Coast Crunch Numbers

In anticipation of the top mushers reaching the coast, it may  be interesting to look at travel times of some of CVIB's racers of particular interest from Unalakleet to Nome. It is anyone's guess as to who is going to get to see the crowd at Unalakleet first. but once s/he does arrive, this may provide a glimpse if s/he has the ability to hold off the contenders or if a challenger can kick it in! Below are the Iditarod race times for the past 3 years from Unalakleet to Nome for John Baker, Dallas Seavey, Mitch Seavey, Jeff King, Ramey Smyth, Aily Zirkle, Aaron Burmeister, Dee Dee Jonrowe, and Pete Kaiser.

Here comes the King

Jeff King has the nickname of "King of the Kuskokwim" due to his mastery winning the K300 river based dogsled race 8 times. He might have to add "King of the Yukon" to his list of aliases as his team has been reeling in the competition since hitting the Yukon river in this year's Iditarod dogsled race. In the 120 miles from Ruby to Galena, King has cut the gap between him and Dallas Seavey from three and a half hours to an hour and 10 minutes. With 84 river miles left to kaltag, maintaining that pace could put him in contention fro the lead. In that span, he has passed Mitch Seavey who was leading the race at Cripple, and moved from 6th to 3rd, with only Dallas Seavey and Aliy Zirkle in front of him. Aliy has shown some decent GPS speed of late clocking a 9.6 mph segment coming into nulato and still has a 12 mile lead over Dallas.

Rumble on the River

Aaron Burmeister can figure out how fast John Baker is going by the distance between Baker footprints in the snow. He might be the one musher that is smarter then the CVIB bloggers. Mitch Seavey arrived at the Ruby checkpoint first to collect the $3000 First to the Yukon cash donated by the Remushitating Mortician. Aliy ZIrkle left Ruby 5 hrs ahead of Mitch which puts her 3 hours behind him mathematically since he has his 8 hour Yukon layover ticked off the list, however he and Dallas now have to run their teams through the afternoon sun so there is a penalty to pay. The Dallas Seavey team coming into Ruby second is moving fast and unlike his father Mitch, Dallas has been giving them some rest breaks on the trail, so a well rested team with speed is a dangerous combo. However he was clearly second guessing his strategy when he passed Aliy resting her team 20 miles short of Ruby. We didn't see the same amount of confidence Dallas has shown at previous checkpoints. At his point it is a virtual 3 way Seavey-Zirkle tie for the lead with Baker, and Burmeister on the cusp. We'll see how it all plays out in Kaltag as the teams depart the Yukon river.

Seavey family time in Ruby

With dawn approaching the Yukon river in a few hours, Mitch Seavey and Dallas Seavey are the first Iditarod teams to approach the Ruby checkpoint as they lay down the challenge for the other contenders to keep them within reach. Further back on the trail, the team of Aliy Zirkle is resting out in the wilderness as she has chosen to break the 170 mile run from Takotna to Ruby into 3 segments instead of using the Seavey 2 segment strategy. While the Seavey teams will likely choose an overdue rest at Ruby (maybe even taking the mandatory Yukon 8 hour break), Aliy may in fact blast through that checkpoint and regain the lead. She is about 25 to 30 miles out, so continuing to run to an early afternoon rest down the Yukon river fits her strategy well. All three of these mushers still show a level of confidence in their race so far, even though Mitch admits to checking behind him on occasion. As the trail changes from the hills to the flat cold and sometimes windy stretch along the river, the character of the race will change, so we will see.

Not far back, 2011 winner John Baker is making his move - if you can call it that. The large dogs on Baker's team average about 70 pounds compared to the 40 pounds on Zirkle's team and they have only one speed. That speed is forward. The fact that he is closing the gap with the leaders doesn't mean he is speeding up, it means they are slowing down. That is good news for some of the other contenders further back like the surprising Aaron Burmeister, the unretired Jeff King, and the florescent pink outfitted team of Dee Dee Jonrowe. Dee Dee who has had her share of troubles for many years seems to have all of the pieces falling in place this time around, and we are happy to see her up there.

