Rollercoaster! By Myron Angstman

The race has changed dramatically during this run from  Koyuk to Elim.   All my previous picks  can be disregarded. We all have been reminded   why it is foolish to handicap  a long distance  dog race. There are too many variables.   We have four teams sitting in Elim, several more close by, and the race from White Mountain  to Nome should a  doozy.    That might be spelled wrong but you  get the idea.

What appears to be happening from this distance  is there is some weakness up front,   and no one has the ability to simply stay on the trail without  stopping  from Koyuk to  White Mountain. That allowed the teams a ways back to tighten up the gap, and now we have  a bunch of teams who could win it on the last run.  Basically the fastest team  leaving White Mountain within a few miles of the first team out is likely to win, and we won’t know who that is until tomorrow.

It is likely to be the most exciting finish in years.

In and out of Koyuk by Myron Angstman

Jeff King pulled through Koyuk without much of a stop to take the lead away from Mitch Seavey. Those two, barring a big run from Zirkle or Redington, seem to have the only shot for this year’s title, at least from the long range view out my window in Bethel. King has the edge, mainly because he is in first and moving fastest. I have noted his moving speed has been the highest throughout the race, but he was a ways back until Unalakleet where a strong run from Kaltag moved him into contention. In recent years, with an eight hour rest at White Mountain, that checkpoint has become the unofficial finish line, as the winning team is usually the first team in there. Even a tired team at White Mountain is hard to catch after 8 hours of rest. So if King maintains his 6-8 mile lead until White Mountain, he is the likely winner.

We know the King has a fresher team right now because he gained about ½ hour on the run into Koyuk. Observers noted that Seavey looked tired coming in, which is understandable after the pace these racers have maintained for days. His realization that King has the faster team certainly contributes to his weariness. Along with having the faster team, King also has the most rest throughout the race (the two factors contribute to each other of course). King held back a bit in the early part of the race, and now it pays off.

Redington and Zirkle can’t be ignored. They had strong finishes last year and they have had good runs this year to be where they are today. But they were close to two hours behind Seavey arriving in Koyuk, and that is a major gap at this point in the race. Burmeister and Ulsom are in the same group, but moving a bit slower so are likely out of the running for first.

John Baker pulled into Shaktoolik 17^th, and has a big challenge to make his way into the top ten based on his current moving speed. He arrived in that check point about four hours after the tenth place team DeeDee Jonrowe. He is now on his way to Koyuk.

 

Myron Angstman, lawyer, pilot, and dog musher, lives in Bethel, Alaska. Read more about dogs, law suits and rural Alaska gossip by checking http://www.myronangstman.com/

Up the Coast by Sam Towarak

When you go to the checkpoint to meet the dog teams, you suddenly realize the Iditarod race is about how your team is doing and not worried about the teams in front or back of you. Often times you hear mushers talk about how well your team is doing and how much care is going to get the dog team into peak condition. This year is one of those year where this is a race of individuals striving to do their best with the team potential that remains.

This has been a challenging Iditarod given the extremely warm temperatures, the wet rain/snow conditions, dealing with a strategic change of two mushers, the Yukon overflow (pictures showing dogs swimming- mind you not walking across overflow) and heavy snow that makes an uneven trail as well as mounds of snow needed to climb over in order to continue on the trail. Usually mushers come into Unalakleet talking about how they will move on to Nome in anticipation of how many positions they will advance. This year has been about needed dog care in order to maintain position.

You got the sense that teams as high as number 6 were worried about how they can maintain position. Even more daunting is the knowledge of the top five that teams higher than they can falter back at any moment in the race. This race revealed that the current situation ( a sudden storm) was not the reason for slowing down but was an accumulation of the past days events. One musher thought he was in the 30^th position when in fact, he was in the top ten- an indication of the struggles of individual racing. The challenges facing the Iditarod were never more apparent.

We see mushers crossing the Norton Bay today. Mitch Seavey has command of the lead in terms of position, time ahead and team speed. His methodical work and consistency has reaped benefits of leading across Norton Bay. Two of the top five mushers showed great enthusiasm about the progress of their team. Two of the mushers showed the rigors of the trail as they were affected by the hard work and lack of sleep from the prior days.

The average age of top five crossing Norton Bay is 42 with three being 36/37. Last year we were talking of a youth movement and the changing of the guard. This year shows that the veterans are back with a vengence. The grit and determination had to have started with last years finish which included the young mushers. Martin Buser changed his approach to the race with the goal of winning the race, something that has eluded him since 2002. Veterans set the tone for the race this year.

Sensing the need to give the dogs better care to improve their position has been the mantra of this race- The Last Great Race

Sunday Night by Myron Angstman

Six teams still are in the running, according to my unofficial calculations, and among those six one is fading from contention.   Aaron Burmeister has run a wonderful race,  but is losing ground tonight on the run to Shaktoolik, as he did on the run into Unalakleet.  That probably means there are only five left, Seavey,  King, Zirkle,  Ulsom and   Redington. Those teams were the first six out of Unalakleet, and  the next one out, Berkowitz is  probably a little late leaving if he hopes to catch  the teams in front of him.

Among the leaders, King has the fastest moving team so he  might have a slight  edge, but  at this stage of the race speed can disappear quickly if a team is pushed hard.  This is the tightest group of front runners in recent memory, and the prospect is for an exciting finish.  That  is not always the case on the Iditarod when someone pulls away the last couple of days.

