Our video feed will come from several streaming webcams in Nome and after the Iditablog “pre-game show”, live audio will come from the burled arch itself as you hear history being made as the winning musher crosses the finish line of Iditarod 38.

CLICK HERE to open a new window that will provide you with the live stream.

In this live mini-podcast from Anchorage, Iditablog reporter Ms. Loren Liden lets us in on what her morning on 4th Avenue has looked like so far and what the mushers are saying about this year’s race.

Make sure you check back right here for regular Iditablog Podcasts and updates throughout the 2010 Iditarod, we’ll be featuring interviews, stories, commentary and photos.

Previous 2010 Iditablog Podcasts:
Iditablog Podcast 2010 – Episode #1
Iditablog Podcast – 2010 Preview

Feel free to email us with topics or questions you’d like to hear us discuss on the next episode… the email address is: josh@radioalaska.org, send us a twitter/facebook message or call the voicemail box at 253-773-MUSH.

Subscribe to the Podcast in iTunes | Browse the Podcast Archives

iTunes Listing note: We’ve been having issues with the podcast updating properly within the iTunes Store, it’s a problem many podcasts are having right now and iTunes is working to get it fixed. However, if you subscribe to the show you will still get new episodes delivered to your computer.

Not sure of what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised with the warm and welcoming Alaskans, who ushered me into the house filled with food, friends of the mushers and lots and lots of dogs! I immediately spotted Sebastian Schnuelle (you really can’t miss that hair or accent) and made my way around to interview the very successful musher (2009 Yukon Quest Champion, 2nd Place Iditarod). He sat leisurely on the couch with one of his dogs and welcomed my questions, but his pre-race attitude was anything but leisurely. “I’m very clearly here to race, not just to sight-see to Nome,” said Schnuelle, who is shooting to win this year’s race, but would not be disappointed with a top-5 finish.

I had the opportunity to speak with Michael Suprenaut, not a musher I anticipated talking to, but one who had shared some insight on the immense preparations made prior to the race. In listing all the to-do’s on his pre-race checklist he said “You get the food drops done and then you don’t want to ease off the training.” Mentioning the toll the storm took on his race last year (held him up for 3 days), Suprenaut is looking to decrease his time from 15 days last year to about 10 1/2 this time around.

A musher I didn’t expect to see, but was so excited to talk to happened to be at the party was this year’s Yukon Quest champion Hans Gatt.  He was busy pulling all his dogs out of his truck as I approached him for an interview, but he had some exciting things to say about his career in mushing. Over the past couple of weeks, several big names in mushing have announced their resignation, or significant cut-backs in their racing. Names like Lance Mackey and Jeff King have already declared that this year is bound to be the last with this field of experienced competitors. Gatt, on the other hand, has yet to join the retirement bandwagon. “I don’t want to talk of retiring before the race,” Gatt said, though he did admit that after 22 years of career mushing he might not run any 1,000 mile races after this one.

Who knows what the standings might look like this year. With old faces possibly on their way out and new mushers anxious to pull up in the ranks, one thing is sure – there were plenty of dogs just getting into their career and enjoying the ‘good life’ of the pre-party before a week or two of running their little hearts out on the trail.

-Loren Liden for Iditablog.com

The day after the accident Lance went on local Nome radio station KNOM and talked about his story.

We know things have improved quite a bit since then, but its still chilling to hear Lance tell this story.

Burmeister was welcomed by a healthy crowd in Nome, and when asked how the trail was Burmeister replied “Well…it was there!”. All of the mushers arriving into town have been greeted by All Alaska Sweepstakes Queen, Janice Doherty and the members of the queen’s court. In total over $40,000 was raised by the queen’s contest and will be distributed among the top 9 finishers.

The big story of today was the news of Lance Mackey’s collision last night outside of Safety and Cape Nome. We’ve received an update on his dog Zorro who was in the sled bag, and was taken to Anchorage to be treated.

This is the latest coming out of the crew in Anchorage:

The big injuries are 3 broken ribs, and possible damage to Zorro’s spinal cord. At this point Zorro can’t feel his back legs, but can feel his front paws. Doctors aren’t sure if this is due to a spinal injury which could be permanent, or feeling could come back if it was due to spinal swelling. As horrific as these injuries are, they don’t appear to be life threatening… he is being hydrated with IVs at this time.

