• Snowy Conditions slowing teams down?
• Loren’s Alaska Trip & meeting with Gatt & Schnuelle
• Libby Riddles 1985 Win on Iditablog
• We read and answer your Emails
• Lots more!

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.

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.

• Yukon Quest and other race recap
• “Who Will Win?” Contest
• The Checkpoint Guessing Game
• Mushing Vocabulary Word of the Day
• What’s going on with all these retirements?
• Iditarod Schedule this week
• Our plans for  Iditablog Coverage of the race start?
• Lots more!

Thanks SO much to all those who tuned in for the live webcast, we’re excited to grow that interaction in the days to come.  Sorry to everyone about the audio levels in the podcast and on the live stream, there were a few kinks in the new system that we’ll have worked out before we broadcast next time.

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

• what’s ahead for Iditablog this season
• recap the last few months of Iditarod news
• look at the field of contenders for Iditarod 2010

We’ll be doing a few more preview podcasts leading up to Iditarod 2010.  We’ll also be posting some thoughts in the next few days on the Yukon Quest which is currently underway.  We need your questions and comments, email us here, or call the Podcast Voicemail line at (253)778-MUSH.

Subscribe to the Podcast in iTunes | Browse the Podcast Archives

Thanks to all the thousands of you who have downloaded the podcasts this season.  You’ve blown us away – your support is appreciated.

Thanks to the nearly 4,000 of you who joined us LIVE during Lance Mackey’s amazing win.

• where we find the current race leaders (Unalakleet)
• What’s happened since our last podcast
• Notable awards along the trail
• We answer your tweets & emails
• Running down Iditarod 2009 Coverage on Versus TV network
• Looking ahead to the finish

Thanks everyone for subscribing and downloading these podcast, we hope to do a handful more as the race goes up the coast and finishes in Nome!

Remember, you can subscribe to podcast via iTunes (link) and follow us on Twitter (link)

keep sending your questions to josh@radioalaska.org, we love hearing from you – thanks again to the THOUSANDS of you who have been downloading our shows!

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.

P.S. There were a few issues with the mics at the beginning of the podcast, but hopefully they are worked out.

Subscribe via iTunes: (click here)

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.

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

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

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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??

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?

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.

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.

In this podcast we cover:

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

Photos have just arrived from last night’s dramatic first place finish by Jeff King. (click here) to view.

A big thanks to Nate Hobbs who took these great shots in Nome and emailed them to me for all of you to enjoy. You can also listen to KICY’s compiled broadcast of the finish right here clicking here.

Just three hours after Jeff King got in, Doug Swingley arrived in Nome in second place, Paul Gebhardt got third place, DeeDee Jonrowe came in fourth and John Baker fifth. Team Norway’s 2006 entry into the race, Bjornar Andersen came in sixth and last year’s runner up, Ed Iten came in seventh.

We still haven’t seen the entire top twenty come through Nome yet, and there are still a bunch of mushers out on the trail. Four time champion Martin Buser is currently in 25th place right ahead of Jessica Hendricks and Ramy Brooks left White Mountain this afternoon around 3:00pm in 31st place. Former visual trail interpreter for Rachael Scdoris, Paul Ellering is out of Shaktoolik 6 positions ahead of Rachael and her current interpreter, Tim Osmar.

The story that everyone is talking about is Sonny Lindner and his amazing rookie dog team. Sonny, from Fairbanks Alaska has been racing in the Iditarod on and off since 1978 and this year took out a team of all 2-3 year old puppies, and managed to finish in 13th place. With such a great finish the first year look out of this veteran musher in 2007.

As is with all Iditarods, or even all great sporting events the first thing out of any second place finisher’s mouth is “wait until next year”. That’s what Doug Swingley was telling everyone in Nome, and to be fair he did have quite the race with another young team. You can also talk about 2005 champion Robert Sorlie who took this year off to let his nephew race and flew over from Norway to study other teams on the trail. He is dying to get back on the trail and reclaim the title.

It was early this morning Alaska time At 1:11am when Jeff King passed under the burled arch in Nome, to become the fourth musher ever to reach four career wins in the Iditarod. King won previous races in 1993, 1996 and 1998. Following right behind Jeff into Nome is Doug Swingley, one of the other 3 mushers who currently hold 4 wins along with Martin Buser, and retired musher Susan Butcher. Swingley, who was leading for almost the entire first half of the race, and in a close second for the remainder was hoping to win his fifth career title, which would have tied Rick Swenson with the most Iditarod wins ever.

