get up early this afternoon…. in the last 24 hours there have been some serious contenders drop from this years race due to sickness within their teams.

Much has changed since this morning when I last posted, I kept trying to get to a computer to file another report, but things have been pretty crazy today for me as well…

This morning we reached the halfway point of the race, DeeDee Jonrowe was the first musher to reach Cripple, this years halfway point. She left about 6 hours later than Paul Gebhardt did the night before and when she reach Cripple she was shocked that he hadn’t gotten there before she did.  He came in just a few minutes later having gotten lost for several hours and turning around thinking he had gotten lost, when in reality he was only about 3 miles away from the checkpoint.  About the same time this morning thatDeeDee was getting into Cripple, Kjetil Backen, Lance Mackey, and Jeff King were are getting ready to leave Ophir after coming off of their layover in Takotna.  Looking at the current leaderboard , and who have already completed the first of their required rests along the trail, you get not only those three who have led the race for such a long time, but MitchSeavey have a very quick run out of Ophir and was able to catch up with Backen, arriving just about an hour after the Norweigen did.

The race will tighten back up here pretty soon, as Jonrowe, Gebhardt, Steer, Buser, Iten, Andersen, Neff, and Zerkle all get done with their layovers in Cripple tomorrow morning, not to long after Backen and King take off after resting their dogs.  Anyone who is even 6 hours behind the lead pack at the halfway point could easily walk away with 1st place by the end of the race.. and many of these expert mushers know that they still have a real chance at taking on the pack that was leading the race a few days ago before all the layovers.

Mackey was the first to leave Cripple late this evening, he flew through the checkpoint and onto the next checkpoint of Ruby 112 miles away, where the first musher there will be awarded the “first musher to the Yukon award”.  I promised yesterday that I would preview the award that is given away in Ruby and talk about why the mushers enjoy that award so much.  Sponsored by the Millennium Hotel in Anchorage, the musher who can beat everyone to the first checkpoint along the Yukon River is awarded a gourmet meal, cooked by the Millennium’s Executive Chef over a campstove, the meal is finished off with an “after dinner mint” of $5000 crisp one dollar bills.

Directly from the Millennium Hotel itself, here is the menu for whichever musher reaches Ruby first this year:

Appetizer:
Chicken and Wild Mushroom Terrine
with roasted red and yellow pepper coulis

Soup:
Yukon Potato Bisque
with shrimp ravioli

Fish Course:
Halibut Flowers
on a bed of peach chutney

Meat Course:
Filet of Beef
stuffed with Alaskan King Crab, asparagus and bleu cheese
blueberry demi glace and shallot roasted duchess potatoes

Cheese Plate:
Petite Brie en Croute
gewurztaminer poached pear and fig compote

Dessert:
Raspberry Crepes
with bittersweet chocolate sauce and creme de menthe

Grande Finale
$5000 freshly minted one dollar bills
Dom Perignon

Tomorrow afternoon will will have a very good idea on who’s strategy was the best one for this years race. Its warm out there right now which makes the teams run a little bit slower… We also aren’t able to tell yet who is going to reach the Yukon River and the checkpoint of Ruby first… any predictions? Paul Gebhardt enjoys making that long run, and has done it before, but so has Martin. However, they both could be at the point where they need to stop and take a long rest earlier, and could be passed by another team in that “late 24″ pack. We will see soon!

John Little over at Iditarod.com points out that this is a very similar strategy that Jeff King used in 2006, and he left from Takotna and went straight onto Cripple. Thats a long 94 mile stretch that could lead into late tomorrow night, but with  warmer weather and a trail that has been broken by 15 other mushers before them, it might be pretty feasible, and faster than it was for those who did the “breaking”.

Any guesses on who is going to make it into Ruby first for one of the best prizes on the trail?  If you’re unfamiliar tomorrow I’ll break down what the lucky winner gets, and why its so desirable at this stage in the race….otherwise, take a guess on who will be there first!

Mitch Seavey and Hugh Neff were the first to fly through Takotna this morning around 7am, however Lance Mackey got in about 5 and a half hours earlier and decided to stay a while. This is the point in the race more than ever when the standings on the Iditarod website are nothing other than deceiving. Mushers are taking longer rests, and are contimplating when and where to take their 24-hour layovers. There are a few manditory rests on the Iditarod, one is a 24-hour break that you can take anywhere you want, there is another 8-hour layover that you must take at one of the checkpoints along the Yukon, and another 8-hour layover you take in the village of White Mountain before heading into Nome. Some mushers will start taking the longest layover earlier, like in McGrath and others will wait for Takotna, Cripple or even Ruby. The other big factor to remember when thinking about when mushers take their 24-hour layover is that it is during this time that they makeup for the difference at the starting line. The musher who left last, will only spend 24 hours, while the musher who left first will spend an extra 3 hours hanging out at the checkpoint to make up for the time they were given at the beginning of the race.

