Iditablog.com – Iditarod 2012 News & Coverage

Update as of 4:33pm, Sunday March 13th

Right now all the top ten teams have left Kaltag and are on their way to Unalakleet. Robert Sorlie is in first, and Ramy Brooks is an hour behind him. Martin Buser is an hour behind Ramy in third place, John Baker from Kotzabue in 4th, Jeff King in 5th with defending champion Mitch Seavey about 20 minutes behind. Ed Iten in 7th, Bjonar Anderson in 8th and DeeDee Jonrowe in 9th. The last person to leave Kaltag was Doug Swingley in 10th position. Its about 90 miles from Kaltag to Unakaleet, and the first musher is expected in around 6:00 tonight.

I’m here in Unalakleet waiting for mushers to get in. I’ll head up to Koyuk tomorrow before going home tomorrow evening. Here is a blog entry that I wrote last night about my experences in Unksville

(written at 11:00pm, Saturday March 12th)

Well, what a day this has been. Every time I think about the amazing opportunities that We’ve had since moving to Alaska, I’m just in awe. It shows you that if you give God something precious to you, like a year of service away from your friends and family, he will talk that gift and bless it. I really feel blessed with the great opportunities that we have been given. I can’t speak for Lydia, she is Miss travels around to villages on a regular basis, but this is only my second time out to one. I’m just blown away at how different it is than life at home in Seattle, its even different that Nome!

I’ve had a great time here so far, and have lots of time left. I flew in around 4:30, and after getting off the place started talking to another passenger, come to find out it was a reporter for the Nome Nugget Newspaper. We both had no idea what to do, so we start making the walk into town, when we are offered a ride to the checkpoint. Once there, we met an iditarod volunteer from Norway, and the three of us went to Dinner at Unalakleet’s pizza place. It was very cool, about halfway through dinner the owner and a friend started playing guitars and singing. It was such a surreal experience to be having pizza in a remote Alaskan village with two strangers I didn’t know 2 hours earlier, one from Norway, the other a former attorney from Ohio turned Journalist…all while being sung original compositions by some dude at his restraunt.

We headed back to the checkpoint and I decided that I should go check out the place I was going to stay, while my nugget friend went looking for one. I found my way to the Covenant Church an met Joel & Olga. After getting the rundown and having some coffee with the family, I headed back to the checkpoint. There wasn’t to much going on so I started walking around town. I ran into another Iditarod volunteer, this guy was around my age and from New Hampshire. He was on his way to the UNK basketball game with a few others, and I asked if I could join. Again, an hour later I found myself in a small high school gym, watching basketball with three more complete strangers, a dog handler from Minnesota, a dude from New Hampshire, and a native from Unksville. Around 10 I thought I should get going back to the house I was staying at. I visited with Olga and her daughter Evia who is a few years older than I. We played the covenant “do you know?” game for a while, then I went to bed. Sunday some teams should arrive.

Update as of Saturday, 1:oopm AKST

Will anyone be able to catch up with Sorlie? Robert was the first one to arrive in Eagle Island earlier this afternoon, the checkpoint that for some reason is absent from the maps I’ve been using off the Cabela’s Iditarod website. Its halfway from Grayling to Kaltag, with about 300 miles left until the finish line. With his mandatory layovers out of way, all Robert has to do now is stay in the lead and victory will be his. Historically the first musher to reach unalakleet often will win the race, Sorlie lived up to that standard in 2003, coming in first to Unksville (as I like to call it), and then into Nome. The nine fingered Martin Buser is only 2 hours behind however, and Ramey Brooks 2 more behind Buser. Paul Gebhardt who was the first into Anvik, but hadn’t taken his 24 hour layover is still in the top ten, but he is the only one in the top 10 to not have taken his additional required 8 hour layover, so he probably won’t be holding that position for to long, atleast he got the free meal though!

I’m heading out to Unalakeet in a few hours and will hopefully catch some of the race leaders before I have to leave Sunday afternoon. Right now the mushers are coming in a bit later than I had originally expected. But I’m excited to hit the trail and experience this thing from beginning, middle and the end.

Here is some extra audio to make up for the absence yesterday:

1. Report on Paul Gebhardt making it into Anvik first (click here)
2. Report and Interview with Charlie Boulding (click here)
3. Report and Interview with Jeff King (click here)
4. Report and Interview with DoDo Perri, Musher from Italy (click here)
5. Report and Interview with the first Musher off the starting line, Jessie Royer (click here)

I’ve been meaning to give you all some website to check out if you are interested in following the race more than the updates I’ve been able to provide each day.