King finished the race in 9 days 11 hours and 36 minutes. It all started with 87 mushers back in Anchorage on Saturday March 4th. To date, 11 mushers have dropped out of the race since the beginning, including award wining children’s author, Gary Paulsen. The Iditarod Sled dog race, currently in its 34th year runs over 1000 miles from Alaska’s largest city of Anchorage to one of the state’s oldest and most historic gold mining towns, Nome.

There is a battle going on for the rest of the top ten spots in the race, DeeDee Jonrowe will be battleing Paul Gebhardt for third place leaving White Mountian just under 30 minutes of each other. John Baker and Bjornar Andersen also left the last major checkpoint of the race within an hour of each other.

Just because the winning musher came in doesn’t mean that the race is over, there are still over 70 mushers on the trail, and for most of them even coming in with a top twenty finish was never an objective, they were here for one reason…to compete with nature, and to compete with themselves, and to simply get to Nome.

For audio of the finish from KICY radio in Nome, Alaska listen here click here (approx 14.meg)

ALSO: Look for photos straight from the finishline arriving sometime in the morning!

Paul Gebhardt made it into Ruby before any other musher, claiming the prize of a seven course meal prepared over a camp-stove and an “after-dinner mint” of $3,500 in one dollar bills.

This is the second year in a row that the chefs from the Millennium Hotel in Anchorage have prepared a meal for Gebhardt, last year he was the first musher to reach Anvik, the first checkpoint on the Yukon River on the trail’s even-year route. I’m starting to wonder if Paul isn’t just running the race for the large meal, last year before leaving Anchorage Gebhardt told the Millennium’s head Chef that when he reaches the checkpoint in first position, all he wanted was a cheeseburger. Last year Gebhardt shared his meal with number two into Anvik, Martin Buser. It’s unclear for those of us not on the trail to know right away if he’ll wait the 11 or 12 hours for another musher to join him for dinner, its not like he doesn’t have the time to wait, if he is taking his 24-hour layover, he won’t be leaving until just after midnight tomorrow. The only time someone hasn’t shared the meal with another musher was the only time someone decided to pass on the whole thing completely, Doug Swingley on the way to winning one of his four victories blew through Anvik with grabbing only a slice of cheesecake.

Jeff King took an voluntary 8 hour layover in Cripple, he was the only musher there at the time who had already completed his 24-hour layover, and even with the extended break managed to leave a few hours before former race leader Doug Swingley, or DeeDee Jonrowe who was the next scheduled to leave.

To hear more about Jeff King, listen to the Bio & Interview I recorded on the trail last year (click here)

From Unalakleet:

1 – Report from Unalakleet [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/UNK_Report.mp3[/audio]

2 – Report on the Bering Straight School District [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/BSSD_Iditarod.mp3[/audio]

3 – Report from Unalakleet on Lance Mackey & Hugh Neff [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/UNK_Report_Mackey.mp3[/audio]

4 – OLN version of the live Unalakleet [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/OLN_UNK.mp3[/audio]

5 – OLN version of a White Mountian Report [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/OLN_WMO.mp3[/audio]

Robert Sorlie’s 2005 Iditarod Win:

1 – Neil Live from Topkok Cabin 1 [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/topkok%201.mp3[/audio]

2 – Neil Live from Topkock Cabin 2 [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/topkok%202.mp3[/audio]

3 – Neil Live from Safety

[audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/safety.mp3[/audio]

4 – **All Live Audio from Wednesday Morning [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/Sorlie_Arriving.mp3[/audio]

5 – **Audio from Wednesday Afternoon [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/Wed_Afternoon2.mp3[/audio]

6 – OLN version of the finish [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/OLN_Finish.mp3[/audio]
Other:

Teacher on the Trail – 03/13 [audio]http://www.northslope.net/iditarod05/TOTT_0313.mp3[/audio]

Robert Sorlie came in first, Ed Iten in second, Mitch Seavey third, Bjornar Andersen fourth, Ramy Brooks in fifth, John Baker arrived sixth, Lance Mackey seventh, Jessie Royer eighth, Paul Gebhardt ninth, and DeeDee Jonrowe came in 10th.

Here is a link a audio report that talks about Robert Sorlie winning the race (click here). If you’re interested, I still have to put up other audio from the past week.

