Crow Village Iditarod Blog

Halverson puts out Iditarod lantern

Back in the Alaska gold rush era when dog sled teams played an important role in transporting freight and mail through the remote stretches of Alaska, mushers relied on a series of roadhouses between their village destinations. Word was sent ahead to the roadhouses that a musher and team were on the trail, and a kerosene lamp was lit and hung outside the roadhouse. This served as a signal that a team or teams were somewhere out on the trail. The lamp was not extinguished until the musher safely reached his destination. Beginning in 1986, the Iditarod honored that tradition by hanging a “Red Lantern,” on the burled arch in Nome. Each year the lantern is lit at the beginning of the race and remains lit while there are still teams on the trail. Once the last team crosses the line, that musher then extinguishes the lantern, signifying the official end of the race. Thus, the last musher in a race is called the “Red Lantern” musher.

Dr Ellen Halverson who practices psychiatry in Wasilla guided her team under the famed burled arch in Nome at 2:56 this morning and ceremoniously extinguished the red lantern. Lead dog Cosmo pulled Halverson across the finish line in16 days, 11 hours and 56 minutes. This is the third time that Halverson has attempted the Iditarod, but the first time she has finished. Her finishing time was good enough for 58th place, but she was only 14 minutes behind 57th place finisher Donald Smidt. Had it not been for a broken sled Halverson suffered before reaching the Elim checkpoint, she may well have passed Smidt. She struggled into Elim 2 minutes after Donald Smidt but ended up spending 9 hours at the checkpoint repairing her sled.

Larry wins Golden Harness Award

Larry and Lance lock lips Photo by Bob Hallinen

Larry, the six year old canine leader of Lance Mackey’s Yukon Quest and Iditarod teams won the 2007 Iditarod Golden Harness Award. The Golden Harness Award exemplifies the top canine athlete in the race and is voted on by all the mushers in the race. Mackey calls Larry the brains and steering wheel of his team. Larry first ran the Iditarod in 2003 as a 2 year old. Lance Mackey did not run the Iditarod that year as he was recovering from his throat cancer and a finger amputation, so he lent the dog to his neighbor Paul Gebhardt who was trying to rebuild his team after a short lived retirement. Gebhardt was so impressed with Larry that he offered to purchase the dog from Mackey, however Mackey’s asking price of $2500 seemed to steep to Gebhardt at the time. After Gebhardt finished second in this years race behind the team piloted by Larry, Evy Gebhardt quickly pointed out to her husband Paul that he should have purchased Larry when he had the chance. Since the Iditarod in 2003, Larry has run in 4 more Iditarods, and helped pull Mackey sleds to victory in 3 Yukon Quest 1000 mile races. Larry has also won the Golden Harness Award at the Yukon Quest in 2005 and 2006.

Ramy Brooks disqualified from race

In a media advisory issued on March 17, the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) has provided notification that Ramy Brooks has been disqualified from the 2007 Iditarod Sled Dog Race. An ITC 3 person panel investigated reports from witnesses in Golovin regarding alleged abusive actions by Brooks to his dog team while traveling through that town on the way to the White Mountain checkpoint. Separately, the Brooks team incurred a dog death to a three year old female named Kate between the White Mountain and Safety checkpoints. According to Race Marshal Mark Nordman, he has no reason to believe that there is a correlation between this incident and the death of Kate.

The death of Kate was the subject of 2 earlier ITC media releases affecting the Brooks finish position. Initially Brooks was not given a finish time when he crossed the finish line in Nome. Later he was given a finish time that dropped him 4 places in the standings. In the initial media release, Nordman explained that the finishig time would be decided upon evaluation of the resulting necropsy on Kate. The media release further explains,

"Had this occurred at a checkpoint on the trail Ramy may have been required to have stayed in that checkpoint for up to eight hours."

Understandably, this statement caused some confusion since the rule applies to a dog death whether it happens at a checkpoint or not. Nordman later provided clarification stating that

"... the volunteers at the [Safety] checkpoint told Brooks to go to Nome. He did. Afterward, the vets called Nordman to tell him what had happened."

Thus when Nordman did provide a finishing time for Brooks as noted in the second media release, it reflected the additional time Brooks would have been held in Safety had the evaluation of the dog death occurred there instead of Nome. The initial necropsy failed to find a cause for Kate’s death and further studies including histopathology and cultures have been ordered.

