The Projected 2013 Iditarod Winner Is...

The projected 2013 Iditarod Winner is the fan because this has been an unbelievable journey to watch. It looks like it is going to be a nail biter all the way to the Burled Arches. Take a look at the historical race times from White Mountain to Nome for the top 5 in the past 4 years.  It looks like a foot race between Aliy and Jeff.

	Mitch	Aliy	Jeff	Ray Jr	Dallas
2012	12:43	10:42		10:11	11:06
2011		9:42		10:17	10:02
2010	13:13	11:02	10:16	9:55	9:25
2009	11:48	11:23	8:55	8:46	9:48
AVG	12:34	10:42	9:35	9:47	10:05

Still the King

Jeff King has been patient and persistent. He has been down this trail before and he has a capable team of huskies from the homestead that have been rising in the ranks the last half of the race. It is hard to believe that he was 12 hours off the lead in Iditarod, but now he is less than 1/2 hour from Mitch.  Historically, if you look at Jeff's times from arrival to Koyuk to arrival to Nome, in recent years he runs it a couple hours faster than Mitch.  Look for Aliy and Ray Jr. to also potentially pass by Mitch. The Viking Joar Ulsom is a wild card, but it looks like he still has some gas in tank. Wow, what an exciting Iditarod!

Koyuk - Nome
	Time	Year
Aliy	39h36m	2012
	37h45m	2011
Jeff	37h20m	2010
	37h47m	2006
Mitch	41h42m	2012
	40h42m	2010
Ray Jr.	40h38m	2012
	38h08m	2011
Aaron	42h21m	2012

Sunny Sonny

Sonny Linder is no rookie to the Iditarod. But when he was a rookie back in 1978, he won the Rookie of The Year Award. In fact Sonny’s son Chad also won ROTY in 2009. There are many mushing families in the Iditarod, but Chad and Sonny are the only father/son team that have both been ROTY.

Sonny’s highest placed finish in the Iditarod was 2^nd during the 1981 race. He is consistently a top 20 finisher and was on top of the winner podium in the inaugural Yukon Quest ract. But he hasn’t been in the single digit Iditarod finisher since 1985 with a 9^th place finish.

This grandpa should not be overlooked. Even though Sonny checked into Iditarod a couple hours behind Lance, with a bib number of 67, he will be able to hit the trail a little more than a ½ hour ahead of Lance.  The unanswered question is what team will be on the trail ahead of them?  

Buser Cruiser

Martin sharing a smile & autograph with young fans in Aniak during a K300 race.

Martin Buser was the first musher to depart Willow Lake and the first person to depart Finger Lake. The trail conditions are ideal for his team that likes to run fast. Buser had his fastest Iditarod race in 2002 and the record for 9 years until Kotzebue musher John Baker became the fastest race record holder with 8d18h46m39s in 2011.  One can only assume he wants his record back! As Buser told a reporter, he is going to either look like a genius or an idiot for this unconventional move and we won’t know until later up the trail.

As of now, Buser is ½ way to Rohn and no one else has even checked into Rainy. Currently the second place team, about 25 miles back, is the Buser B team led by Matt Failor. One has to wonder about the thoughts running through Rohn’s mind as he is back tending to the kennel. Rohn had a tough time at the K300 this year and elected to sit this Iditarod out and let his father run a super team (filled with young and excited girls according to wife Kathy Chapoton). Lest you worry about the puppy team, that is being run by Buser Dog handler James Volek. Those pups are wresting in Skwenta having averaged 11.76 mph on the way to the checkpoint.

Still the King, Former King, or King Emeritus?

Photo by Tony Wright

We all know unequivocally that Jeff King is part of Iditarod royalty with his 4 wins, but will he ever again be the first to arrive under the burled arches of Nome?  King and the Iditarod community at large made a big deal about his retirement in 2010 after his 3rd place finish; but his retirement was short lived, i.e., only one year. King is the top Iditarod money winner with career winnings of $808K. It is worth noting that Lance Mackey's winnings (also 4 wins) are about 1/2 that, but King has about 20 more finisher belt buckles in his collection!

King is the consummate inventor. He brought us the Iditarod Barcolounger in 2004 (with seatbelt) and heated handle bars in 2006. There hasn't been any news of inventions of late coming out of the Husky Homestead research labs, but one can only hope.