Finally, many of you are probably reading this on alaskasweepstakesblog.com, and may have never stumbled upon my blog before. I do this same thing during each Iditarod over on my permanent site iditablog.com. If you haven’t done so already, please add me as a bookmark for next year. As I’ve told a few friends, if I’m going to devote so much of my time during these races to writing about and covering them, I might as well have people read it! I appreciate all the new readers who have found me over the last few days.

I’ll be in Nome for a few more days, and will try and keep the information flowing on this historic race as the final mushers make their way to the finish line.

(Aaron Burmeister poses at the finish line with first his trail support team, then the AAS Queen, and Katie Schobert the queen contestant who raised Aaron’s purse, and finally a young fan greets one of Aaron’s dogs in his sled bag)

Last night on his way into the finish line, just minutes after leaving Safety.. 2008 Iditarod & Yukon Quest Champion, Lance Mackey was hit by a snow machine. The machine was traveling at a high rate of speed behind Lance. He flashed his lights and yelled at the driver, but says it didn’t seem to matter. Mackey jumped off the sled just before the snowmachine hit the sled from the rear and ran it over. The machine was lodged into the sled and in his sled bag was his dog Zorro who was sleeping. The first four dogs in his team were sucked under the sled as it flew forward 30 feet and they were scurring and trying to get out, the dog in his bag was trying to figure out what was going on. The snowmachine driver appeared to have been drinking, and was with another driver who assisted Lance in getting the machine off his sled and to get to the dog out. Lance said that Zorro, who was in the bag appeared at the time to ok, and the other four were “scared to death”.

After spending the night in Mackey’s bedroom, vets were called in to check Zorro again. They found broken ribs and are unsure about other injuries. Zorro has been flown to Anchorage for medical attention, and should be there now. His vet bills are already over $1000 just for the medivac to Anchorage. Zorro has also been on IVs, along with some pretty heavy medication since this morning. At this time Mackey says it does not look good. Other dogs may also have some injuries, but none appear life threatening. Lance does not hold the race responsible and has not filed any complaints, nor does he have hard feelings toward the snowmachine driver. Mackey has however, asked for the driver to step forward and publicly apologize. Lance also wants the public to know about this new issue in dog mushing. He isn’t anti-snowmachine (he admits to having a few of his own), but thinks that something has to be done, and it needs to be known that this is happening more and more. In this year’s mushing season alone atleast 3 incidents have been reported, and assuming that Zorro makes it, 2 of those have been deadly.

Zorro was one of Lance’s most famous dogs, and wanted to bring him on the All Alaska Sweepstakes as one final hurah, a historic dog participating in an historic race.

We’ll keep following this story as it develops..

There is a tradgic story coming out about Mackey’s team being hit by a snowmachine outside of Cape Nome…. details are sketchy right now and I’ll try and get a complete story to post as soon as possible, we should be talking to Lance very soon.

Also, King was able to get a few minutes with the media early this morning after coming into Nome and made some fun comments on the All Alaska Sweepstakes, and I’m working on getting some of those typed up.

Here is the current list of mushers into Nome so far:

1. Seavey – 3/28/08 – 23:29
2. King – 3/28/08 – 23:39
3. Mackey – 3/29/08 – 1:59
4. Lindner – 3/29/08 – 5:19
5. Iten – 3/29/08 – 10:37
6. Lanier – 3/29/08 – 10:52
7. Smyth – 3/39/08 – 13:12
8. Brooks – 3/29/08 – around 15:15 (official time not posted yet)

Mitch arrived at 23:29, King arrived at 23:39

Keep looking for more fun things posted over the next few hours.

It does a good job of giving you a real feel of the craziness that was happening.

(click here) to download

It was craziness out there….

Madness.

Audio, video, and pictures coming soon…

The good news is: Its being recorded….and the first 10 of you can listen online @ kicy.org.

They were auctioning off Iditarod & Nome memorabilia. I got suckered into buying an Iditarod checkpoint drop sack from Joe Reddington Sr, for $30.

