March 15 am
Resting comfortably at the Elim checkpoint with about a 3 hour lead on his nearest competitor, Norwegian Robert Sorlie looks to be a lock on winning his second Iditarod race in 3 tries. He last race and win was in 2003. he sat out last year's race to give training partner Kjetil Backen a shot at winning by combining the best dogs Norway had to offer. Kjetil ran a very competitive race finishing 3rd. He looks to possibly doing the same next year, as he is planning on giving fellow country man, training partner and nephew Bjornar Andersen a shot at being Norway's top team in this race. Andersen is currently running 10 th in this years race. The battle now seems to be for second place with jeff King and John Baker leaving the Koyuk checkpoint just minutes apart. Martin Buser who has been giving Sorlie chase for the second half of this race is now starting to fade, dropping 2 more dogs leaving him with a team of 7.
March 14 pm
Mitch Seavey is making is move. He has decided to cut rest and challenge for the lead. Robert Sorlie who has been slowing steadily left the Shaktoolik checkpoint with almost 7 hours rest and 9 dogs shortly after noon today. Mitch Seavey checked in there at 12:34 and checked out a scant 22 minutes later. Next up is a about a 7 hour run to Koyuk. Will they rest there, or more likely, push push on another 76 miles to Safety (blowing through Elim) where they will complete a mandatory 8 hour layover? 27 minutes after Seavey left, Martin Buser took off with a "luxurious" 4 1/3 hour rest and 10 dogs. 30 minutes after that, Ramy Brooks who always seems to finish this race short on the rest department took off with 5 1/3 hours rest. It's a significant gamble shorting rest for the hard working dogs at this point of the race. It is a gamble that could cost a half a dozen spots in the finish or more, if the dogs aren't up to it. Sorlie's team may be the most vulnerable. they have been breaking trail for the others for 500 miles, and are showing slower times at each successive stop. Seavey mad this gamble last year, and it paid off with him although it is important to note that he took a 5 hour rest at Koyuk. Buser holds the idiarod record from the race in 2002 when he took 4 hours rest at Koyuk and 3 hours rest at Elim. He looks to be the one who will choose rest over distance which provides better speed. This should all be over with late Tuesday night, or early Wednesday morning, so don't wander far from your PC!
March 14 am
The leaders have reached Shaktoolik - 229 miles from the finish. First was Sorlie followed 1.5 hours later by Ramy Brooks, and then 30 minutes later by Buser. If Brooks and Buser are going to catch Sorlie, they are quickly running out of time. Your humble editor has limited availability today, so expect reports to be brief.
March 13 pm
As of this update, we are still waiting for the arrival of the teams in Unalakleet. Word is that the trail conditions are especially bad. There are 13 mushers who left Kaltag within an 8 hour span, and this leg should take at least 10 hours under ideal conditions. Watch the updates throug the night - I have to go catch a plane!
March 13 am
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Shortly before 9 this morning, famed Norwegian musher Robert Sorlie checked out of the Kaltag checkpoint, and headed over a small mountain range that will lead him into Unalakleet on the Bering sea. While those who are persuing him (with the exception of Martin Buser) have been making up ground, by most calculations, he has at least a 3 hour lead. With 869 miles behind him, and 262 to go, that may seem like an insurmountale lead, however, lets not forget that at this point in the race last year, Sorlies' country man and chief strategist Kjetil Backen running with many of the same dogs on Robert's team had a 3 hour 5 minute lead over Mitch Seavey - a lead that all but vanished once they traversed the 90 miles to Unalakleet. Seavey is still about 5 hours behind Sorlie, along with the hard charging Doug Swingley, Dee Dee Jonrowe, and fellow Norwegian Bjorn Andersen, but it should be noted that this trheesome seem to be traveling the quickest at this point in the race. And lest not forget martin Buser who lost some time on an earlier mishap, but certainly has some capability to charge hard with his team of 11. Next update is scheduled after the lead teams check into Unalakleet.
March 12 pm (later)
Martin Buser lost about 2 hours on race leader Robert Sorlie when one of his dogs got lost. The lead dog name Quebec broke a snap, and in the snow and darkness, Martin did not notice right away. He had to double back and found the dog on the trail after an hour. Roxy had an interview with him at the Eagle Island checkpoint. The interview is not available yet as of this writing, but make sure to check the dogyard for when it is. Lance Mackey has jumped back into the mix, checking out of Eagle Island a scant 17 minutes behind Sorlie, but by all accounts, Robert's dogs are in very good shape. Ramy is back in the mix as well, checking out 30 minutes after Lance.