I use Cabela’s Iditarod website the most: http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/

The Main Iditarod website is pretty good: http://www.iditarod.com

Robert Sorlie & Team norway are writting constant articles: http://hurdal.com/

Martin Buser’s website is also being updated on a regular basis: http://www.buserdog.com/buserdog/

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Today I’ve got an AP Article for you off of ABC New’s website. There will be audio down at the bottom later.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska Mar 11, 2005 – Paul Gebhardt enjoyed a seven-course gourmet meal Friday for being the first musher to reach the Yukon River in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Gebhardt, 48, whose best finish was second in 2000, reached the Anvik checkpoint at 7:14 a.m. For being first to the Yukon, Gebhardt enjoyed some distinctly non-trail fare that included braised musk ox and shitake mushroom stew and buffalo tenderloin with peppercorn sauce. He also received 3,500 crisp $1 bills.

Gebhardt is the only one of several mushers in the top tier who has not taken a mandatory 24-hour rest of his team. He said he would satisfy the requirement at Anvik, 481 miles from Nome.

In second place was Robert Sorlie of Norway, the 2003 Iditarod winner. Four-time winner Martin Buser was in third, followed by Yukon Quest winner Aliy Zirkle and Ramy Brooks of Healy.

Rick Swenson, the only five-time winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, dropped out of the running Thursday the first time he’s scratched from the race to Nome in 29 years on the trail.

The 54-year-old musher officially withdrew after returning to the checkpoint at McGrath, 722 miles from the finish line. Swenson told race managers he was concerned about the well-being of his dog team.

“He said they weren’t running as well as he wanted them to,” said race marshal Mark Nordman.

Swenson took his mandatory 24-hour rest at McGrath, then traveled 18 miles to the Takotna checkpoint, arriving shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday, race officials said. He dropped off one of his dogs, then headed for Ophir 25 miles away with 12 dogs. Mushers start the race with 16 dogs and must end it with at least five.

On the trail, Swenson decided to turn back to McGrath, a busy hub where he could transport his dogs home quicker, said Iditarod spokesman Chas St. George.

He’s the kind of guy who hates to quit, so his decision was based on what’s in the best interest of his team,he said.

Another top musher withdrew from competition late Wednesday, also surprising race officials. Zack Steer was in eighth place when he scratched at the Ophir checkpoint, about 475 miles into the race to Nome.

The leaders are halfway there

As of Mar 10 – 2:00pm
Today Iditarod speculation is very difficult because its come to the point in the race when many mushers are planning their 24 hour layovers or have already taken them. The Iditarod trail committee mandates that each musher take 24 hours off in one checkpoint. Where or when they do it is up to each individual team. Many mushers took theirs yesterday and are now free to continue going without much hesitation, however no one in the top 10 have completed their layover yet and many of them are working on it right now . The highest position musher that has completed a layover is Aliy Zirkle who is in the number 11 spot. Over the next few hours the top ten field will be changing dramatically with top mushers being forced to sit back and watch others wiz in and out of checkpoints with renewed energy.

Sorlie will be leaving around 2:50am on Friday, so will Martin Buser. Ramey Brooks will leave at 4:00am, and DeeDee Jonrow around 6:00am. Mitch Seavey, Jeff King, Ed Iten, Paul Gebhardt, and John Baker are all taking their 24 hour layovers at the ghost town of Iditarod as well. Approaching the checkpoint with their 24 under their belt is Aliy Zirkle, Lance Mackey, Bjonar Andersen, and Doug Swingly.

Its going to be pretty interesting to see if anyone is able to get ahead of Sorlie, Buser, and Brooks and how the competitive landscape changes over the next few hours.

Late Tuesday night Sorlie checked into McGrath as the first musher, receiving the PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award. Robert then continued leading the trail, and early Thursday morning was the first musher to check into the ghost town of Iditarod, on the banks of Iditarod Creek. The checkpoint is about 564 miles into the race and signifies the halfway point in the southern route. Being the first musher in gave him the GCI Dorthy Page Halfway Award, as well as $4,000 in gold nuggets.

Robert may be experiencing some dejivu, last time he ran the Iditarod in 2003, he won the PenAir award, and won the Halfway Award, he also went on to win the race.