I should have pictures of the finish up tomorrow!

Update as of Saturday, 1:oopm AKST

Will anyone be able to catch up with Sorlie? Robert was the first one to arrive in Eagle Island earlier this afternoon, the checkpoint that for some reason is absent from the maps I’ve been using off the Cabela’s Iditarod website. Its halfway from Grayling to Kaltag, with about 300 miles left until the finish line. With his mandatory layovers out of way, all Robert has to do now is stay in the lead and victory will be his. Historically the first musher to reach unalakleet often will win the race, Sorlie lived up to that standard in 2003, coming in first to Unksville (as I like to call it), and then into Nome. The nine fingered Martin Buser is only 2 hours behind however, and Ramey Brooks 2 more behind Buser. Paul Gebhardt who was the first into Anvik, but hadn’t taken his 24 hour layover is still in the top ten, but he is the only one in the top 10 to not have taken his additional required 8 hour layover, so he probably won’t be holding that position for to long, atleast he got the free meal though!

I’m heading out to Unalakeet in a few hours and will hopefully catch some of the race leaders before I have to leave Sunday afternoon. Right now the mushers are coming in a bit later than I had originally expected. But I’m excited to hit the trail and experience this thing from beginning, middle and the end.

Here is some extra audio to make up for the absence yesterday:

1. Report on Paul Gebhardt making it into Anvik first (click here)
2. Report and Interview with Charlie Boulding (click here)
3. Report and Interview with Jeff King (click here)
4. Report and Interview with DoDo Perri, Musher from Italy (click here)
5. Report and Interview with the first Musher off the starting line, Jessie Royer (click here)

I’ve been meaning to give you all some website to check out if you are interested in following the race more than the updates I’ve been able to provide each day.

I use Cabela’s Iditarod website the most: http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/

The Main Iditarod website is pretty good: http://www.iditarod.com

Robert Sorlie & Team norway are writting constant articles: http://hurdal.com/

Martin Buser’s website is also being updated on a regular basis: http://www.buserdog.com/buserdog/

The leaders are halfway there

As of Mar 10 – 2:00pm
Today Iditarod speculation is very difficult because its come to the point in the race when many mushers are planning their 24 hour layovers or have already taken them. The Iditarod trail committee mandates that each musher take 24 hours off in one checkpoint. Where or when they do it is up to each individual team. Many mushers took theirs yesterday and are now free to continue going without much hesitation, however no one in the top 10 have completed their layover yet and many of them are working on it right now . The highest position musher that has completed a layover is Aliy Zirkle who is in the number 11 spot. Over the next few hours the top ten field will be changing dramatically with top mushers being forced to sit back and watch others wiz in and out of checkpoints with renewed energy.

Sorlie will be leaving around 2:50am on Friday, so will Martin Buser. Ramey Brooks will leave at 4:00am, and DeeDee Jonrow around 6:00am. Mitch Seavey, Jeff King, Ed Iten, Paul Gebhardt, and John Baker are all taking their 24 hour layovers at the ghost town of Iditarod as well. Approaching the checkpoint with their 24 under their belt is Aliy Zirkle, Lance Mackey, Bjonar Andersen, and Doug Swingly.

Its going to be pretty interesting to see if anyone is able to get ahead of Sorlie, Buser, and Brooks and how the competitive landscape changes over the next few hours.

Late Tuesday night Sorlie checked into McGrath as the first musher, receiving the PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award. Robert then continued leading the trail, and early Thursday morning was the first musher to check into the ghost town of Iditarod, on the banks of Iditarod Creek. The checkpoint is about 564 miles into the race and signifies the halfway point in the southern route. Being the first musher in gave him the GCI Dorthy Page Halfway Award, as well as $4,000 in gold nuggets.

Robert may be experiencing some dejivu, last time he ran the Iditarod in 2003, he won the PenAir award, and won the Halfway Award, he also went on to win the race.

I’ve got some more audio for you, here are my reports on:

1. Report and interview with Team Norway (click here)
2. Report and interview with Robert Sorlie (click here)
3. Layover speculation (click here)
4. Press Release of 5 time winner Rick Swenson scratching from the race (click here)

ALSO,

Yesterday I posted photos of my Anchorage trip last week. There are some great pictures in there of the start, restart, musher interviews, and around town. (go take a look)