In memory of Snickers

Snickers

The press release from the Iditarod Trail Committee stated that Karen Ramstead had scratched from the Iditarod at Grayling to be with her family to grieve the loss of one of her team members. Snickers, a six year old purebred Siberian Husky was more then a team member - she was a family member. According to Karen, Snickers craved human attention like no other dog in their yard. When Snickers died from a bleeding ulcer, Karen could not bring herself to continue in the race. The attempt to save Snickers was heroic. As Karen wrote at her website:

"The lengths they went to in the middle of the wilds of Alaska were simply amazing and included a dog to dog blood transfusion off of her brother, Crunchie (who was so cooperative and calm it was spooky). I know that everything possible was done to try and save our little lead dog - and we will forever be grateful for that."

Karen offered thanks for the compassion of fellow mushers during the tragedy as well in this statement.

"And warm thanks to fellow mushers Cindy Gallea and Bryan Mills. Cindy graciously offered her skills to help hold off veins during Snickers transfusion - and Bryan Mills, in a move so kind it makes my heart ache, offered to travel to Nome with me should I decide to stay in the Race, so I wouldn’t have to be alone."

Karen and her husband Mark have set up a Snickers Memorial Fund to help research studies on ulcers in working sled dogs. Please visit her website for more information on how to donate. For a touching music video featuring Snickers prominently, see “Pretty Sled Dogs” with music by Kyf Brewer. This is a trailer for the Pretty Sled Dogs DVD created before the race. Snickers is the lead dog on the left.

Mackey wins - Dogfight for 3rd

Lance Mackey capped off a race for the ages as he joined his dad and his brother as Iditarod champion in a time of 9 days 5 hours and 8 minutes. The emotional Mackey was hugged by many including his wife and brother in the finish chute on Front Street in Nome. Next he spoke to his father and the governor of Alaska on phone. Later he would hug the manager of Anchorage Chrysler Dodge as he was handed the keys to a new Dodge pickup truck. Paul Gebhardt crossed the finish line 2 hours and 28 minutes later for second place. Meanwhile, back at the Safety checkpoint 22 miles from the finish, Zack Steer and Martin Buser passed through within 2 minutes of each other in a real dogfight for 3rd place. Steer's team is running at a slightly faster pace having departed the White Mountain checkpoint 20 minutes after Buser. They should reach the finish line about 3:20 this morning.

Lance Mackey's essential equipment

Mackey with the correct equipment photo by Nancy Walter

About 9:30 this morning Lance Mackey pulled out something special from his dog sled. It was a piece of gear he carefully stashed 939 miles and more then 8 days ago at the Yentna checkpoint. This is required equipment issued to each musher which they are only required to use on the first and last legs of this 1100 mile race across a rugged and unpopulated Alaska landscape. However Lance has seemingly leveraged a huge advantage from his issue that has eluded all the other mushers. Lance camped out in a Wasilla parking lot for 10 days back in June to be assured he would receive the right one. It was an enormous amount of pride that Lance had as he pulled that Iditarod racers bib over his parka this morning and he readied his dog team to begin this last leg in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race to the famous burled arch and brand new pickup waiting for them in Nome. The number on that bib is 13. This is the same number Lance’s father Dick and brother Rick wore to victory in their 6th attempt a the Iditarod, and now Lance is poised to add an amazing chapter to his family’s legacy with a victory in his 6th attempt at the Iditarod. If you ask him, he’ll tell you that it wouldn’t have happened without the right bib. Lance departed the White Mountain checkpoint at 9:38 this morning with a 2 hour 38 minute advantage over Paul Gebhardt. The projected completion time for Lance in Nome is 5:30 this afternoon.

Mackey dreams of new truck

Lance's vision

The winner of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race earns $69,000 and a new Dodge pickup. Lance Mackey claims he needs that new truck more then his competitors. Recently during the long hours on the trail, he has caught himself day dreaming about that new truck. He decided he wanted that truck to be painted special so when people see it, they would know what it meant to him. Lance hasn’t won this race yet, but he is in a real good position to do so. Mackey has distanced himself from the others with a focused strategy of running long with short rests since leaving the Yukon River. While he is at White Mountain taking his mandatory 8 hour layover, there is no sign yet of his nearest competitor Paul Gebhardt. With 77 miles to go before reaching the burled arch at the Nome finish line, no team has ever made up a deficit of more then 1.5 hours to over come the leader in the 35 year history of the race.