Going into Takotna this morning Lance Mackey, Jeff King and Kjetil Backen all arrived within a half hour of each other, which is pretty much a virtual tie for first place in a long distance race like this, when you take into account the fact that King and Mackey’s bib numbers are much higher than Backens and that they will have to spend at least an hour longer at the 24-hour layover than he will, you can really see how this is anyone’s race right now. However, the lead pack is starting to thin out a little bit more now than it was at this time yesterday. Coming into Takotna the top ten were separated by about 7 hours, whereas yesterday the top 20 were within 6 hours of one another.

Lance Mackey, Jeff King, and Kjetil Backen have all declared their 24-hour layover in Takotna, but don’t have to take it, they could decided at anytime to continue up the trail onto the next checkpoint. However, most likely look for Backen to be the first leaving early tomorrow morning… and look for Seavey and Neff to probably stop in Ophir where both of them have taken their 24’s before.

Even after dropping one of his most famous dogs “Hobo” back in Rohn, and with a team who isn’t giving him the speed he is looking for, Lance Mackey decided his scheduled rest in Nikolai was going to be a little bit shorter than other mushers, as he was the first to leave at 4:17pm AKST this afternoon, leaving behind 21 others who all arrived within 6 hours of one another. While Lance and some others rushed right out of the previous checkpoint of Rohn, he (along with Jeff King, Hugh Neff, and Mitch Seavey) spent time in between the two camping out and feeding their dogs, so it wasn’t as vital for them to spend any longer than necessary at the checkpoint. It will continue to get harder to tell who is really leading this race until mushers take their manditory 24-hour layover, something that they don’t have to do all at the same spot… some will take this layover earlier, while some will put it off until later in the race. There will be a lot of action on the trail this evening and into the night as the top twenty all leave Nikolai and head onto McGrath where the first musher will recieve the “PenAir Spirit of Alaska” award. McGrath is one of the bigger communities on the trail and the last one until Unalakleet, so look for a handful of mushers to pickup new sleds at this checkpoint as freight is cheaper from Anchorage.

Joe Garnie decided to drop from the race this morning in Rainy Pass. Garnie, is from Teller Alaska which is a small village just outside of Nome, and one of the only places that you can drive to from Nome. This was Joe’s 17th Iditarod since 1978, he came in second place in 1986 (losing by just one hour) and over the following year he worked with Libby Riddles to become the first woman to win the Iditarod in 1987. There haven’t been a ton of Native Alaskan mushers in the Iditarod, and Garnie has always been one of the most famous. He sited declining health of his team as the reason for scratching from this years race….. we’re sad to see him go.

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.

Kjetil Backen rockets into Rohn, and into the lead, Aaron Burmeister, Lance Mackey, Paul Gebhardt and others give chase.

2004 seems like a long time ago, and with Kjetil Backen, Robert Sorlie, and Bjornar Andersen taking turns running the race for team Norway, and with Sorlie having an off year in 2007, it is sometimes easy to forget that this group is still a force to be reckoned with. Backen took on the Dalzell Gorge, one of the most treacherous stretches of the trail with a two hour lead and managed to stay in first at over 11 miles per hour.

Is he going to fast too soon? This has always been a part of team Norway’s strategy, get out in the lead early on and make the other mushers catch you. If you look at what Lance Mackey was able to accomplish, he did a very similar thing, pulling ahead going into the Gorge and try to keep that lead for as long as possible. It doesn’t mean things won’t change, because they probably will… but you can bet that Kjetil is right where he wants to be.

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This year the Iditarod is trying out a new program with the mushers, and with the fans and media on the Iditarod website. There are about 19 mushers who have a GPS system hooked up to their sleds, these devices every 15 minutes send out a ping that lets everyone on the Internet know where they are. These pings are entirely one way, there is no information being given to the musher about where they are, or where the rest of their competitors are. This technology has created some controversy among both spectators and mushers themselves as now you can see exactly where a musher is resting on the trail, and see exactly how long they were there… that precious information about a team’s schedule and strategy can be very important. Regardless, if things go well this year, it is assumed that we can expect to see every team outfitted with this technology next year. There have been times when I’ve been on the trail reporting and you’re sitting there for hours waiting for a musher to come in and you’ve got no idea when they will show up or where they are. Kaltag to Unalakleet is a long 90 mile stretch of the race and its usually pretty safe to say that the first musher will reach the coast sometime on Sunday morning, but depending on the trail there is a huge time window when I’ve been hanging out in the village all day long and the only information you get is from people on snowmachines who ride up the trail and can guess at about how many miles away a musher is. This new technology can come in handy. To track a musher on the Iditarod website (click here).

The GPS is now showing that Martin Buser has passed Lance, and that Cim Smyth, Mitch Seavey and Jessie Royer aren’t to far behind those two… What the GPS isn’t telling us this year is who is in between all those mushers that aren’t outfitted with a GPS tracker. Analyzing the Iditarod just got quite a bit different this year!

