Hopefully you are all following your musher along on the trail. I've copied a nice summary on how to read the current standings page and what it means that Danny Seavey posted on the Seavey's IdidaRide Sled Dog Tours Facebook page. It's a great tutorial and gives some fun insight comments along the way.
As of 11 am PST, Martin Buser is blazing up the trail in first place, followed closely by Matt Failor, Aily Zirkle (go Aily!), Justin Savidis and DeeDee Jonrowe. They are almost to the Rohn checkpoint, which is about 175 miles into the race.
How to read the Current Standings by Danny Seavey
Iditarod.com has some awesome resources, and even if you're not an Insider (their pay-to-watch GPS tracker and video program), you can keep up with your favorite mushers for free via the Current Standings. The problem is, if you don't know what you're looking at, it's easy to get frustrated reading those things. To find this go to www.iditarod.com > 2013 Race > Current Standings. It doesn't automatically refresh, so hit F5 regularly. Also, they don't keep these standing very current, and accuracy can be a problem, so unless you can confirm the info with the GPS trackers, don't get too worried about an anomaly. They are especially bad about recording Out Times, leaving many a frantic Iditarod wife to call a checkpoint asking why their husband is still there, when he's actually almost to the next checkpoint.
Column 1 - Position. Show's who's leading the race with no rest calculations. Don't put too much stock in it. Until the teams hit about Eagle Island, you can't tell who's in first anyway. I'll explain later.
Column 2 & 3 - Musher and Bib#. - Self explanatory, except remember that each bib number represents 2 minutes difference on the 24 hour break. Bib #61 Matt Failor is right up in the front pack, but the bibs indicate Matt has to take 2 hours less rest than those around him. Matt has Martin Buser's B team, so I'm sure he's following orders, but being 2 hours ahead on day 1 is usually not a good strategy on your second Iditarod.
Column 4 - Checkpoint. Shows the last checkpoint a musher checked in or out of.
Columns 5 a&b and 6 a&b - In and Out. Shows the time and number of dogs a musher checked into/out of the checkpoint. If no Out Time is listed, he's still there. Keep an eye on the number of dogs left on each team. Remember several teams started with less than 16. You can always click the musher's name to see his history, and see how many dogs he left Willow with.
Column 7 - Rest in Chkpt. The first really useful stat on the sheet. Does the math between In Time and Out Time to show you how long the musher rested in the checkpoint.
Column 8 - Time Enroute. My favorite number, shows running time from the last checkpoint. Combined, these last two numbers tell the story.
On the attached sheet, Matt Failor (#61) was the second team out of Skwentna after a run time of 3:14. Jason Mackey (#12) was third with a run time of 5:48. Both stayed just 5 minutes in the checkpoint. Looking down the run times into Skwentna, I can see several teams that took about 3 hours to complete the run. We'll call that the "base run time." From there we can deduce roughly how long the musher stopped. I would estimate that Jason stopped about 2 1/2 to 3 hours along the trail, while Matt ran non-stop. This not only explains how Matt made up so much time, but also predicts that he's going to need to stop more ahead.
The next few mushers clearly stopped on the trail until you get to Michelle Phillips, who did the run in 2:57, then stopped for 3:46 in the Skwentna. In essence, teams 3-10 all did the same thing, Michelle just took her rest in the checkpoint, vs. the trail, and teams 1-2 just didn't stop. It's crucial to understand that those longer run times indicate rest taken on the trail.
Column 9 - Previous. Gives out times from the last checkpoint. A little history comes in handy later in the race so you can see who passed who based on their previous out times.
Column 10 - Speed (MPH). The most looked at and least important number on here. Speed simply calculates the run time by some inaccurate distance between the two checkpoints. It does not take into account rest mushers took on the trail. Also, the distance-between -checkpoint numbers they use add up to 1151 miles, even though the GPS puts the trail at just shy of 1000. When teams get to Ophir they'll be posting 17.8 MPH run times based on a 38 mile trail that's really closer to 20 miles.
Column 11 - Layover Completed. Mushers are required to take a 24 hour rest at a checkpoint of their choice, usually between Nikolai and Iditarod, and then an 8 hour rest on the Yukon River between Shageluk and Kaltag. These markers are very important when some mushers have taken the mandatory and others haven't.
Column 12 - Status. The most important column, as long as it doesn't say scratched, your musher is still going along fine, and has a chance to win!
Column 13 - Insights. I can't get these to load, and have no idea what it is.
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