March 12 pm
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IDITAROD XXXIII MUSHER Charlie Boulding, (Bib #62) has officially scratched from the race at the Anvik Checkpoint with 9 dogs on his team. The 62 year old musher from Tanana Alaska made the difficult decision to scratch at 2:05 (Saturday, March 12, 2005). Boulding was down to nine dogs, and spent nearly 11 hours in Anvik evaluating his team’s ability to competitively finish the race. Boulding has a rich mushing history in Alaska. He won the Yukon Quest in 1991 and 1993. He has finished in the top ten eight times in his thirteen year history as an Iditarod Musher. Boulding finished third in 1998, and placed sixth in 2004. He won the Sterling Achievement Award in 1994. In 2003, Boulding was the recipient of the Most Inspirational Musher Award after starting the race following surgery and treatment for colon cancer.
Robert Sorlie has opened up a siazable lead checking into Eagle Island at 11:30 am. Martin Buser cheked in nearly 3 hours later at 2:35 loosing yueat more time on the fast running Norwegian. Dee Dee Jonrowe moved up in the standings checking in next at 5:56. All 3 of those teams are still resting at that checkpoint after what must have been a long hard run in some warm conditions. Sorlie has a storng team of 15 dogs, Buser is down to 11, and Jonrowe has 13. Still not checked into Eagle River and long over due is Ramy Brooks.
March 12 am
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March 11 pm
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March 11 am
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March 10 pm (later)
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March 10 pm
Five-time Iditarod Rick Swenson of Two Rivers has had to scratch because of some sick puppies. This is the first time that Rick has ever scratched in the Iditarod in his 29 Iditarod races dating back to 1976. Another recent scratch was Zack Steer. We first reported on Zack yesterday when he was up running with the leaders. Zach scratched in Ophir citing "personal" reasons.
Vision impaired beauty Rachel Scdoris is doing well with her visual interpreter and Minnesota native Paul Ellering and appears that she will not be awarded the Red Lantern if she continues the current pace. Interesting to note that Tyrell Seavey, son of 2004 Iditarod Champ Mitch Seavey, has also served as Rachel's visual interpreter in the past on a shorter race. Speaking of Tyrell, is he going to hook up with his Dad for some rest in Iditarod? The abandoned ghost town is certainly swelling in population with nine mushers that appear to be taking their 24hr there. They better wake up soon though or Aliy Zirkle is going to blow through town and leave them in the dust. Aliy has already completed her 24 hr earlier in the trail in Takotna and she looks to be a strong contender on the race to the burly arches in nome. Lead CVHI statistician has been running the numbers again and it still looks like we've only got 4 or 5 hours separating the top 13 teams – unbelievable.
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March 10 am (later)
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Update: Bjornar Andersen (running the Norwegian second team of dogs) checked out of Ophir at 9:00 and he has his 24 hour stop complete as well. My oh my. Iditarod is a ghost mining town but come early morning, things will certainly be hopping there once again. No word yet on whether we can get the field reporters there on time.
March 10 am
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Now lets look at those who have completed their 24s. A whole slew of them checked out of Takotna between 6 and 7 this morning lead by Aliy Zirkle. It took Robert Sorlie 18 and a half hours to go from Takotna to Iditarod. Assuming these teams can cover the distance in 19 hours, that puts them into Iditarod between 1 and 2 this morning. And that is LESS then a 24 hour difference then Sorlie's adjusted arrival time. So it looks like we indeed have a tight race. 13 teams within 4 hours of the lead. But, by our math, Aliy Zirkle is in the lead!
March 9 pm
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It is going to be darn near impossible to pick who has the lead until all the teams complete their required rest. A favorite place for taking this is in Takotna. Could that be what Aliy Zirkle, Bjornar Andersen, Doug Swingley are doing? It is quieter than McGrath – the current resting spot for CV favorite Jessica Hendricks, former Iditarod Champ Rick Swenson, and Face of the Iditarod Charlie Boulding .
But Robert Sorlie, Ramy Brooks, Jeff King, and DeeDee Jonroe have all left Ophir and headed that long 90-mile stretch to Iditarod. Once the trail leaves Ophir, a few miles down the cat trail, mushers can take a right to Ruby and the northern route, or west to the Iditarod for the southern route. We are an odd year so they should be taking a left for Iditarod or they are headed in the wrong direction. About Half-way to Iditarod there is a cabin built by Iditarod veterans Rick Swenson and Sonny Lindner (Sonny has scratched in 2005 for some heart troubles—hopefully he will be o.k.) to offer some refuge for the racers and perhaps a nice nap. Martin "I have no middle finger" Buser, Zack Steer, and Ed Iten are still listed as resting in Ophir. Zack Steer is not a familiar name to many of us, but he may have the right stuff to make it Nome 1st. In 2004 the 30-year old finished an impressive 2nd in the Yukon Quest and in 2000, the last time he ran the Iditarod, he placed a respectable 14th earning himself $14,049.