I’ve got some more audio for you, here are my reports on:

1. Report and interview with Team Norway (click here)
2. Report and interview with Robert Sorlie (click here)
3. Layover speculation (click here)
4. Press Release of 5 time winner Rick Swenson scratching from the race (click here)

ALSO,

Yesterday I posted photos of my Anchorage trip last week. There are some great pictures in there of the start, restart, musher interviews, and around town. (go take a look)

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Its day two of watching the race from the internet, and again things are all different from what they were yesterday.

As of 11:20 AKST

Not to long after my update yesterday morning, Robert Sorlie jumped into the first place spot and has managed to remain there ever since. Four time winner Martin Buser is right behind him in second place right now taking a break in Ophir. Martin didn’t do to well last year, scoring in the 11th spot after getting 4th in 2003. Martin was a name to watch, but I wasn’t really expecting him to do exceptionally well, espically after he lost a finger about one week ago, just a few days before the race! That’s right, the man is running on nine digits.

Ramy Brooks is in third right now having left Takotna this morning around 8:00. Jeff King in 4th, Zach Steer in 5th, Cancer survivor DeeDee Jonrowe in 6th and Ed Iten from Kotzabue in 7th they all left Takotna later this morning.

This morning we had the Teacher on the Trail call in a report live from Nikolai, a checkpoint that over half of the mushers have still yet to reach. I handed off my satellite phone to her at the race restart on Sunday. Its nice to see some of my pre-race plans and aspirations work out.

Something else that is working out is our partnership with the Outdoor Life Network. I’ve been talking to the production company in New York, and they’ve been able to take the KICY reports that I emailed them and insert the audio into the documentaries that will be airing OLN in early April. So, anyone out there with cable make sure you are tuning in starting on April 2nd. In exchange for us providing audio, former musher and journalist Joe Runyan will be sending audio from the helicopter above the trail. And BOOM, we’ve got extended Iditarod coverage without having to send a staff person out.

1. To hear my story and interview with Lynn Gordon the Teacher on the Trail (click here)
2. To hear Lynn’s update from Nikolai this morning (click here)

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Well, things have changed quite a whole lot in the 40 hours or so since the race started, and I was there in Willow with Hannah watching it all. Now I’m back home in Nome chasing the race online like 95% of the people who are following it. Also, positions have changed dramatically as well. Many of the people who were front runners before the race have dropped behind, and many people that I didn’t give enough credit to beforehand are doing well, sometimes even in the top ten right now. But, that could all change in just a few hours.

Here are the current standings as of 10:00 AKST:

Ramey Brooks is currently leading the pack of frontrunners, he has managed to stay on top for about 24 hours now, and we will see if he can continue to hold it throughout the race. Ramey got second in 2002 & 2003, and was Rookie of the year in 1994.

Behind Ramey is Aliy Zirkle, She won the Yukon Quest sled dog race on her third try in 2000, and was in the Iditarod top 20 in 2003. She has been a name to watch this year, and has proven herself so far..

Mitch Seavy is about an hour and a half behind Aliy, and will no doubt make a few efforts to be the lead team. Mitch won the Iditarod last year after many years of attempts.

Doug Swingly is a four time champ who left the Rohn checkpoint just 10 minutes after Mitch and is currently in 4th. Last year Doug was forced to scratch after literally freezing his corneas.

Paul Gebhardt is in 5th, Nome’s own Aaron Burmeister in 6th, Fan Favorite DeeDee Jonrowe in 7th, four time winner Martin Buser in 8th,three time winner Jeff King in 9th, and 5 time winner Rick Swenson is in 10th

I’ll continue updating the race and my experiences as things continue. All my standings were from cabelasiditarod.com which isn’t down as often as the main Iditarod site is.

PLUS, here is some bonus audio from the weekend.

1. 3/5/05 – My Live Report from the starting line in Anchorage (click here)

2. 3/6/05 – Report on the Re-Start in Willow (click here)

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Hannah and have decided, and its official: the restart of the Iditarod is much more fun than the actual ceremonial start. Now, don’t get me wrong the other part was cool and everything, but today was a blast. You wouldn’t have guessed that about 3 hours after we left the house this morning around 7. It was almost 10 and we were still in Anchorage, or back in Anchorage. When we left town to drive out to Willow, we had directions but they lacked one minor thing, the direction of the highway that we were supposed to take. We were taking state route 1, and for north it said “downtown” so we took south. Bad idea. about an hour and a half later I think “I haven’t seen any signs saying Wasilla at all, just ones for Seward!” we pull over and get out the handy satellite phone. After a few quick calls we learn that Wasilla is north of anchorage and we had just spent a long time driving nowhere. After we turned around and are almost in town, we were stopped for about 30 minutes because an accident was blocking both lanes. At this point we weren’t sure if we were going to make it out there early enough to interview mushers before they had to leave…but still knew we could at least make the start of the race no problem. We got there around 12, which was an hour before the media was going to be kicked out of the starting shoot, and two hours before the race started.