Late tonight some of the first mushers will make it into the first of twenty three checkpoints; Yentna Station. Yentna is just 52 miles up the trail from Willow, most serious mushers will breeze through this point and head an additional 30 miles up the trail to Skwentna where many will camp off the trail once they have picked up food and straw for their dogs. The Skwentna checkpoint is located in the cabin of postmaster and former Iditarod checker Joe Delia.

There are many exciting factors in this year’s race, the return of Kjetil Backen and the other half of team Norway, two 4-time champions looking for a record tying 5th Iditarod win, a whole field of potential first time champions (like last year’s winner Lance Mackey) and some old Iditarod favorites returning to the race for the first time in a few years.

Even though 1989’s champion Joe Runyan hasn’t run the race since 1993, he is no stranger to the recent happenings of the Iditarod. For the last few years Joe has been writing articles about the Iditarod, he has served in producing roles for television coverage on OLN and the Versus Network, and often is even in front of the mic interviewing mushers at checkpoints all along the Iditarod trail. His return to the Iditarod would be similar to Terry Bradshaw jumping back onto the football field for a season. Joe isn’t running this year as a competitor though, he is taking Tim Osmar’s place and running his team as Rachael Scdoris’ visual trail interpreter. Rachael is a legally blind musher that the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) has given special permission, she completed her first run (in her second attempt) in 2006 with the assistance of veteran musher Osmar.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the other Iditarod legend running the race again the year: Joe Garnie of Teller, AK is back again and we’ll look at his involvement with the race and what exactly puts him in the Iditarod history books.

Then comes Sunday, and the official restart. This event had been held closer to Anchorage, in the Iditarod office’s hometown of Wasilla, a nearby “suburb” of Anchorage, however over the last 5 years or so the weather has forced an almost regular detour to someplace further out of town, that had more snow…and finally after many years of relocating Willow Lake has this year named as the official restart location for every Iditarod from here on out. Teams will leave in two minute intervals just like the day before, only from here is where things start to count. The next checkpoint of Yentna Station is about 54 miles away and is where those in the lead will attempt to keep their position and where sometimes an 19 year old rookie can pull ahead to be technically, and briefly “winning the Iditarod”.

Predicting the Iditarod each year, or trying to choose a winner is something that gets continually harder as the field gets bigger, and starts to include bigger and bigger names. Its not just a one man show around here any longer, and your list of top ten contenders usually is also a list of ten people who have a really good shot at winning this year’s Iditarod. As a review, lets cover some of the big names for beginners to watch for this year:

Lance Mackey, the 2007 defending champion is about to learn how hard it is to win back-to-back Iditarod’s. The four-time consecutive Yukon Quest winner arrived at the Whitehorse finish-line in first place just 10 days ago and is now seeking to recreate his magical journey from last year that thrust him into Iditarod history books as the first musher to win both major races in the same year.

Jeff King, the four-time Iditarod champion looks to win a record-tying 5th championship this year, and has the talk and the team to do so. King was nipping on Mackey’s heels last year when he wasn’t leading the race himself. Jeff is the businessman of the Iditarod having turned his previous victories into sponsorship deals with some of mushing’s biggest supporters.

Paul Gebhardt, coming in a tight second last year to Lance Mackey was the closest that this veteran musher has come to Iditarod victory in career of attempts. Gebhardt usually has the will and has the strategy to led the race for first half and will continue to look for ways to continue his lead up the Bering Sea coast in 2008.

Kjetil Backen, back in 2002 Backen and his Norwigen mushing partner Robert Sorlie came to the Iditarod and changed the race forever. Both mushers came to learn the race and learn what it would take to win. Sorlie came back in 2003 and put the strategies to work and come home as the first Iditarod Champion from another country. Kjetil attempted a win in 2004 however after leading much of the race, a tragic dog death in the last legs of the race changed everything and led to a third place finish for team Norway. 2005 Sorlie came back in an attempt to re-gain the title, and left with his second historic Iditarod championship. This will be the first Iditarod that Backen has attempted since he came so close in 2004, and as the “brains” behind his teammates two wins, he is sure to be a force in this year’s race.

Martin Buser, another four-time Iditarod winner seeks the elusive fifth championship that only Rick Swenson has ever been able to achieve. Buser is another musher that always has surprises up his sleeve, never count this amazing legend out of the race, and don’t be surprised to see Martin at the top of the pack.

There are so many more names that could end up taking this thing home with them in just over a week from today. We will continue to break down the contenders over the next day or so as the race gets started. I also want to talk about some of the notable rookies in this year’s race, and legendary mushers returning to the Iditarod this year….stay tuned!

Look for pre-race coverage to start up next week, and we will kick things off next saturday after the Ceremonial start in Anchorage.  Its going to be another exciting year, we will be doing a few podcast episodes during the race…and will have multiple updates daily.  

Lets start our two-way discussion….. in the comments section below, enter your thoughts on the upcoming race, what you’re looking forward to, and maybe even any predictions that you may have.