But what happens when the leaders get to Iditarod—do they press on to Shageluk for their 24hr? If they take it in Iditarod, the mushers will have to sleep outside because there isn't enough room in the one old building for them to sleep. If they press on to Shageluk, they can cuddle up inside the school gymnasium. Current weather conditions in the area call for moderate temps in the 20s and blowing snow at about 20mph.
March 9 am
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March 8 evening
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Buser, as expected had been resting on the trail, and blew right through Nicolai. Sorlie must have heard pawsteps, rounding up the team and skipping town 20 minutes before his arrival, however given the start differential Buser would actually be in the lead, although this advanced math is decidedly more difficult for Buser having accidentally cut off one of his fingers, doodling around in the wait the week before start of race. The race is typically starting to spread out at this point, but CVHI won't narrow the lead pack down to anything less then 13 racers, including the 2 already mentioned, followed by Ramy Brooks, Jeff King, Dee Dee Jonrowe, Rick Swenson, Aliy Zirkle, Zack Steer, John Baker, Mitch Seavey, Doug Swingly, Bjornar Andersen, and Jessica Hendricks. Also, rumoured to be resting outside of Nicolai is old-timer Charlie Boulding. If he blows thru Nicolai in the next few hours, we will add him back into the favorites column.
March 8 afternoon
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Within the same hour, Ramy Brooks and Dee Dee Jonrowe have also arrived in Nicolai and still later Jeff King arrives. So with 400 miles complete lets compare times with last years top 3 in Nome. First to Nome, Mitch Seavey arrived in Nikolai 3 days and 23 hrs after his start. this year, he arrived in 4 days 1 hr. Second finisher last year, jeff King, arrived in Nicolai in 3 days 23 hrs - this year, he has cut that time to 3 days 21 hrs. Top Norwegian Kjetil Backen arrived in 3rd in Nome with the top norwegian dogs and reached in Nicolai first in 3 days 19 hrs. This year, Sorlie running with the top norwegian dogs and using Backen as the strategist, arrives in Nicolai after 3 days 20 hrs. What does this all mean? Any of the first group arriving in Nicolai could win this race - it just depends on what shape the dogs are in. And lets not forget Buser, who is rumoured to be resting just outside of Nicolai, planning to blow thru there straight to McGrath while nobody is looking.
CVHI got this report from Jerry Scdoris on the progress of Rachael:
"Hi, this is Jerry Scdoris calling. It's about 10 o'clock Monday night, Mar. 7. Rachael is at Finger Lake. She's running great ... she's happy, she's still got all 16 of her dogs. Everything looks really good; She's right on her schedule, she's resting a lot, the dogs are happy and that's what counts."
March 8 am (revised)
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Doug Swingley returned from retirement to the iditarod last year, but ran into problems when he froze his corneas. He had just undergone laser surgery to correct his vision. He had to drop out of the race. In the off season, he underwent therapy, surgery and hours of research to find out if and how he could compete without further damage to his eyes. The surgery involved plugging his tear ducts, which drain fluid out of the eye socket, so his eyes will retain more moisture and be better protected. He carries more then 20 pair of sun glasses to deal with different conditions. He is now past the point last year where no eyewhere was suitable for a rough seciton of the course and he did the initial damage, so his confidence is certainly building.
It should be noted that the current update shows Robert Sorlie still has not checked out of Rohn. The Norwegian media thinks this is a mistake - surely he would have charged out of the checkpoint seeing Ramy leave.
It will take 8 to 10 hours for mushers to complete the leg to Nikolai. Historically Martin Buser looks to take the lead on this leg.
If you haven't heard Roxy's audio reports, you have to check it out.
March 7 afternoon
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Man how fast things change! Dee Dee Jonrowe has vaulted into the iditarod lead by becoming the first team to depart the Finger Lake checkpoint. Dee Dee is a former winner of the iditarod, and she ran a very emotional race last year after winning her battle against cancer finishing 15th. Arriving at Finger Lake just prior to Dee Dee and departing a few minutes after is 5 time iditarod winner Rick Swenson. Neither musher stayed long at the checkpoint, so look for them to rest somewhere along the trail soon, especially with the mid-day sun approaching. Also departing FL are Mike Williams, Lance Mackey, Robert Sorley, and the Charlie Boulding. The 64 year old Boulding running perhaps his last iditarod, decided to leave the FL checkpoint early since nobody would provide him an AARP discount, so he popped a couple of geritol and headed down the trail.