Then King and Seavey hit Safety and I had to leave……

21:06 – King into Safety

Kudos to Kevin Klott from ADN for reporting the following story:

(http://www.adn.com/sports/story/358945.html)

…..Who gets it done could become an issue tonight.

Perhaps the most interesting twist in this race could unfold when the first musher across the line discovers he has been duped by race organizers. Whoever crosses first underneath the burled arch – the same monument used for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race — might not be the winner.

“There was a question (at a 3-1/2 hour mushers meeting) about how we were doing the (race) time,” race marshal Al Crane said Wednesday morning.

Mushers asked Crane, “How could you add minutes (secretly) at the checkpoints” to offset the two-minute gaps in the staggered start of 16 teams.

Mushers didn’t understand how easy it was, Crane said, so he told them the time differential wouldn’t be made up at all.

“Nobody is going to screw with the times (on the trail),” Crane said. “I don’t understand why they had a problem with the time differential. OK, the first team that comes back wins. I’ll explain (adding the time) after the fact. Nobody’s going to get hurt by it. (Now) they all have the same strategy – they want to win.”

Mushers thus departed Nome with the idea there would be no time differential, meaning each musher technically left at 10 a.m., despite the two-minute staggered start. Considering there are no mandatory rests, race marshal Al Crane said, there was no place to make up the time.

But really, to keep things fair, Crane said, the time will be made up when each musher crosses the finish line. The winner will be based on the best total elapsed time.

“I don’t want them to know all the information,” Crane said.

Theoretically, of course, whose first across the finish line and who is first on elapsed time might prove a moot point. Of the three frontrunners going for the biggest payout in the history of an Alaska professional sporting event, King left Front Street in Nome only four minutes ahead of Seavey and 10 minutes ahead of Mackey.

Interesting strategy just coming in over the ham from the Boston checkpoint (at 17:10), Ramy Brooks got in a little while ago, but came in the back way and is setup up in the trees behind the checkpoint, but hasn’t signed in yet. Look for his incoming time to Boston to most likely be his outgoing time as he will probably checkin after he has finished resting.

I was at candle to witness the top 10 mushers in and outta there, king waited in candle just when mackey was coming in, he came in just in time to sign in and take off, I’m sure king heard me yellin “welcome to candle Lance , bye!” (then i yelled)”WAY TO GO LANCE, WAY TO GO”witnessing this outcome MAKES a grown women like me wanna cry. I’m a former vet student from the chucki college at kotzebue (thru university of alaska fairbanks). All the dogs looked lively, seaveys team wanted to keep going while he was feeding them, so did brooks team. Looks like all the dogs are in their best racing SPIRITS themselves. One of the race officials at the candle check point said “my gosh this is a TOTALLY different race than the iditarod, kusko-300, kobuk 440″ or any other races he’s seen so far. The race officials have good ham radio operations for this race, also the locals like the shermans, weinards, fairbanks and kotzebue-buckland-deering people are using vhf radios channel 68 for communicating, in case sno-go problems,Vic Lawyor a pilot and a candle local himself has been busy himself with the planes coming in on the “Candle River”makes shift airport, we even had the last born “candle kid”dickie moto sr.”there (born in the middle 60’s) to witness this historical event. In the end everyone there was making sure the Candle end is having a safe trip there, dog’s first. Vets, Race Officials, and People from all walks of life are having the best welcome for mushers in and otta there,”GOOD LUCK”to the WINNER, and thank you all for mushing in this historical event, MAY GOD RICHLEY BLESS YOU ALL

Jeff has been pulling further and further away, but doing so by using Lance’s Iditarod strategy, take shorter breaks. Has he learned from Lance, or are Lance & Seavey planning on the fact that King has got to let up sometime. Something important to note is that while trail into Timber was pretty tough (tougher for support teams & snowmachines than it was for dog teams). Once teams leave Timber, they will be joining up on where the Iditarod Trail meets the Sweepstakes trail, both mushers and dogs know this area well, and the trail will be perfect for running.

Also interesting is that while weather is pretty nice right now, we’re expecting a mini-storm to hit some of the teams that aren’t in the lead pack, slowing down their time into Nome.

