I
finally found where they are posting the press releases on scratched
mushers. You should be able to get into the link here.
Some
more info on those scratched mushers (so far no more new ones since this
morning):
·
Deedee Jonrowe – beaten
up by the trail
Update, 9:10 a.m. Tuesday, March 4:
DeeDee Jonrowe has scratched, along with fellow veteran Linwood Fiedler,
according to Iditarod officials. The news came in a press release. Both
mushers were in Rohn when they made the decision, and both blamed
their experience in the Dalzell Gorge: "Jonrowe indicated to checkpoint
personnel that she was scratching from the race because she was 'beat up
physically in the Dalzell Gorge.' Fiedler cited 'physical injury from
driving the Dalzell Gorge passage,' the release read, in part. Meanwhile, the
wife of veteran racer Jim Lanier (Anna Bondarenko, a fellow
Iditarod veteran) posted
on Facebook that a doctor and trail official urged the 73-year-old,
currently at Rainy Pass, to scratch after he suffered an apparent injury
to his Achilles tendon. "Jim called from Rainy Pass to tell me that he
hurt his ankle going down the steps. Something popped or snapped and he could
not put any weight on it," the post reads in part. "Orthopedic
surgeon (who just happened to be at the checkpoint) and a race official
strongly recommended Jim to scratch. Having never scratched from the Iditarod,
Jim is agonizing over this decision. Jimmy and I told him that he is our hero
and we love him no matter what. He already proved many times that he is tough
and can persevere through the pain. (He had FINISHED one Iditarod with a broken
ankle.)"
·
Jake Berkowitz – sled
broken beyond repair
Update, 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, March
4: Musher Jake Berkowitz of Big Lake, a
three-time Iditarod finisher, will scratch after he was forced to
activate the help button on his GPS tracker, according to reports from the
trail and the Facebook page
of Berkowitz's Apex Kennel. Berkowitz was reportedly on his way to Nikolai
on a snowmachine after his sled was damaged beyond repair on the
largely-snowless Farewell Burn between the checkpoints of Rohn and
Nikolai. His team will reportedly have to be driven in by someone else and a
replacement sled. Berkowitz had his best finish last year, finishing eighth. He
left Rohn shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday.
·
Scott Janssen –
apparently broke his leg after a crash
Update, 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 4: Musher Scott Janssen, popularly known as the "mushing
mortician," may have broken his leg after a fall on the trail between
the checkpoints of Rohn and Nikolai. According to a post at Janssen's Facebook page, Janssen was
unable to stand up after the fall. "About 45 minutes after the crash
Newton Marshall came by and got him to a safety shelter located between Rohn
and Nikolai," said the post, which went up shortly after 8 p.m.
Tuesday. "Scott has pressed his rescue button and is awaiting the
Iditarod rescue." Janssen was sitting at mile 172, according to his GPS
tracker, and Marshall had continued on down the trail. The 52-year-old Janssen
is a two-time Iditarod finisher, coming in 38th in 2012.
·
Gus Guenther - ?
Also, Gus Guenther, a carpenter
from Clam Gulch, broke his ankle and scratched at Rohn. This was Guenther’s
third Iditarod and the first time he’s pulled out before the finish line.
·
Mike Santos – hurt his
foot coming down the Dalzell Gorge
Meanwhile, Musher Mike Santos has scratched in Rohn, citing "personal
reasons" according to a release from race officials. Santos made the
decision to scratch just after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, after having pulled into
Rohn just before 5 a.m. Santos, 45, is originally from Massachusetts but
now lives in Cantwell. He's now started the Iditarod three times, also
scratching in 2011 -- his rookie year -- and finishing 34th in 2012. He sat out
the 2013 race.
·
Linwood Fiedler – injury
Update, 8:40 a.m. Tuesday, March 4: Seventy-three-year-old Jim Lanier, a retired Chugiak doctor who
look and acts like a man 20 years younger, was at Perrin's Rainy Pass
Lodge Monday night enjoying a glass of wine, nursing injuries and
trying to decide whether he wished to continue in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog
Race. Thirty-five miles on down the trail on the north side of the Alaska Range,
60-year-old DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow was doing the same at Rohn, a
one-log-cabin outpost not nearly as comfortable as the lodge but set in the
grandeur of the Terra Cotta Mountains at the confluence of the Tatina and West
Fork Kuskokwim rivers. Gorgeous scenery the two checkpoints share in common
every year. And in a year of little snow along the Iditarod Trail, both are
collecting tales of woes, although in Jonrowe's case the might be tales of
"no whoa.''
·
Karen Ramstead –
withdrawn by race officials because of an injury
The Iditarod trail continued to
exact a stiff toll on the 62 mushers still pushing towards Nome. Veteran
musher Karen Ramstead, a five-time Iditarod finisher, broke her left hand going
through the Dalzell Gorge and may scratch, according to eyewitness accounts who
said it was "swollen grotesquely" and bleeding. Ramstead of
Perryvale, Alberta, Canada, is well known for running a team of purebred
Siberian Huskies.
·
Cindy Abbot – Shoulder
sprain
The #Iditarod
field is thinning. Cindy Abbott, of California, withdraws in Rohn with a
shoulder sprain, race officials say.
·
Ellen Halverson –
severely damaged sled
Ellen Halverson, 53, of
Wasilla on Wednesday became the 12th musher to scratch from the
Iditarod during the first half of the ultramarathon to Nome.
Halverson pulled out at the Rohn checkpoint due to "a severely
damaged sled," a problem that dozens of mushers have faced in the rugged,
snowless terrain on the north side of the Alaska Range. Halverson also noted
she had "an abundance of caution due to the experiences of the teams ahead
of me.” The Wasilla musher was racing her fifth Iditarod, and this is the third
time she's scratched. In her other two races, she won the Red Lantern prize as
the last musher to Nome.
·
Jim Lanier – popped his
Achilles tendon and smacked his head on a stump
Update, 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, March
4: Jim Lanier, age 73 of Chugiak, has made
the decision to scratch at the Rainy Pass checkpoint, citing a leg injury.
Lanier, the oldest musher in this year's race, has competed in 16 Iditarods
since 1979, and never scratched prior to this year's race. His best
finish was when he came 18th place in 2004. Lanier's wife had
reported previously that the musher had suffered an injury to his Achilles
tendon, though Lanier didn't make the decision to scratch until 10:30 a.m.
Tuesday, nearly a full day after he pulled into Rainy Pass just after 2 p.m. on
Monday.
·
Jan Steves – concern for
the welfare of her team
Later Monday, Jan Steves, 57,
of Edmonds, Wash., became the seventh musher to scratch one checkpoint earlier
at Rainy Pass. Steves, the winner of the Red Lantern as the last place finisher
two years ago, also scratched last year.
·
Cindy Gallea – ended her
race in Skwentna due to illness
Since
we are talking a lot about musher injuries, everyone always wonders about how
the dogs are faring. According to everything I’ve read, they are doing
fine. If you have been looking at the articles linked in my updates, you’ll see
that there is almost always someone that talks about how the dogs aren’t being
humanely treated. There is an excellent article here that
dispels those rumors.
Kris Leibrand, CAP-OM
Administrative
Assistant to Bernard Seeger, Finance Director
Finance
& Management Services Department
City
of Gresham |1333 NW Eastman Pkwy |Gresham, OR 97030
503-618-2445
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