Our
mushers were making tracks over the weekend. Sounds like there was a lot
of glare ice and dirt on the trail and very little snow again between
Unalakleet and Koyuk. This type of trail is going to favor the more
athletic mushers. As they go up hills there were will be a lot more drag
on the sled and those more athletic mushers are going to get off the runners
and run behind the sled, which will lighten the load.
The
leaders are heading into White Mountain on Monday morning (estimated arrival at
around 6AM), which is only 77 miles from Nome. They are running about 9
hours ahead of the record pace. Three more checkpoints to go! If they keep up
this pace, we could have a winner late Monday night.
Jeff
King left Elim 8 minutes ahead of Aliy Zirkle, followed in the next 4 hours by
Dallas Seavey, Martin Buser, and Mitch Seavey. Not only is Aliy the only
woman in that pack, she is the only musher that has not yet won an
Iditarod. Those 4 men have won 11 Iditarods between them in the last 24
years. How can you NOT root for Aliy?? She is currently 7 miles behind
Jeff heading into White Mountain.
Sonny
Lindner, Aaron Burmeister, Joar Lefseth Ulsom, Ray Redington Jr and Hugh Neff
round out the rest of the top ten mushers as of about 7 this morning.
Our
current Red Lantern carrier is rookie Elliott Anderson who checked into Galena
around 3:15 this morning. Seven of the rookies are filling the last spots
in the race. Abbie West is the rookie closest to the front at a very
respectable 21st place. Considering the other names in the top
20 (which includes 6 past winners) that is something to be proud of!
While
95 miles may not seem like very far, especially compared to the 900-some miles
they have already traveled, this is going to be the hardest part of the
race. There is a mandatory 8-hour layover in White Mountain for every
musher.
Here
are a couple of highlights from the weekend:
·
Only
three scratches over the weekend, and all cited their dog’s health as reasons –
Nicolas Petit, John Dixon & Ramey Smyth.
·
Aliy
Zirkle was the first musher to the Yukon and won the Brisol Bay Native
Corporation First Fish Award. Aliy earned $1,000, 25 pounds of Bristol
Bay salmon and a commemorative Jacket. She also got a supply of canned
salmon and smoked salmon strip to help fuel her on the trail.
·
Aliy
Zirkle also was the first musher to reach Unalakleet and earned the Wells Fargo
Gold Coast award. This award gives Aliy $2,500 in gold nuggets and a gold
cup.
·
Martin
Buser dislocated his pinky out on the trail. There is a rather disturbing
video on the website showing him realigning it. The things these mushers
do!
The trail breakers are the unsung heroes of the
race, the backbone of the race, the guys in the trenches, the doers, the
ones that actually get the job done, have a lot of fun putting in a trail a
thousand miles across Alaska.
The job is not simple. The trail
breakers must stay ahead of the lead mushers. The Iditarod Trail
Committee puts a trail in front of the leaders, and that’s it. Even if
the trail deteriorates, or a giant snowfall buries the trail behind the
leaders, no further work on the trail occurs. Certainly much of the
trail has been put in over the winter. In some locations the trail is
established between villages.
But by and large the Trail breakers start in Willow
and mark every mile of the trail to Nome. Along the way, they build
bridges over open water, cut brush, shovel snow to make the trail useable,
change the trail around open water and overflow, and sometimes make decision to
alter the trail for safety reasons. In addition they have to keep
machines running, make repairs, endure weather, cold temperatures, and never
stop pushing in front. These guys deserve respect.
The volunteers also recognize what these guys do
and also get a great photo moment with the trailbreakers in uniform.
From right to left, Kenny Dubie, Dustin
Ashcraft (team leader), Jake Fletcher, J R Melin, John Kimble, and Spencer
Pape.
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