Last year when King came out of retirement he was running about 4th place with fast run times for much of the race until his team hit a metaphorical wall 12 miles outside Unalakleet and he was forced to scratch. He's back this year, but one has to ask can he make it all the way to Nome this year and if he does, does he have a chance of winning it all and joining only Rick Swenson as a 5-time Iditarod winner?

King finished 12th in 2009, 2nd in 2008, 5th in 2007 and in 2006 he was the first to Nome. 2006 also corresponds with the last time King won the always competitive and always interesting Kuskokwim K300 race. He brought 12 dogs across the finish line in Bethel to place first among a competitive field including Tony Browning (Aaron Burmeister's dogs), Pete Kaiser, Paul Gebhardt, Rohn and Martin Buser, John Baker and Ken Anderson among others. He was King of the Kusko this year, but will he be back as King of the Iditarod?

CVIB Analysis Reveals...

If you are curious about race times of our top contenders from White Mountain to Nome, you are not alone. We know that Dallas Seavey was a competitive international wrestler. We know that Aily Zirkle is not afraid of working hard and running. We have all heard the lengendary Smyth brother stories and Ramey has shot-gunned himself to the front pack and is a genuine threat to the leaders. Aaron Burmeister is in familiar territory and his dogs must be smelling home and Speedy Petey Kaiser -- wow, how exciting to watch that guy! So here below are some running times from White Mountain to Nome. You can draw your own conclusions from the times below, but the most shocking thing for this CVIB analyst is the impressive finish times from Bethel's Pete Kaiser.

Monster unleashed

For many miles now, Dallas Seavey has hinted that he has been holding back his team, waiting to release the "monster". Well that monster has been released as he has reeled off a couple of monster runs to put his team at the forefront of the Iditarod sled dog race. First his team covered the 85 miles from Kaltag to Unalakleet on the coast in 11:42, a full hour less then his nearest competitor Aaron Burmeister and almost 2 hours faster then race leader at the time Aliy Zirkle. Then after taking a 4:22 break he covered the 90 miles to Koyuk in 15:29 with a few snack breaks along the way. With the second place team of Aliy Zirkle approaching the Koyuk checkpoint, it looks like Dallas could have up to a 1.5 hour lead with 171 miles left in the race.

Further back on the trail, one time lead contender Jeff King has dropped out of the race short of the Unalakleet checkpoint when his dogs decided they were no longer interested in the race. Rookie of the year contender Josh Cadzow has dropped for a similar reason. Young Kuskokwim River native Pete Kaiser has pulled into the 6th position and Ramey Smyth who always seems to have fast runs up the coast has willed his team into the conversation by moving into the 7th. Either one of those teams could help determine the outcome of the CVIB pool.

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Who left the most for the coast?

There is no extra credit for miles leading the Iditarod. If there were, then Aliy Zirkle would have a credit rating in the 800's. Sitting on the Bering Sea coast at the Unalakleet checkpoint with 750 Iditarod trail miles under her harness, she has led the race for most of those, yet she can't seem to shake the pursuit. Historically, she has not been speedy up the coast. But she has never been in this position before either, nor has she ever commanded a team like this one. Lets take a look at who has a chance to catch her.

Dallas Seavey: Dallas has kept the front of the pack in his sights the whole race and has now maneuvered into second. By his own admission, he hasn't unleashed his team to their fullest potential, and they look strong. look for him to take the brakes off and perhaps do a long run or two.

Aaron Burmeister: Aaron is a veteran of 12 Iditarods, but hasn't been in the race since 2009 when he placed 7th. Like Dallas, he as kept within reach of the front and has been creeping upwards in the standing. We have previously remarked about his analytical intelligence. He has been training in Nome this year, so no doubt his doggies will be fired up on this home stretch as they will be racing in familiar conditions. He has hinted that he has one or two tricks up his sleeve, so don't be surprised if he pulls out a monster run to propel him to the front. the team looks strong.

John Baker: Mr Steady. He won last year's race by keeping a steady pace while the leaders eventually hit the wall. We see no new strategy for John, and he is positioned well to make it work again if the leaders screw up.

Jeff King: Caught boasting that he was positioned to win, Jeff has closed the gap with the front, but is it enough? With four victories and many many competitive Iditarods under his belt, he has the experience, knowledge, and maybe even a trick or two to pull this off. Don't count him out yet.

Mitch Seavey: He spent some time in the front, and then dropped off the pace a bit, but just when we are ready to count him out, he has shown new life. He might not win, but a top 5 postion is within his reach if he can hold his team together.