We got lots of good interviews in, and I was able to get everyone that I was sad to have missed the day before. We also got some great pictures under the starting banner as well. I phoned in an update to KICY, handed off the satellite phone to the “teacher on the trail” who will call in updates to us, and I made one last contact with the guys from OLN. When 2 rolled around, hundreds of people had gathered around the starting fence, and we weren’t sure where we were going to be able to get a good spot. We walked up to the starting line, and saw what I was looking for, a press box. We got to lean on the fence at the very front and get a great view of all the mushers starting the race.

What made this so much cooler was the fact that mushers were in the zone, and I could even tell in the way they anwsered interview questions. The ceremonial start is more of a festival and is very fun for everyone involved, the re-start actually felt like it was the start of a serious competition. As mushers would bring their teams up to the starting line, you could see the stress in their faces as they knew their official time started right now. The dogs came up to the line jumping, howling, and ready to go. It was with much effort that the dog handlers calmed the dogs down, held the sled back, and made sure everything was set to go. In the really well trained teams the lead dogs were focused. Tails down, noises pointed forward and completely still, even with barking dogs behind them. In mushing, all the other dogs take their cues from the leads. It didn’t go so smoothly for everyone though, one musher’s team wouldn’t go and after they did start it wasn’t for very long as the ALL stopped about 30 feet ahead. Rachel Scodoris, the 19 year old legally blind musher decided that starting as number 10 wasn’t going to work and opted to start at the end.

It was an amazing day, and I have to keep reminding myself that after all these weeks and weeks of work, the iditarod work isn’t over, its just starting. I fly back to Nome tomorrow afternoon and have under a week of tracking online to do with hourly updates on the air, and then I start back out on the trail. Just typing that makes me excited!!! I’ll meet them on the coast and follow them up until the winner comes into Nome. I’ll see the population of our small little town double in the next two weeks as the remaining mushers, media, and tourists come into Nome. Its going to continue being a very exciting time! I’m leaving Anchorage but the iditarod continues.

This morning started early. My alarm went off at 6:30, and somehow I fooled myself into thinking that was when I needed to get up. I slept in .for 15 more minutes until my second 6:45 alarm went off. I got out of bed and slowing went through my normal morning routine which I’ve found is easily adjustable from temporary home to temporary home. It sounded like Hannah had gotten up as well, and we were on the way to a good on time morning. We left the Bronczyk’s house around 7:30 and were aiming to be downtown anchorage by 8. The race didn’t start until 10, but we knew the pre-race time would be valuable for getting good interviews. I started off with an interview with Ed Iten, a man who people are speculating can place in the top ten. It was pretty shaky, but we had to keep moving, and keep talking. Now, the hard part was the moving. Our press passes could get us pretty much anywhere we wanted to go, however moving around in the fenced off areas where the mushers were proved to be harder than we thought. See, the problem was the trucked in snow it was so loose on the street that you feet sank to the bottom when you walked, and it took a lot more effort. We got some pretty good interviews, then a 9:00 I called in a report to the station.

We got some more interviews and then I called in live from under the starting banner at 10:00 when everything started. I gave a live 10 minute report and it went really well. Hannah and I continued to scrounge through our list to find mushers that I wanted to get interviews from. At about 11 we decided to go inside and take a break. After lunch we hung out some more down at the start getting some really good pictures from our privileged area (you’ll see them online soon!). We then got in the car (after being let out of the parking garage even though we were 75 cents short) and drove to one of the spots on the trail that basically went through a neighborhood. After some good pictures we packed up and headed further down the trail to near the end. When we got there we had just enough time to see the last musher run by. All in all it was a pretty successful day.

I was able to talk to (from memory) Current (2004) Winner, Mitch Seavey, Dallas Seavey, 2003 winner Robert Sorlie, first musher Jessie Royer, top 10 contender Ed Iten, Blind musher Rachel Scdoris, Ramy Smyth, Itilan musher Dodo Perri, Greg Parvin from Nome,Charlie Boulding, 3 time winner Jeff King, and others. However, there were a number of interviews I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t get, but hopefully will be able to land at the re-start tomorrow. We’re headed out again around 7 tomorrow morning.