March 7 morning
Ramy Brooks has charged into the lead becoming the first musher to depart the Skwentna checkpoint. CVHI is still trying to judge how this will play out since the later start this year makes for a different strategy early in the race. The later start meant that most teams avoided running in the heat of the day on day 1, so where teams take their rest seems to be a guessing game. Ramy took some rest at Yenta, while others chose to push on. Now they rest at Skwentna, and Ramy bolts on by. The racer making the biggest move so far is Doug Swingley who started with bib 46 now in 7th place leaving Skwenta a bit more then an hour after Ramy. Rest assured, Ramy will be looking over his shoulder. Jessica Hendricks who arrive first at Swentna, has chosen to take a lengthy rest there, and has not yet left at the time of this journal entry. Robert Sorlie is another one who has chosen a long rest at this stop. The official iditarod website seems to be buckling under the heavy traffic load. At times, it will not respond. CVHI engineers have been working over time to put in extra capacity, so our site does not suffer the same fate.
March 6 pm
The first teams have left the Yentna checkpoint. Jessie Royer who had the priviledge to start first, was also the first to leave Yentna. However, leaving Yentna one minute later was Jessica Hendicks who started the race 12th. It is worthwhile to point out that Jessica was one of the racers that CVHI advised to watch out for. Jessica finished that leg averaging 13.5 mph. That is smokin! we'll see if she can keep up that pace. Ramy Brooks finished the leg at a 14.2 mph clip, however he elected to rest the dogs there for 3 hours which places him 35th currently.
March 6 am
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Martin Buser has decided to not drop out after a harrowing experience with a power saw late last week which resulted in a loss of part of his middle finger on his right hand. As you may know, he was statistically inclined to suffer this sort of accident having a first name of Martin.
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Rachael Scdoris has had plenty of media attention so far. CNN and several other film crews were following her every move. Rachael's sight impairment had little affect on her ability to boot up her dogs prior to the cerimonial start, and seemed quite interested in getting started so that the solitude of the trail will provide some relief from the constant media hype.
March 1
The field has been set for this years running of the Iditarod dogsled race. There will be 79 teams in all. You can catch the *award winning coverage of the race right here at Crowvillage.has.it as the events unfold. The ceremonial start begins on 4th street in Anchorage on March 4th, and the re-start begins in Willow on March 5th. The restart was moved slightly from Wasilla due to poor snow conditions in the valley, but the conditions on the rest of the route are looking superb. This year, the race follows the "Southern Route".
The field in this years race promises to make it entertaining. For the first time, there will be a legally blind musher competing. 19 year old Rachael Scdoris from Bend Oregon was born with Congenital Achromatopsia, a rare vision disorder. She is color blind and her acuity is 20/200. Rachael competes with a second team that follows behind and provides radio instructions. Her quest to qualify for the Iditarod was grueling. You can find out more at www.rachaelmushing.com.
Robert Sørlie returns to this year's race after a years absense. The Crazy Norwegian surprised everyone by placing 9th in his 2002 rookie outing and then winning the race in 2003. He took last year off to allow his training buddy Kjetil Backen to run a more competitive team. They share some of the same dogs who seem to respond better to commands given in Norwegian. Backen finished last years race in 3rd after a heart-wrenching loss of his lead dog. Backen and Sørlie seem to be attacking the Iditarod race on a rotating basis. Backen will be sitting this years race out. Joining Sørlie this year is fellow Norwegian Bjørnar Andersen. Andersen is a fairly strong musher in his own right, but CVHI predicts that Sørlie will be "training" Andersen this year similar to the way he trained Backen in 2003.
Other past Iditarod winners in this race include last year's winner Mitch Seavey, Martin Buser, Jeff King, Rick Swensen, Doug Swingley, and DeeDee Jonrowe. Mitch Seavey is joined by 2 other entries in his family - sons Dallas and Tyrell. Favorites of the CVHI staff include the crazy Norwegian (Sørlie), and k300 winner Seavey (Mitch), followed closely by the competitive trio of Martin Buser, Jeff King, and Ramy Brooks. Others to watch out for include Swingley (if he is back in the groove) and newcomer Jessica Hendricks who surprised a lot of folks in her rookie outing last year. Jessica won the Tustumena 200 earlier this year on the Kenai Penisula against a talented group of mushers. Oh - and you might want to watch the dogs as well! They are some incredible animals who really have a zest for the great Alaskan outdoors.
Here are some more links to follow the action:
- The mothership
- Cabelas commentary (Cabelas sponsors Jeff King)
- Ramy Brooks site (commentary from the front of the pack)
- Robert Sørlie website (All the good stuff is in Norwegian)
- Anchorage Daily News coverage
- Alaska Public Radio Network
- Shageluk High School
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Reports on Rachael Scdoris progress
