I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail! - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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glad you're enjoyng the updates, I don't have time to pull out another big one as my cousin's wife just had a massive reaction to new medication the dr gave her for pain and so we're off to go get their daughter and take her over teh weekend until my cousin can get back from out of town
but I did want to update a little and say Mitch Seavey just rode into Ruby a couple hours ago (right when I figured he would too, I'm getting good at this lol) and is 4th place!
I swear Jeff King is the most hilarious person on the Iditarod Trail... this article had me in stitches. His antics always amaze me, and after watching and reading up on him since the 90s you'd think they wouldn't! Eye on the Trail » Mackey, King appear headed for a duel
Mackey is in first, King second... Seavey's in 4th
Mackey and King have LEFT Ruby and are on the Yukon. This part of the trail scares me this year, with the warm weather and the fact that they are running ON the river in places... well... it's dangerous!
The dogs know when and where to get out of the way, however sleds are not as quick to move out of harms way, and if the musher isn't careful he and part or all of his team could end up in the water.
Swenson is in 7th and is in Ruby
DeeDee Jonrowe is in 12th and is still in Cripple though she is passed her 24 hour layover.
Martin Buser is in 14th, Rohn Buser is in 28... both are also still in Cripple and have taken their 24 hour layover...
not much in the way of movement by the big names today... I'm sure the news will explode in teh morning as most of the action always happens in the middle of the night.... dogs run better by the light of the moon
sorry I didn't do a morning update. Had a family emergency and we ended up with my 2 year old neice this weekend... and I had to watch her today... I am exhausted as I was up at 5am : I am not a happy camper at the moment.
anyway :laugh:
the top ten hasn't really changed in standing. Lance and Jeff are in Nulato... Mitch is out of Galena and headed their way still in 4th.
Rick, Martin, DeeDee, and Rohn are all in Galena or have just left...
the media hype is for a King Mackey showdown/duel... but last year it was all about Buser and King (they were rivals in the 90s and really have always been neck and neck in most races) and then Mackey came up to win (which is what Buser is hoping to do this year)
Mitch's team seems to have slowed down a bit, they're not hitting the same speeds as they were earlier... Jeff is still hitting huge mph!
Jeff still has all 16, Mitch is down to 11 dogs...
everyone in the top 10, but Paul Gebhardt (in third at the moment) and Ken Anderson (9th) has taken both the 24 and 8 hour layovers.
Mitch's team is fading fast it seems. He has dropped in mph severely and is now in 9th place. I'm a little worried as the last update does not produce a number of how many dogs he has coming into the checkpoint. If he's planning on dropping more dogs he will have a hard time staying in the mix! :
Jeff King and Lance Mackey are still one and two, and Jeff still has 16 dogs, though he's debating dropping a couple at the next checkpoint (the front runners have made it to Kaltag)
Well, Lance Mackey is first out of Shaktoolik. Jeff King was right on his tail getting into the checkpoint, but at this time has not left. Jeff decided to keep all 16 dogs after all, but it doesn't seem like he is letting his big team go all out as he's actually running slower than Mackey (though not by much).
In a surprising twist Mitch Seavey is back in 6th after being down in 23rd last night! I honestly thought he'd be fighting for a top 20 placement :lol: He only has 9 dogs on his team, though I know that's the strategy he seems to favor, but with everyone else trying to keep the bigger teams I'm not sure if that will work for him. Oh well, I have faith that he can hang on with teh rest of the Past Champs....
maybe :lol: (don't tell him I said that )
Buser and Swenson are right behind him in 7th and 8th
DeeDee is in 12th
I have been bad about updating the scratch list - as of right now, 10 have scratched. John Stetson scratched in Cripple after one of his dogs died from pnuemonia. He originally dropped the dog at a checkpoint with vets who flew the dog back to anchorage where the dog passed away. A necropsy was performed and the cause of death determined. At this time this is the only dog to die on the trail this year.
It's gonna come down to the wire between Lance and Jeff, nothing to it. They are just in a class by themselves.
I'm a little annoyed with Mackey's idea of continuing to push his team. I mean, I know it's part of the game, but I think his way of going about it is a little off. But that's just me, I personally don't care for Lance all that much :lol: - http://iditarodblogs.com/news/2008/03/10/one-two-off-the-sea-ice/
I'm really hoping Jeff wins his 5th with all 16 dogs, that'd just be awesome!
Mitch is back in 10th place, but really it's like 12 mushers all tied for third at this point. It's seriously INSANE!
Martin Buser is back in 4th... it's just awesomely stacked!
I'm really excited how this plays out. If Jeff wins and Mitch comes third or Fourth (with Martin taking the other placement) I will be a happy girl!
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A second dog has died, and this time it's not due to illness, but by a reckless snowmachine driver. Incredibly FRUSTRATING. Troopers are investigating to determine whether alchohol was a factor (um, yeah the guy plowed through a dog team in a check point, he was either drunk or just incredibly stupid! ) The musher has decided to keep going, though she is very upset about the incident (a second dog was injured and flown to Anchorage for surgery)
Lance Mackey is still in the lead with Jeff chasing him down, they are both out of Elim... Martin Buser is currently 3rd, but believes that he cannot catch the leaders. But anything could happen. Mitch Seavey is back in 8th, Rick Swenson in 10th.
LANCE MACKEY IS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN... he has to take an 8 hour break before he can continue to Safety, the last check point before Nome.
Jeff King is apparently still on the trail... he's about an hour behind Mackey.....
Buser has dropped to 5th as he's still resting in Elim, Hans Gatt and Ken Anderson stopped for no more than 10 and 5 minutes respectively and are on the trail to white mt.
Ok, so I was wrong. Jeff isn't an hour behind Lance (he just started out that way) he is only 7 minutes behind him...... as it was just posted that he is infact in White Mountain....
I won't be sleeping until this is over, lol (ok I might sleep, but not well)
DS(12) 7th grade class has been tracking the race in school via the internet and has been giving us updates nightly at dinner--after reading this thread I can understand why they have all been so excited about this!
I didn't realize you'd been updating all along. What fun! And great insight. Your enthusiasm is contagious.
The snowmobile accident has been in the news here because it involved a MN musher.
It must be heartbreaking for her. And how crazy is the whole situation -- like you don't know you're near the race? And can't see a string of dogs?