Now, I want to clarify a correction that we’ve mentioned in a few audio podcasts, and briefly in a written one, all regarding Hugh Neff scratching from the race. We earlier reported from the Race Director that Hugh’s scratch wasn’t due to an injury to himself, or to his dogs, but because of harsh trail conditions. That information was early, and ended up not being correct. Official communication coming from the judges has been so sparse that it took even the race director quite a while before getting word on the scratches. In fact, there was no press release issued on Hugh’s scratch until over 24 hours after it happened. Mike Santos’ release took over 12. Hugh’s partner, Tamra was on his support team and wanted to set the story straight as to exactally why their team isn’t racing anymore.
She said first off that it wasn’t because of a tough trail, Hugh signed up for this race because he was looking forward to a tough trail, and was in 4th place when he scratched. We had reported later that it was issues with his support team, and she was more than happy to elaborate on what those problems were. She said the trail between Telephone and Haven on the way north was tough, just like everyone was expecting…what they weren’t expecting was that because of the lack of snow, it would be tougher on snowmachines than it was on the dog teams, most mushers beat their support teams into Haven. Tamra, along with a hired local musher got into some trouble on their snow machines on the trail, and after a period of time had passed, they were diverting teams up a steep hill through these stuck machines. The hired local musher all of a sudden then decided that he was going to help another musher’s crew, got his machine going, and left Tamra in the middle of nowhere. She was finally able to get free and took her machine (without supplies) to met Neff in Haven. When Neff learned of the loss of one of his crew members, he didn’t see how he would be able to compete. He is now running his dogs back on the trail into Nome and we will attempt to speak with him once he returns.

In this podcast we cover:

• Current Standings
• Can mushers maintain this pace into Nome?
• When will the first musher arrive?
• What is going on with start differentials?
• Scratch Updates
• What can we learn from 2007 Kobuk 440?
• Where is everyone else right now?

We’ll have more as the morning goes on! – (click here) to download the podcast

Right now the race leaders are on their way back from Candle – Lance Mackey was the first musher to arrive into First Chance at 19:56, and according to ham traffic stayed and rested there while King and Seavey were behind resting in Gold Run. King arrived into First Chance at 22:58, and Seavey at 23:40.

I’ll have much more news in the morning, and will have a new podcast posted mid-morning. There should be some interesting developments overnight and word on the street is that there is an airplane coming into Nome that contains a second scratched musher’s dogs, can’t mention who yet…..although nothing has been reported officially, I’m sure we’ll know more soon.

Speaking of scratching, many folks have been wondering about Hugh Neff, and wanting to make sure that he and his dogs were ok. As Dr. Phil says in the podcast, Hugh scratched on his own accord… however rumors are that he had issues with his support team, and it just came across the radio a few minutes ago that Hugh has mushed himself back and is in Council right now awaiting further instruction from the Lead Judge.

There has not been any press releases or statements from the Lead Judge about this, and other than the heads up from HQ, I don’t have much to go by. All I know is the official race rules, and what I heard happened at the meeting. I guess all we can do at this point is wait for some official word. I’m supposed to be talking to the Race Director sometime this evening, we will see if he has anything to say on this matter.

Apparently another rule change that came out of that closed meeting was that there would be no 24 hour waiting period once the first musher crosses the finish line, and that they would immediately be declared as the winner. Originally the 24 hour period was another flashback to how the race originally was run, and would give other mushers the opportunity to file a complaint against the potential winner. No word on this change was passed along or put out in a statement after the meeting…… we’ll check more into this as well.

I also updated the top ten standings to include Ramy Brooks…..it was a typo that he wasn’t in there.

In other news, word just came in that Jeff Darling was the last musher to arrive INTO Boston just a few moments ago, and is taking right off on his way to Telephone! The checker said that the weather in Boston is beautiful, and five below.

With the top four all having reached Candle (and we can confirm that we *know* both Jeff & Lance just kept going) we’ve now reached the point of the race where mushers will start running into each other on the trail, and the official rule (that was reminded to checkers over the ham radio) is that the INCOMING musher to Nome has the right of way. I mentioned it this morning in the podcast, but can you imagine that scene when Jeff King was headed back on the trail just a few miles outside of Candle and had right of way over Lance Mackey headed to the halfway point? Talk about tense situations… this is a very close race and is running MUCH quicker than I think anyone expected.

