Iditablog.com – Iditarod 2012 News & Coverage

John Baker arrived first to the gold coast village of Unalakleet this morning. Along with taking home $2,500 in gold nuggets from Wells Fargo, by arriving first to the Bering Sea Baker also claims a very strong chance at winning this year’s Iditarod. As we mentioned on the podcast last night, many – but not all of the mushers to arrive first into Unalakleet have gone on to win the entire race. Things really got interesting though when you look at the statics for the next checkpoint, Shaktoolik. The online race archives go back to 2001, 10 years ago – and what they show is a solid trend where every musher to reach Shaktoolik first in the last 10 years has gone on to win the Iditarod. Historically, if a team is going to arrive to Unalakleet first but not win the race, it’s because someone else who arrived after they did, left earlier and took the lead. With a decent head start on the trail to Shaktoolik this morning, Baker increased his chances of becoming an Iditarod Champion for the first time.

While history is a good indicator, Baker is far from guaranteed a victory in Nome. Ramey Smyth, who arrived to Unalakleet 2.5 hours after Baker, is well known for being able to bust out some fast runs, especially on the coast where he has claimed the “Fastest time from Safety to Nome” award several times. If anyone can catch Baker, its Ramey. Looking at run times for the last few checkpoints, Smyth was slightly faster than Baker on the 90 mile trip into Unalakleet and had the best out of the top 5 who are in so far. From Eagle Island to Kaltag, which is 70 miles, Smyth had the best time out of the entire top 15, and managed to shave an hour off of Baker’s lead, however Smyth took a longer rest at the checkpoint than Baker did, coming up neutral.

That need to rest more after faster runs is what will make it tough for Ramey to make up those outstanding 2+ hours between him and Baker, but if he can do it; continue to run faster while also cutting his rest time a little bit, there is a good chance we will see an upset on the coast and buck the trend from the last 10+ years.

Let’s also not forget to look at Hans Gatt and Sebastian Schnuelle who arrived into Unalakleet 3, and 3.5 hours behind Baker respectively. It is still possible that one of them could make a daring move or two that would decrease the lead that Baker is currently holding steady. One of the ways to do that would be for Smyth, Gatt, or Schnuelle to leave Unalakleet having taken a shorter rest than Baker, but at 4 hours Baker had already cut his rest down pretty good for someone who most likely did not camp on the trail from Kaltag… it was one of the shortest I could find at the speed he came in at. There is a small possibility that he plans on resting some more on the way to Shaktoolik, there is a new shelter cabin about half way.

The map below (put together by Iditablog’s resident Iditarod veteran, Eric Rogers) shows some of the options that teams have for resting between both Kaltag and Unalakleet, and then Unalakleet and Shaktoolik.  Both “tripod flats” and “Old Woman Cabin” have been popular in the past for teams all along the race to rest at before hitting the coast.

click to enlarge

The Famous "Old Woman Cabin" between Kaltag & Unalakleet

Between Elim and White Mountain, Golovin is a very small village on the Golovin Lagoon, just above Norton Sound. This lovely little town used to be a checkpoint along the Last Great Race some time ago, but has since been “let go,” as mushers regularly blast right through Golovin to White Mountain. What happens to be particularly confusing about this whole ordeal, is that the Iditarod Trail Committee continues to list Golovin as a checkpoint on their maps and checkpoint descriptions. So, at first glance it would seem as though Golovin exists like any other checkpoint. I’ve seen multiple forum threads – both on the Iditarod website and others – in which Iditafans are confused about the importance (or lack thereof) of this tiny town. Once you dig into the language about the checkpoints (confusing, right? – you have to read about it as a checkpoint to discover it’s not!) a bit more, you’ll find that Golovin is a nice place to stop and perhaps prepare for the jaunt across Golovin Lagoon, but has no official pull whatsoever. According to the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC), “Golovin used to be a major checkpoint on the race but it has been largely superseded by White Mountain run right into the middle of town, sign in with the checker, and continue on. There is no checkpoint staff and you couldn’t ship anything here. You’re more than welcome to stop and spend some time here, though, and the locals love to visit with mushers. Just tell the checker if you want to take a break.”

Even the clarifying language is immensely confusing. After commenting that there is no checkpoint staff, they direct you to the checker to take a break in Golovin… talk about confused fans! From now on, just follow the race considering Golovin as merely a nice place to visit – the next official checkpoint after Elim? White Mountain, where mushers are required to take their last 8-hr mandatory layover before mushing hard to the finish!

However, residents of western Alaska know that for what Golovin might have lost on the national stage when it ceased to be an official stop on the Iditarod, it makes up for in local popularity.  Every year, during the second weekend of March and right as the Iditarod begins to turn towards the Bering Sea coast Golovin becomes host to the Oldest Annual Snowmachine Race in Alaska, the Nome-Golovin.  At nearly 200 miles, the Nome-Golovin will see a large field of pretty much all local competitors who will reach speeds up to 100 miles per hour.  The race will take place today, and if anything has the attention of those living in the villages that we will be talking about over the next few days of Iditarod Coverage, this race is it.  It’s one of the biggest events of the entire year for the whole western Alaska community.

Image from KNOM Radio - Photo from today's 2011 Nome-Golovin Snowmachine Race

Arriving to the first checkpoint on the Yukon River of Anvik first in the Iditarod means winning a prize that feels like its a reward out of the CBS show survivor, where the recipient is treated to luxury for a few moments while in a very non-luxurious setting. Hugh Neff was that first musher this morning, getting to the banks of the mighty Yukon River at 5:26am. Two hours after Neff arrived a crowd of mushers had joined him. John Baker was only 15 minutes behind the race leader, Mackey a half hour after that, followed by Ray Redington, Martin Buser, and Sonny Lindner.

The Yukon River is a major part of the Iditarod trail which, in southern-route years goes from Anvik up to Kaltag. The river runs along many small villages that rely on the Yukon as a main thoroughfare for transportation, not only with boats during the summer but also by often using the frozen river as a snowmachine highway during the winter. The first musher to the Yukon is always greeted by a gourmet chef from the Millenium Hotel in Anchorage, where they receive a 7 course meal prepared over a campstove and a nice “after dinner mint” of $3500 cash. The award is one of the most coveted in the race, and while many mushers who arrive here first will take their 8-hour Yukon River layover here, sometimes the meals are a bit more abbreviated because..you know, there’s a race going on at the moment. If eating in a rush doesn’t sound like fun, don’t worry – the musher is also invited back to the Millenium to enjoy the meal again with a loved one (except for the “after dinner mint” – you only get that once).

First off, this was one of the most fun we’ve had recording a podcast – and with some great interview audio from the trail, we talk about some pretty interesting aspects of the race…. but, the recorder got messed up and our backup plan was slightly less than perfect.  Sorry about that.

Besides current race standings we touch on the news that came out regarding Mitch Seavey’s withdraw, the followup to Zoya DeNure’s earlier scratch – and we talk more about the race leaders.

Feel free to email us with topics or questions you’d like to hear us discuss on the next episode… the email address is: podcast@iditablog.com, send us a twitter/facebook message or call the voicemail box at 253-778-MUSH.

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