Friday, March 7, 2014

Morning Update

Overnight movement has not changed  my view of  how this race is shaping up.  Zirkle went further down the Yukon than I expected, to  Galena, but she  will need a long rest there,  and  Buser  left Ruby ahead of all the teams  that are taking their rest in Ruby. Next out was Burmeister, who also passed through Ruby without  resting.  Sorlie  followed him,  done with his mandatory  8 hour rest and moving well.  As mentioned  a couple of days ago here,   he  is emerging as the team to watch.  King and Lindner will complete   their 24 hour rests this morning and be on their  way,   with plenty of rest for dogs  and drivers,  to give chase.  How those teams  respond to their late  24 rest will  determine if they are  candidates for the top spot.

John Baker is near Ruby at this time,  and Katherine Keith left Cripple,  running a few  hours behind the  leading rookie,  after taking a long rest.

One item of interest  this morning is the reported extra half hour Robert Sorlie took at Ruby.  Taking more than the mandatory  eight hours is rare for the front runners,  and the reason for that delay  will emerge during the day I’m sure.  He might have slept late.

Two teams  who  had fast runs into Ruby are Petit and Redington.    Petit has been hanging around near the front of the pack much of the race, and one big run could put him in solid contention to win it all.  Redington  is a bit back of the front, but he also can’t be overlooked.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for making this blog! It's not too easy to keep track of what's happening in the race without being an insider on the iditarod site.

    As you mentioned in one of your earlier posts; it would be a great help to see some better data available, like speed during the last 100 miles.

    I've kept a keen eye on how many dogs the different competitors have left. I'm not sure at what point losing dogs becomes a real issue, but from watching Hugh Neff it looks like it's possible to almost keep up even with the amount he has.

    I wish John Baker all the best, but I'll have to say I hope Sørlie wins! It's also fun to see Johannessen catching up after his sled trouble early in the race.

    -Greetings from Norway <3

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