Crow Village 2010 Iditarod Preview

With the Ceremonial start of the 2010 Iditarod sled dog race slated for Saturday March 6th, racers are preparing for what looks to be a very competitive field. various groups are putting together their pools for picking the winners (including the staff at CVIB) Here is a breakdown of some of the favorites in no particular order.

John Baker - 3rd in last years race and almost always a top 10 finisher. He beat an impressive field in this years Kusko 300.

Sebastian Schneulle - Wild hair. 2nd in last years race. He thought about retiring, but coming back for one more kick at the can. There was much less racing for him this year.

Lance Mackey - winner 3 years in a row. Need I say more? He showed he can be beat at Kusko 300 and Yukon Quest this year. In anticipation of new drug testing at the Iditarod this year, the medicinal marijuana user has already had to adjust his race "practices" at the Yukon Quest, and he still seems to be hitting on all cylinders.

Hugh Neff - trail buddy with Mackey. They always seem to run together, so if Mackey is in position to win, Neff might be there too.

Hans Gatt - 4 time winner of 1000 mile Yukon Quest. The only other musher to do that is Mackey. Won the Quest this year over Mackey and some other formidable foes. He beat previous record in that race by 23 hours with a step change in strategy, running long and resting short.

Zack Steer - doesn't always race Iditarod, but when he does he is good. He set the pace in this years Quest, however fell behind later in the race when he chose to still do long rests and the leaders didn't.

Jeff King - 4 time Iditarod winner, and donated $50,000 to the Iditarod prize pool. Jeff is always in the hunt. He may well be on his farewell tour this year but he does have a young team with fresh legs.

Martin Buser - 3 time Iditarod winner and still holds the fastest time. His epic 2002 race in 2002 completed in less then 9 days was done with the traditional run/rest schedule, however his team that year had some incredible speed. He still resists the new strategy to run long and rest short opting instead to challenge with team speed.

Dallas Seavey - Great race last year finishing 5th. He bought Aaron Burmester's 7th place team. Son of Mitch Seavey, who is a pretty good pick as well. Both of them adhere to traditional run/rest schedules.

Jesse Royer - She finished 8th last year by dealing with the extreme weather. Her training in cold weather this year may end up helping her. Jesse seems to improve her game every year, but modern veterinary science suggests she will be without her incredible 11 year old lead dog Kuling in this year's event.

Paul Gebhardt - powered by twinkies and always toward the front, yet always dealing with hard luck. He is a master of all trail conditions. We will certainly be watching his wife's race blog, as it is one of the best.

Ken Anderson - Mackey's neighbor in Fox Alaska, so he knows what a new Dodge pickup looks like. He is trying the "double" again this year by racing both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. This has worked well for him in the past and there is an additional week between the races this year (Thank you YQ), so his team that did not push hard in the Quest should be primed to go. After his trick broke down at the Yukon Quest, he will be dreaming about the new Dodge pickup given to the winner of the Iditarod similar to how Mackey was dreaming about it 4 years ago. His wife Gwen Holdman maintains a top notch race blog that we follow closely as well.

Cim Smyth - 5th place finish last year, and no less then 12th over the last 4. He is always fast at the end and this could be his year.

Look for us to handicap some of the rookies later this week.

Gatt looks towards 4th YQ win

With the SPOT tracking devices showing Yukon Quest leaders Hans Gatt, Lance Mackey, and Hugh Neff all within 10 miles of each other, Whitehorse resident Hans Gatt is looking to capture his 4th title as his teams heads through familiar territory to the Whitehorse finsh line in what will be the fastest Quest ever. If he get there first, he might have a kink in his neck from looking behind him for the one guy who has already won this race 4 times. It looks now like he should cross the finish line shortly after 2PM pacific time. Below is a link to the webcam at the finish line.

Whitehorse Webcam

Back at Braeburn, there is another dogfight developing for 4th place. Both Zack Steer and Ken Anderson arrived at this checkpoint within 1 minute of each other. they will take their mandatory 8 hour layover and depart for the trail again 1 minute apart with Anderson in the lead and 100 miles of trail to the finish. With nobody threatening from behind, it will be interesting to see if they back off the pace or race each other to the very end. Both must consider how their strategy will position themselves for the Iditarod race in 2 weeks time.

Yukon Quest now a 3 team race

Carmacks, Yukon Territory, Canada: Lance Mackey, Hugh Neff and Hans Gatt all arrived at this outpost of 426 people within 15 minutes of each other. With 177 miles left in the 1000 mile Yukon Quest dog sled race, each is sizing up the others to determine how best to approach the finish. With other teams at least 7 hours back on the trail. the race winner will come from this group. Here are some links to allow you to catch up on the recent action:

Fairbanks News-Miner

Jon Little blog

Windy Creek Kennel (Ken Anderson) blog

Yukon Quest Leaders Reset at Dawson

Hans Gatt and his team of 13 dogs was the first musher to arrive into the Dawson City checkpoint at 6:02 Wednesday evening in his quest to win his 4th Yukon Quest dog sled race. Lance Mackey who has already won 4 Yukon Quest races arrived more then 2 and a half hours later. Hugh Neff, Zack Steer, and Ken Anderson round out the top 5.

