The Final Musher is In

Christine Roalofs is the final musher to cross under the Burled Arch in Nome. I can't imagine what it is like. One of the many things I love about this race is that it isn't about winning, it is about the courage to "get it a go".  Christine received the Red Lantern as a symbol of perseverance, diligence, determination, tenacity and commitment. She even made it in time for the Awards Banquet. Christine and 11 dogs  finished in 13 days, 22 hours, 36 minutes. 

Wow! What a Race!

Who do you think is going to win? Mrs. B is cheering really hard for Aliy Zirkle. If you look at her time going into White Mountain, she is faster than Mitch Seavey. The Insider is saying it could be a photo finish. that is exciting. The Insider will have the finish live and then video of each musher finishing after that. Don't forget the race isn't finished until the last musher crosses under the Burled Arch.

The Mushers have to do a 8 hour rest in White Mountain so Mitch should be able to leave at 13:11 AKST, which would be 3 pm MST. Aily can leave 13 minutes later. They have about 77 miles to Nome and one more checkpoint. I am guessing the finish will be in the middle of the night.

8 Hours of Mandatory Rest on the Yukon

Now it looks Aliy Zirkle is winning. Mrs. B is really excited about that but... 

If you look carefully, Martin Buser is the only musher to have already completed his mandatory rest on the Yukon River. So is she really leading? What will happen when she takes her 8 hour rest? Will Martin pull ahead?

GPS Tracking

I asked Mrs. B "What are they doing in the middle of the river?" She said, "Okay, let's think about it. It is winter in Alaska. They are actually running right down the river but the river is frozen. "

Mrs B showed me that when I am looking at the GPS tracker I can switch to satellite view and zoom in, which I think is pretty cool. So then I asked, "If it is winter, why is everything green and brown." Mrs. B said, "That is a good question. Google Earth uses images that were taken from airplanes. These images weren't taken during the Iditarod or even during the winter. Google Earth images are not in real time." 

That made me wonder, what is GPS and how does it work? So Mrs. B said I could read so articles by Libby Littles (she is a sled dog reporter, just like me) to learn about GPS trackers. She has a couple great articles you should read. What is a GPS Tracker and Images of GPS Trackers

The Race is On!

Martin Buser's Team
Photo by  Sebastian Schnuelle on Facebook

You might have noticed that mushers have been stopping for 24 + hours, this is mandatory. Each team has to rest for 24 hours plus the differential from the start. For example, Martin Buser left first so he had to rest 24 hours plus 2 hrs. 10 minutes. The 2 hrs. and 10 minutes is how long after Martin started that the last musher left Willow. James Volk will only have to rest for 24 hours.

Photo by  Sebastian Schnuelle on Facebook

In the photo your can see sleds parked and dogs resting. Most of the time they rest during the heat of the day, and run at night.

Photo by  Sebastian Schnuelle on Facebook

When the team comes into the checkpoint their food and supplies are in their dropped bags. These bags were flown in before the race. Musher try to pack everything they might need into these bags.

Photo by  Sebastian Schnuelle on Facebook

The Iditarod Air Force moves people, supplies, vets, and dogs up and down the trail. Many of these planes land on skies in the winter. 

Once the mushers have taken a 24 hour break, it will be easier to know who is "really" leading the race.

Mackey is Half Way and Martin has a Fancy Dinner.

Lance Mackey is the first musher to make it to the checkpoint which is named Iditarod.  So he wins $3,000 worth of gold. It is considered the half way point in the race. (The early post was incorrect).

Mrs. B's Watch List

You will see a lot of women on the Mrs. B's list. A women has not won the Iditarod since Susan Butcher in 1990. It just happens that a lot more men compete in the Iditarod so the chances of a women winning are not as high. There are usually at least one woman in the Top Ten.

 Last year, Aliy Zirkle, was second by just a couple of hours. This year her husband, Allen Moore, won the Yukon Quest. Oh, by the way, he was second in the Yukon Quest last year. Aliy is running that winning team in the Iditarod. Mrs. B really wants to see her win.

Dee Dee Jonrowe is running the Iditarod for the 31st time. She is an amazing women. Yes, her signature color is pink because she is a breast cancer survivor. She has finished 2nd twice and has been in the Top Ten numerous times. When Mrs. B and I visited her kennel last week she and her dogs looked ready for a good race.

Jessie Royer took last year off but she is back a ready to go. Jessie grow up in Montana and is currently living in Darby, MT,  Mrs. B's hometown. She even works for the same guest ranch, Mrs. B worked for in college. Pretty cool! Jessie was 2nd at the Race to the Sky but she let the Junior musher she is training, Alea Robison, win. 

Jodi Bailey is another woman to keep your eye on. Jodi has run both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest. 

Don't forget Angie Taggert, Teacher Gone to Mush , and Mrs. B's friend. Of course, there are also the Berington twins, and Jessica Henricks. Mrs. B really has trouble narrow it down. She tries to watch everyone. 

Who I am Watching

Everyone wants to know who I am following and who I think we be in the top ten. So I will give you my thoughts and Mrs. B will do another post with hers.

I really like Martin Buser. He made a big move, with a big run to Rohn and then took his 24 hour layover really early in the race. It will either be a really smart plan or a really dumb plan depending on how he finishes. It would be fun to see him win because I met him and he is really nice and funny.

As this time it looks like Lance Mackey is winning the race but it is really hard to tell. He hasn't taken his mandatory 24 hour plus differential for start. Lance is the only musher to win 4 championships in 4 consecutive years.