There have been some questions about how exactly the mushers make up the time difference between themselves from when they left the starting line. In Iditarod, this is made up at the 24-hour layover checkpoint, and the earlier a musher left the starting line, the more time they have to make up in the middle of the race….. As the first to leave, Conner Thomas will have about 32 minutes to make up, and Sonny Lindner won’t have any since he was the last. Because there are no mandatory layovers in the AAS, there is one secret checkpoint where the time will be made up. The only person right now who knows where that checkpoint will be, is the Lead Judge – Al Crane. Speaking with the Race Director a few days ago, he admitted that even he had no idea where this was going to be. The only information that I can give is what I’ve heard on the public ham airwaves….and there is a small chance that it could be a clue on where the only mandatory layover will be. I heard that Judge Al Crane flew out of Nome early this afternoon to check on the trail and soon after popped up on the ham in the checkpoint of Boston. That would be over halfway on the trail, if you’re guessing….could be a good place to do a stop like this.

Stay tuned….

In this podcast, we talk about the current standings, our conversation with the checker from Safety, race expectations, and early speculation on Hugh Neff’s withdrawal from the race. I want to quickly apologize for the quality of some of the audio, we didn’t hear that it was goofy until it was to late…and I didn’t want to delay getting this thing out. The problem has been resolved and will be better for next time!

We will be recording again later this evening, and either at that recording, or another time tonight I’ve got a sit down interview with Dr. Phil, the race director scheduled that I’ll record and post in its entirety.

Subscribe in itunes by (clicking here)

These mushers aren’t in the race because they necessarily think they have a good shot at the winner-take-all prize, they are in to test themselves, test their dogs, and to explore some of the least traveled areas in their backyard.

Kirsten Bey

Kirsten Bay is from Nome Alaska, having lived here since 1994. Kirsten says she was primarily raised in Portland Oregon, and moved to Alaska in 1990. Kirsten first came to visit Alaska to see two law school classmates. She met Vern Halter and was offered me a job handling for him. After a winter, she decided to stay on and work for Vern and Susan. They gave her the opportunity to run a young team in the 1993 Iditarod, and it was after that she decided she wanted to continue mushing. Kirsten is a lawyer here in Nome. She works as a Public Defender, and has done so for the last 20 years.

Jeff Darling

Jeff Darling lives here in Nome, and has been self-employed for the last 6 years. He is married, and enjoys hunting and fishing around Nome. Jeff started mushing in 2003 and says he has limited experience. He says he enjoys life and the Alaskan wilderness. He love animals and enjoy their companionship. his team is comprised of three year olds and yearlings from the same mother. Two litters of nine and a couple of dogs from the pound.

stay tuned for more local musher profiles

1. Jim Lanier – 16:05 – 13 Dogs
2. Lance Mackey – 16:11 – 13 Dogs
3. Ed Iten – 16:17
4. Ramy Brooks – 16:18 – 12 Dogs
5. Hugh Neff – 16:20 – 13 Dogs
6. Mitch Seavy – 16:29 – 10 Dogs
7. Aaron Nurmiester – 16:29 – 11 Dogs
8. Sonny Linder – 16:29 – 13 Dogs
9. Jeff King – 16:38 – 13 Dogs
10. Cim Smyth – 17:23 – 11 Dogs/1 in Bag

Mushers don’t, however have to check out and so its going to be tricky to figure out what the standings are, luckily the checkpoints are all pretty close to each other, so the flow of information is pretty constant. What we do know, via the local ham operator chat, is that no mushers have been staying at Timber, they have all been heading onto Council, attempting to cover as much ground during the daylight as possible. This trail is going to start getting tricky as once the teams pass Council, they will be heading even further north, but they will also start to be on trails that are very rarely used. I was talking to a friend here in Nome and he was expressing the fact that even some of the most hardcore outdoor enthusiasts in the area don’t venture past death valley (after Telephone), even on snowmachine, and many local mushers don’t usually make it out to Council. I am getting word from the Boston Checkpoint and they are saying its beautiful out right now, even joking that as they are waiting for everyone to arrive it’s tee-shirt weather (they did also note that it was 20 below this morning!). Timber is reporting right now that it’s high overcast, with no snowfall, and a slight breeze.