John Baker has moved up well in the last  few days, and has a real shot at the top ten now.   He has done it  by sticking to a routine  he knew his team could handle,  hoping that  the teams in front would  battle each other hard  enough to wear out and  slow down. In some cases, that has happened.  John often moves up in the  standings at the end, which  means his  team  has been used well and has plenty in reserve.  That style of racing doesn’t always mean first place, but  for John is usually means top ten.

Another rural racer Pete Kaiser  had a good run to Unalakleet after waiting longer than some at Eagle Island.  He was down to 10 dogs  there, which is a little low  that far from Nome. Best guess is he gave them extra rest to make sure he had  enough dogs  on the coast.

Night owls will watch the  tracker closely tonight because  the race could be  mostly decided by tomorrow.  Shaktoolik is a place where  racers sometimes blow right through in a last effort to make up time.  The run from there is about  60 miles to Koyuk, and  that makes about a 100 mile run from Unalakleet.  At this stage of the race that is a long haul with a  major break, but it has been done.

Myron Angstman, lawyer, pilot, and dog musher, lives in Bethel, Alaska. Read more about dogs, law suits and rural Alaska gossip by checking http://www.myronangstman.com/ 

Sunday Morning Report by Myron Angstman

Mitch Seavey will  soon be the first team into Unalakleet, followed shortly by Aaron Burmeister.    At  least two teams a few miles back on  the trail stopped for a couple hours,  and  the two front runners didn’t.  Aliy Zirkle  and Joar Ulsom each could go through   Unalakleet with just a short stop.   Because  of these staggered rest periods, it is difficult to say who has the advantage now.  There are a number of other teams within 20 miles of the lead, very close for this stage of the race.

John Baker has moved up steadily and now the tracker shows him in 12^th position, his highest for the race.  Right now he is in good position for another top ten finish if all goes well.   Including his rookie year in 1996, John has finished out of the top ten four times, racing every year.  While every racer would like to win every year, all of the top contenders agree that a top ten finish is a realistic  goal for a contending team every year.

The order arriving in  Shaktoolik,  the next  check point after  Unalakleet,  will give a much clearer picture of who is still in the running.

Myron Angstman, lawyer, pilot, and dog musher, lives in Bethel, Alaska. Read more about dogs, law suits and rural Alaska gossip by checking http://www.myronangstman.com/ 

The Sloggy Commute on the Portage by Sam Towarak

As I write this blog (Sun morn, 745am), Aaron Burmeister and Mitch Seavey are neck and neck to win the First to the Coast award just having left the Chirosky River and hitting the Snowmachine heaven highway (faster than prior to Chirosky as they are on a well used ice trout fishing route). is a surprise and not a surprise for the position he is in. Everyone was impressed with Mitch’s post 24 hour run to the Yukon which is the not surprised crowd. The surprised crowd had heard that the energy expended to the Yukon was enough to slow him on the Yukon but that didn’t materialize.

What happened on the Yukon? Well a day before the mushers traversed the Eagle Island to Kaltag run, some snowmachiners from Kaltag brought the much needed food drops to Eagle Island. Their comment upon returning to Kaltag was that “whoever swims across the overflow on the Yukon is going to win the race”. So the mushers most affected by that episode spent more time resting and trying to get their dogs to rebound from the run on the Yukon.

Teams took longer than expected resting in Kaltag. We went up to Old Woman cabin & Tripod Flats cabin to meet the mushers. It was a blue sky kinda day and beautiful country. We spent some time at the first cabin setting up heat for the cabin and clearing the snow from the front entrance. We made a vain attempt to repair the BLM lamps but were unsuccessful as both lamps were inoperable. BLM does a good job in stocking the cabin so that a person caught in cold weather will be able to survive. Well one of the needed survival operations for the cabins was to clear the path to the outhouse and we did that at both cabins. The Tripod cabin was body length in depth and 40 feet in length so there should to some happy mushers to visit the half moon door.

Oh the race. The trail was reported to be punchy but groomed from Kaltag to Tripod to Old Woman. Some energy would be expended and dogs needing tender love and care needing some rest are taking it at Old Womaan cabin. Three mushers, Martin Buser, Jake Berkowitz and the Norwegian all stopped at the cabin this morning. That strategy may not backfire if any of the three decide to pick up their food bags and straw and head towards Shaktoolik where there is another cabin just before the Foothill drop to the Shaktoolik flats. That cabin is important as there has been many a person who falter on the Skk flat during bad weather. This strategy would work even better if the musher leaving from that cabin bypass Shaktoolik and head towards Norton Bay where there is a less stocked cabin at the entrance to Norton Bay. You ask if anyone has tried this and its has been only thought of by past mushers like Charlie Boulding.

There is very little overflow on the Portage trail, but temperatures during the day makes it a hot run. Thus explains also the long rest needed. I feel Martin Buser has banked his rest for one more strategic move or he is trying to maintain the speed of the team (usual answer to the media). He still remains a contender to the two mushers ahead of him.

Finally John has left Kaltag and 1:30am which would put him into Unalakleet around the noon hour and after if he makes one steady run from Kaltag.

Sam Towarak, retired school teacher, dog musher, and sports commentator, lives in Unalakleet, Alaska.

Late Night out of Kaltag by Myron Angstman

The tracker tells us that several teams left  Kaltag and are moving slowly. The first  18 miles are  reported to be chewed up trail, and the teams are  displaying that.   One new name on the contender list is Ray  Redington. He has  had impressive times lately, and he is in position to make a bug push now.  Keep an eye  on him.  Dallas Seavey has moved back into contention as well.

Myron Angstman, lawyer, pilot, and dog musher, lives in Bethel, Alaska. Read more about dogs, law suits and rural Alaska gossip by checking http://www.myronangstman.com/