And the winner is...

Ummm now that the first rookie has passed under the arch we can do the tally of the CVIB Iditarod picks contest. We have a three way tie for first place and custodian of that world famous trophy between Tommy Tom, Tom and Amanda. To break this tie, those 3 will make picks for the upcoming Kobuk 440. Pick top 5 spots. 10 points for correct fisrt place, 5 points for correct 2-5 place and 2 points for a pick in the top 5 in the wrong position. The tie-breaker will be the pick for the finishing time of the winner. last year's winner was John Baker with a time of 40 hrs 6 minutes. We don't know who the racers are yet since they have until March 28 to sign up. The race begins April 14th, so the picks will have to be in by that time. Website is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kobuk-440/240345216909

White Mountain to Nome

In 2010, John Baker completed this section in 9:49. Ramey Smyth is always fast over this section and finished it in 9:09 - 40 minutes faster. With a 51 minute lead, John Baker is our predicted winner but we are going to let them race it out just in case our calculations are off.

Race for 4th

As the leaders race up the coast toward the mandatory 8 at White Mountain, Ramey Smyth appears to be gaining ground on leader John Baker. Ramey is notoriously fast on the last leg into Nome, so if he can close to within 30 minutes of Baker at White Mountain, this could be very very close. If Baker should come in 2nd then Lisa has an outside chance of wining the CVIB Iditarod contest.

Meanwhile, a bit further back, there is a virtual dead heat for 4th place between Sebastian Schnuelle and Hugh Neff. The outcome of the CVIB Iditarod pool and the future location of the coveted trophy could very well be decided by how this duel works out. If Schnuelle gets 4th, then it looks like David will win, and the trophy stays put, however if Schnuelle falls to fifth, then Tom will likely win, and the trophy will be headed south again. If Schnuelle finishes neither 4th or 5th, then Amanda, Tom or david would win depending on where Hans Gatt finishes. Try not to hit the refresh on the GPS page too often ;-)

The picks are in

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Iditarod begins March 5th

A strong field is set to take off in the 2011 edition of the Iditarod sled dog race with the ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday March 5th, and the official start from Willow on Sunday March 6th. CVIB will be taking a break from blogging the race this year, and will focus mostly on tracking the status of our annual pick contest. It should be an exiting race however, as Lance Mackey will try to set the gold standard by winning his 5th in a row, and plenty of competent teams trying to make sure he doesn't. Young Dallas Seavey has garnered an enthusiastic following after 2 straight top 10 finishes and an impressive win in this year's Yukon Quest, Mitch Seavey (related) has many folks rooting for him. Paul Gebhardt won the tough Kuskokwim 300 this year, a feat that has historically been leveraged into a strong finish in the Iditarod. Hans Gatt, and Hugh Neff showed some strong teams in the Yukon quest before succoming to the elements, and Sebastian Schnuelle looks to have a strong showing once agin while pushing back retirement at least one more year. John Baker has been the most consistent in the top 10 finishing in one of those spots in 12 out of 15 attempts, so we can't count him out. get you picks in, and lets get this party started!