Team Seavey to the front

Why is this guy smiling?

Zirkle sets the Iditarod pace

Aliy Zirkle drove the first dog sled team into the McGrath checkpoint right outside McGuires tavern in first place and is showing no signs of slowing down. She picks up the PenAir Spirit of Alaska award for being first into this outpost on the Kuskokwim river. She stopped long enough to pose for some pictures, sign an autograph, and off she went towards the Takotna checkpoint. She pulled into Takotna 3 hours later with one dog in the sled and still in the lead, and promptly declared her 24 hour layover. The chase pack of John Baker, Mitch Seavey, Jeff King, and Dallas Seavey showed up 30 minutes later. With fresh snow on the trail, chances are this whole group will decide to take in the fresh pie that Takotna is famous for while they 24 here.

Farther back, Lance Mackey decided to take his 24 at McGrath with a team that seemed to be slowing pulling into that checkpoint almost 3 hours after Zirkle passed through. He originally headed out of McGrath but was sidetracked when 2 members of his team decided to consummate their friendship which not only distracted the rest of his team, but other teams passing through as well. hopefully the lovebirds will find time to rest during the next 24.

After making up the start differential, Zirkle will leave Takotna with a mere 10 minute lead over the Seaveys who started the race in 34th and 35th position. Farther back, Grandpa Seavey has regained contact with the tail end racers after taking a wrong turn in the Alaska range. Remarkably, no teams have dropped out so far in what has to be a first for this stage of the race. Next stop is Cripple for the halfway award and some key points in the CVIB pool.

Iditarod Surprises

1) the Happy Steps were no problem

2) Aliy Zirkle leading the charge to McGrath. In her 12th iditarod she typically starts strong but the highest she has finished is 11th (twice). We still aren't sure how many of Allen Moore's Qwest dogs are on the team.

3) Kelly Griffin running with the leaders. Someone in the know picked her in the CVIB Challenge so there must be something there. She had a run in with a moose during training a few weeks ago that shook her and the team up. Her 4th iditarod - she finished 26th last year. First year in many however that she hasn't run the Qwest.

4) Busers are lagging. Both have shown a passion to charge hard from the start in the past, yet this year they are more then a checkpoint behind the leaders, so what's up with dat?

5) Too many Seaveys to track. Dan (aka the ol' man) placed 3rd way back in 74 and decided he needs one more kick at the can at the tender age of 74. He is definitely bringing up the rear, and may get booted from the race if he doesn't pick up the pace. Dallas and Mitch are right in the thick of things, so watch for them as they typically make their move towards the front along the Yukon river.

6) Hugh and Lance must enjoy each others company. After running neck and neck a few weeks ago for 1000 miles of the Qwest, they don't ever seem to be more then a sticks throw away from each other in this race so far.

Back from the Abyss

Things have been kinda hectic here in the Wyoming CVIB satellite office, so we've fallen behind on the coverage of this years Iditarod. Don't expect extensive coverage here because that can be found elsewhere, but there is still extensive interest in the event. A couple of quick observations for you. The trail over the Alaska range is in much better shape then most anticipated including the Happy Steps, which were supposed to be bypassed this year, but put back in because of the increased snow depth. There are many teams sitting out the heat of the day in rainy Pass now, and the consistent theme of their comments has been how well the trail over the steps were. A couple of highlights for you - Ramey Smyth fell asleep on the trail and as a result, lost his team for about 45 minutes. He is one of the favorites for many in the CVIB pool, but he still has plenty of race left to make up for that mistake. Aliy Zirkle likes to run with the leaders at the front end of the trail, and this year is no exception. I think she mentioned that she had some of the dogs from husband Allen Moore's 2nd place Qwest team. Lance Mackey is once again with the front runners, and you can be sure, all the contenders will want to keep him within striking distance. Sigrid Ekran is back in the race from team Norway, and looks to have a strong team. Yukon Qwest winner Hugh Neff is with the leaders and exudes confidence every time he speaks.