Dawson City is considered the halfway point in this race. All teams are required to take a 36 hour layover, and it is the one checkpoint where the mushers can recieve help managing their teams. The first Musher to arrive at this outpost is elgible to take home 4 ounces of Klondike placer gold which is worth $4070 canadian at todays rates, however to take that award home, the musher needs to finish the race. Hans Gatt scratched in last year's quest to better prepare for the Iditarod, so the luster of that placer gold provides him incentive to finish the roughly 500 miles left in this year's event.

For the majority of the race to this point, 4 teams have been jockeying for the lead maintaining close proximity to each other. Those 4 are still the top 4 in the standings - Gatt, Mackey, Neff, and Steer. Between Circle and Dawson that pack began to spread out as Gatt and Mackey started taking longer runs between rests, and Neff and Steer maintained schedules similar to what they had been using from the beginning. Using longer runs tends to decrease the team speed, and the GPS tracking data seems to confirm that has happened with Gatt and Mackey. Teams will be finishing their layovers Friday morning, and it will be interesting to see if what affect the rest will have on the speed teamss are able to maintain into the finish.

Ken Anderson who has 2 teams in this year's Quest, has been steady closing the gap on the leaders. Since the start time differential is made up at the Dawson layover, he will be coming off his layover only 2 minutes after Zack Steer, so he certainly be looking to advance his position. Anderson adjusted his feeding program this year by removing meat and providing 100% dry Redpaw to his team. So far they have had great appetites, so he will look to aggressively feed them during the layover so he can make a strong push to the finish. This will be one team to keep an eye on especially if he gets within range of his neighbor Lance Mackey who will leave Dawson in 3rd place due to his early (11) start position.

Yukon Quest enhances use of GPS

As we wait for the arrival of the first teams into the Eagle Alaska checkpoint, we can't help notice that the Yukon Quest dogsled race is following the Iditarod's lead in use of GPS tracking of sleds to enhance the spectators experience in following a dog sled race across vast remote territory. However, the richness of information provided by the Quest by aggregating the GPS data significantly surpasses what is available from the Iditarod. It could be that once fans have a chance to enjoy the benefit the free GPS features the Quest is utilizing this year, the fee based GPS service for the Iditarod will pale in comparison.

Case in point is the Race Replay feature shown below.



It should be noted that when GPS data is not available, the tracking software merely extrapolates position between points where data has been received which may show the allusion that the team being tracked has veered of course. It is entertaining none-the-less. By clicking on the individual teams one can access additional data for that team. Here is a graph of Zack Steer's speed over time which details some interesting run/rest schedule and average speed parameters that are only available when you aggregate the data.



Use of the GPS tracking at the Yukon Quest is voluntary this year, yet only one musher declined to use it. Only time will tell if this become mandatory in future Quest's and if it becomes standard fare at the Iditarod, but this blogger beleives he has seen the future and he likes it.

3 lead Yukon Quest

4 time Yukon Quest winner Lance Mackey was the first musher into the Circle City Checkpoint about 35% into the Yukon Quest dog sled race. Zack Steer arrived 8 minutes later and Hugh Neff arrived 2 minutes after Steer. The Circle City checkpoint is the northern most point on the 100 mile route in an Alaska town with a population of about 100.

John Baker wins Kusko

John Baker at K300 finish photo by Ian Foulds

With 10 dogs out of 14 still on line John Baker won the race he has been trying to take for 15 years by placing first in the 2010 addition of the Kuskokwim 300. Baker, who placed 3rd in last years Iditarod has 10 top finishes in his 14 Iditarods but has never placed higher then 4th in the K300. Considering he has a small 35 dog kennel in Kotzebue, this demonstrates unequaled consistency for long distance dog sled racers. Baker began closing the deal 100 miles from the finish when he started putting some distance between himself and Iditarod winners Lance Mackey and Martin Buser. His lead dogs Velvet and Snickers helped him gain a 41 minute edge over the toughest portion of the trail between Kalskag and Tuluksak a 50 mile stretch where there was little snow and plenty of ultra smooth river ice to contend with. Even though he was still looking over his shoulder for his well qualified contenders by the time he got to Bethel, he had extended that lead to an hour and 36 minutes.

Following Baker, Martin Buser came in second, Lance Mackey was third, Dallas Seavey was fourth and Paul Gebhardt rounded out the top 5. Once again, weather was the big story for the Kusko with wind chill temperatures of minus-60 and howling winds during portions of the race. 3 time K300 winner Mitch Seavey scratched on Saturday with frozen eyeballs, according to a race official, and 8 time K300 winner Jeff King who has endured the full spectrum of weather in this race scratched before the race began.

Baker increases K300 lead over Mackey

Taking his 4 hour mandatory layover is tiny Tuluksak, Alaska, John Baker has the first chance to take a good look at his chief competition in the Kukskokwim 300 dogsled race in the past 9 hours. That competion is none other then 3 time Iditarod and 4 time Yukon Quest winner Lance Mackey. Mackey has never won the K300 race, however his brother Rick Mackey won it in 1985 and 1987. Baker has increased his lead from a virtual dead heat 50 miles ago in Kalskag to a 41 minute cushion. If he can hold on to that lead for 50 more miles, he will be crowned the 2010 K300 champion and claim the $20,00 first place prize money. You can be assured that mackey will not give it to him without a fight however.

The trail from Tuluksak takes a more southern route for 37 miles to the checkpoint at Kwethlu, and then the final 15 miles into Bethel. Martin Buser is currently running 3rd and Dallas Seavey is running 4th.