There are two mushers who have left Topkok and are on their way to Timber, and a handful who are sticking around the Topkok checkpoint for a bit longer.

Attached is a 40 minute recording of this morning’s AAS start in Nome. I was broadcasting across western Alaska for KICY AM/FM.

I’ll be back in a few minutes with more updates on progress so far, and reports from the trail.

I really loved the organic feel of the start, there were no fences up or anything, and people just formed a chute for the mushers to go down. We had some spotters out on the trail during the broadcast and they were able to send some reports in as mushers entered the sea ice and headed out of Nome. Farley’s Camp (named after ‘83 AAS organizer Howard Farley) is just under 3 miles from Nome and already we spotted Cim Smyth having a few troubles with his dogs, having to stop and get them re-orginazed a few times. Sonny Lidner had passed up Cim pretty quickly out of Nome.

I’m also uploading some pictures for you to enjoy of the event. I’ll be checking in with the blog throughout the day and giving information as I receive it. Most of the communication here is done by the local ham radio club, they’ve got repeaters all the way up to Candle and are able to relay exact checkin times and other things happening along the trail.

Come back for the starting audio to be posted, along with the audio update from farley’s camp on Cim Smyth.

Here’s the starting order for the 100th anniversary running of the All Alaska Sweepstakes:

Note: Bib #1 was given to Pete MacManus, an Iditarod musher and Ambler teacher who was tragically killed in a plane crash on the way home from mushing in the ‘83 Sweepstakes.

#2 Conner Thomas, Nome
#3 Fred Napoka, Tuluksak
#4 Jim Lanier, Chugiak
#5 Ed Iten, Kotzebue
#6 Aaron Burmeister, Nenana
#7 Hugh Neff, Skagway
#8 Cari Miller, Nome
#9 Kirsten Bey, Nome
#10 Jeff King, Denali Park
#11 Jeff Darling, Nome
#12 Mitch Seavey, Seward
#13 Mike Santos, Cantwell
#14 Ramy Brooks, Healy
#15 Lance Mackey, Fox
#16 Cim Smyth, Big Lake
#17 Sonny Lindner, Two Rivers

We just had a great musher’s meeting at the Nome Mini-Convention Center, Janice Doherty was crowned as the new AAS Queen, having raised over $11,000 for the second place finisher in the race.

It’s been a crazy day and I’ve got a lot to write about when I get a few minutes (and my computer’s wireless working again…) All of a sudden this afternoon I found myself on stage hosting the Musher’s meeting and in the middle of this exciting race. It kicks off at 10am tomorrow, and I’m working on getting some audio of the start for all of you!

Most of us probably will never get all the way up that direction, so
let’s hear a description from “The Cruelest Miles” (pp 22-23):

“For the first fifty miles, the trail ran east along the blustery coast
and up Topkok Mountain, a steep, 600-foot incline rising up over the
sea. It turned inland and climbed steadily through willow and cottonwood
bush, then across creeks & rivers to Council, a mining settlement 80
miles from Nome. The route snaked through valleys, tiptoed along
ridgetops as narrow as a sled was wide, and sloped off in half-mile-long
drops. Then, about 120 miles into the race, the trail entered Death Valley.

“If the musher had survived this far, he climbed a glacier to cross over
the Continental Divide–the boundary line separating the Pacific and
Arctic Ocean watersheds. Thirty miles farther lay the turnaround mark,
the village of Candle, which was situated near Kotzebue Sound on the
north shore of the peninsula. An exhausted and sleep-deprived driver
would have to turn around and face the same terrible 204 miles all over
again. …

“There was no other race like it at the time–as the official race
pamphlet said, it ‘easily towers above all other contests of physical
endurance, for both man and beast.’”

The 100th anniversary running of All Alaska Sweepstakes race starts at
10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. THIS WEDNESDAY, March 26.

- In the race’s early years (1908-1917), it was dominated by Scotty
Allan and Leonhard Seppala. Each of them won the race 3 times (Allan in
1909, 1911, 1912; Seppala in 1915, 1916, 1917), and both men were
amazing dog drivers.