Dallas Seavey is definitively another favorite. He won last year's race, making him the youngest person to ever win the Iditarod. I see he had to drop a couple dogs already but that is not always a bad thing. He always says "a team can only go as fast as it slowest dog". Dallas is in really good shape so he often get off the sled and runs. His makes it easier for the team.

Mitch Seavey is Dallas' dad, he really want to beat his son at this race so I think he is going to work really hard to do that. It will be interesting to see. Mitch won in 2004.

John Baker won in 2011 and holds the record for the fastest finish, 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds. John is Inupiat, Native Alaskan, and lives in Kotzebue, Alaska, right on the Bearing Sea.

Jeff King is a four time champion, who retired and then came back to the race. It will be interesting to see what this "old" guy can do.

Jake Berkowitz, is an up-and-coming musher. Mrs. B has known him from when we was running the yearling team for Nature's Kennel. He looked really good in the Yukon Quest so I think he will be in the top ten.

There are a lot more good mushers out there. Keep an eye on Ramey Smith, Aaron Burmeister, Ken Anderson, and Sonny Linder. It is just really hard to tell at this point in the race. The weather has been warm and that is not get for the dogs. 

Behind the Scenes at the Ceremonial Start

On Saturday, Mrs. B and I took a different approach to watching the start this year. Mrs. B had planned to handle for Angie Taggert but things did not come together so we spent some time behind the scenes. It was really foggy downtown Saturday morning.

Lots of dogs waiting.

Dogs waiting to get ready to go.

Team Dee Dee. Dee Dee Jonrowe is running her 31st Iditarod.
She and her mom are both breast cancer survivors.
Be sure to check out Mrs. B's Team Dee hat.

 The first musher out, Martin Buser, #2, had to park the furthest way so they have to "walk" the dogs a few blocks to the starting shoot. Each team has a handler who holds a leash to help get the team to the start.

Mrs. B with Blast. Her job was to make sure he didn't get
tangled up with other team get ready to go.

to be continue...

Booties and Feet

Here is some great videos to help you learn more about life on the trail.

Happy Trails Kennel

Next stop, Happy Trails Kennel, home of the Buser family and a lot of sled dogs. Martin is 4 time champion and held the record for fastest time until John Baker beat that time in 2011. At Happy Trails we learned more about being a professional musher. It takes a lot of time, money, and hard work.

Martin talk to us about how they raise their puppies. They work with them everyday of their life so they start handling them right after they are born. The current group of puppies were born this summer. They will do their first Iditarod next year. Last years, puppies are doing their first Iditarod with James.

James has been working at the kennel for two years. In the summer, he took the team up to run on the glacier all summer. When people come to Alaska in the summer they can take dog sled rides on the glaciers. This is good for the dogs because they are training all year long. James's team will not be at the front of the pack. He will be at the back of pack teaching the dogs about being on the Iditarod trail.

Matt Failor, who drove the yearlings last year, is back for another run. He will be taking the B team. He just finished the Yukon Quest.

Welcome to the Dog Yard!

The puppies have a special pen with their own puppy wheel and everything. The current puppies are getting so big that they are trying to come out and play. 

Schooled

On Tuesday, I spent all day being schooled. Literally not figuratively.  The Iditarod Education Department in partnership with ExxonMobil have an amazing teacher conference. So Mrs B. and I spent most of the day in class and then we went on a field trip.

Being in school is hard work!

First, we heard Shannon Wyckoff from Ohio, yep, all the way from Ohio, taught us about how her high school students with special needs teach others about the Iditarod. They make these really cool videos.

Next, was Mrs. B's friend, Susan Smith, from Oklahoma. She taught us about how dog hair is a great insulator. Duh! Why do you think we wear it? Just kidding. Her students do a great experiment with different materials wrapped around a cup of ice to see which one keeps the ice from melting the longest.   Susan passed around different slides of dog hair. (A slide that you can look at under a microscope.) The teachers studied the slides and recorded their observations by sketching.  (I noticed Mrs. B had trouble paying attention, but I think it is because she sees/wears dog hair all the time.)

Look out Mrs. B's class I think we will being doing this experiment when we get home. Be thinking about what kinds of materials, people and animals use to insulate their bodies.

Lucky last, was Jen Reiter from Maryland. She teaches 3rd at an all BOYS school in Baltimore. Wow, can you imagine being at an all boys school? The all girls school is across the street. Her students have been doing some really cool things, too. At the beginning of the year, they make a glyph to get to know each other.

Photo by Jen Reiter

Jen's class also does this really cool project with National Parks. Did you know you can become a Junior Ranger at National Parks all over the United States? Wouldn't that be cool? You can even become a Junior Ranger without traveling to the park. Check out all the parks that do this!
This is all the badges her class has earned.

Photo by Jen Reiter

Vet Check a Brief Photo Essay

Wow! It is busy up here in Alaska. Mrs. B and I have been on the go non-stop so it is a challenge to write detailed blog post and make videos. I really wanted to guys to learn a little about vet check so I am going to put up some pictures but I will come back and add more information when time allows.

Three vets from different states in the Lower 48.
They are rookies because it is their first year volunteering
the Iditarod.

Playing while they wait to see the vet.

This vet volunteers at the Iditarod
and the Yukon Quest. You can see from
his patches that he has been to a lot of races.

Alaskan Huskies all look different.

The vet is listening to the dogs heart and lungs.

Chukchi dog from Russia

This dog is waiting in his dog box.
He has a nice straw bed to  ride in.

A picket line of dogs during vet check.

The vet is checking the pads of the dogs feet.

Jodi Bailey (musher) with her "house" dog.
Many mushers have little dogs that ride along
on training runs or run along. They live in the house instead
of the dog yard.


The End