- Scotty Allan’s reputation for success in the Sweepstakes led the
French army to seek his help in 1915 in the war against Germany. Allan
gathered up 400 sled dogs (including 106 from Nome & area villages) plus
harnesses, sleds and other supplies and  took  this “K9 Corps” to the
mountains of eastern France, where the teams hauled the wounded to field
hospitals, transported ammunition, and helped lay communication lines.

- Long after World War I put a vice on Alaska’s economy and ended the
Sweepstakes, Seppala was asked to lend his legendary dog driving skills
to the 1925 Serum Run. The original plan was for Seppala to head from
Nome to Nulato, pick up the serum from a musher who had brought it from
Nenana, and then hustle it back to Nome. Ultimately 20 dog teams
participated in the express delivery, but Seppala’s team still had the
longest leg and his trip involved crossing Norton Sound twice.

- There are 16 dog drivers, including some current day mushing heros,
entered in the All Alaska Sweepstakes race this year!

[Source for the historical info: The Cruelest Miles, by Gay & Laney
Salisbury]

- Volunteers from Nome, Deering, Buckland & Kotzebue will venture out to
the 14 historic race checkpoints outside of Nome to open up cabins or
erect tents as shelter for checkpoint volunteers and racers.

- There are 16 mushers signed up for this year’s race, including 4 from
Nome. Roster is here:
http://www.allalaskasweepstakes.org/Mushers.html

This is going to be a very exciting race with many Iditarod veterans running, along with a handful of local Nome mushers who might have an upper hand in knowing this territory better. This is the 100th anniversary of the first AAS, the race that many believe gave birth to competitive dog mushing. We will be pre-hashing the race once we get into Nome later today, and will start filling you in on what is going on in Nome. I’ll attempt to bring you photos, audio, and possibaly some video as we document this historic race.

I’ll be blogging here on Iditablog.com, and I’ll mirror my posts on my temporary site: alaskasweepstakesblog.com the new site will be used just for this race, and will be linked from the All Alaska Sweepstakes homepage.

Throughout today, I’ll post a few All Alaska Sweepstakes “Fun Facts” as posted on a local Nome email list, here is the first:

Front Street, in front of the Board of Trade Saloon, is the starting
line for the big centennial running of the All Alaska Sweepstakes at 10
a.m. THIS WEDNESDAY, March 26.

Why there?

- The Nome Kennel Club was formed in fall 1907, during a meeting of a
few friends at the Board of Trade Saloon. Their goal: to create a
long-distance sled dog race over every type of terrain to test man and
dog alike. This became the All Alaska Sweepstakes, first run in April 1908.

- Here’s how Gay & Laney Salisbury, in their book “The Cruelest Miles”
(pp. 23-24) describe the Front Street scene back in the early days of
the race (1908-1917):

“Bunting and brightly colored pennants representing the colors of each
team hung across the street, and the gold and yellow flags of the Kennel
Club snapped in the breeze at the starting line at Barracks Square.
Storekeepers hung signs reading GONE TO THE DOGS on their doorknobs, and
the gamblers and spectators were out in force. At race time, they would
crowd close to the line and invariably delay the start. Bartenders
dressed in white waistcoats left their jobs to catch a glimpse, and
those who could not squeeze through the crowds climbed up the telephone
poles and onto rooftops for a better view.

“As the race began, the crowds rushed to the saloons. The Board of Trade
became race headquarters and was usually the most crowded. Here, the
names of the drivers were listed on a large rectangular chalkboard
across the room from the mahogany bar, next to paintings of nude drunken
revelers.

“As the drivers passed each telegraph station on the course, the
‘Information Kid’ would record the changing positions and times and the
gamblers would press up close to decipher his scrawl. The books stayed
open nearly until the end of the four-day race, the odds shifting as
quickly as the gamblers could buy drinks. It was chaos: one spectator
said it was less like gambling and ‘more like dealing on the stock
exchange.’”

Now remember … this centennial race is a commemoration, not a
re-enactment! The mushers aren’t using turn-of-the-century gear, and
Nomites don’t have to spend four days at the bar. Race headquarters in
2008 is at the Mini Convention Center … a somewhat different scene!

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.