Besides Gebhardt, Martin Buser, Zack Steer, and Jeff King are all now resigned to the notion that they are battling for positions 2 though 5. A bit further back in the pack, Norwegian born Sigrid Ekran is in leading position for rookie of the year honors. She has the backing of Team Norway, and working a schedule designed by Kjetil Backen who will be Team Norway’s lead musher next year. She is finally starting to heal from the broken nose and black eyes suffered in a crash way back at Rainy Pass. At the tail end of the pack is Eagle River Alaska musher Eric Rogers who will earn the Red Lantern award if he has the last team to cross the finish line. Rogers is currently resting his team at Ophir and will need to pick up the pace a bit to avoid being dropped from the race by officials.

Gebhardt takes up the chase

Gebhardt with straw

Unless Lance Mackey’s team of 12 dogs begins to falter - and they are showing no signs of doing that - there appears to be only one team close enough to catch him. That is the 10 dog team of his former neighbor, Paul Gebhardt. As Gebhardt approached the checkpoint at Koyuk, he caught a glimpse of Mackey’s team on their way out. Mackey had rested his team there for some 3 hours, but Gebhardt figured he could not afford that luxury and still be in contention to win. Gebhardt wasted no time at the checkpoint grabbing a bale of straw, food for the dogs, and fuel for the food. He wont be too far down the trail however before he pulls over for a spell since he loses efficiency carrying the straw on his sled and the afternoon sun will be beating down on his team. Mackey left Koyuk with a 23 minute head start, and will likely gain some more when Gebhardt pulls over. Gebhardt’s team is showing better speed on the trail at this point, but he can’t catch Macey on speed alone. 48 miles down the trail is the Elim checkpoint where they both might rest again. Meanwhile, Martin Buser, Zack Steer, and Jeff King are all resting their teams in Koyuk. Perhaps they’ll all leave within minutes of each other in a battle to secure 3rd place. Ed Iten who has made a good move towards the front is also resting in Koyuk.

Race leaders let Mackey grab sizable lead

Lance Mackey Photo by Trude Liverød Paulsson

Lance Mackey spent only 5 minutes at the Shaktoolik checkpoint and proceeded to maintain a 7.5 mile per hour pace to the Koyuk checkpoint. He will likely give his dogs a well deserved rest there and it looks like he can afford it. His closest competitor, Martin Buser, was already more then an hour behind Mackey when he arrived at Shaktoolik and chose to rest for 2.5 hours there. Paul Gebhardt arrived at Shaktoolik before Buser and stayed later taking more then 3.5 hours of rest. Former race leader Jeff King yielded 4th place to the steady Zack Steer by resting a full 5 hours at Shaktoolik. Maybe they thought Mackey was a fool not to rest at Shaktoolik, but by making a strong run to Koyuk, Mackey has effectively put a gap of more then 3 hours over his closest competitor based on their recent running speeds. So while he is resting his team, preparing for the 94 mile jaunt to White Mountain where racers take their mandatory hour layover, the chase pack must be asking themselves why they let this guy make the big break. Obviously they felt their dogs needed the rest.

Can these other teams close that gap if Mackey stays on his 7-8 mile per hour pace? Probably not. Can Mackey maintain that pace with dogs that have been run more then 1,800 miles in the last 3 weeks including the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile race? Lance seems to think so. But at least one of the mushers behind him has revealed some hints about his plan for the later stages of the race. In Unalakleet, Jeff King talked about some anticipated benefit from the high altitude training he utilized with his team this year. He said “Some of the research I’ve done with altitude training, you don’t go into a certain aerobic exercise thinking food is not the limiting factor. It is the limiting factor, not rest. They need food more than rest.” So is Jeff planning to make the 150-mile run from Shaktoolik to White Mountain stopping only fr feedings? Nothing like that has ever been attempted, so it certainly would be a big surprise. Even if he did try this radical move, it isn’t enough to catch Mackey before White Mountain. After White Mountain, there are 77 miles of trail to Nome that are typically taken without a break.

Welcome back to the Crow Village Iditarod Blog. We had some unresolved hosting issues yesterday, however APRN has graciously stepped in to help us out. I'm glad you could find us here.

With a bib number he is convince brings him good luck, Lance Mackey wearing the same bib number 13 that his father and brother wore to win the race took over the lead of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race by checking into the Shaktoolick checkpoint first at 2:36 this morning. He spent a mere 5 minutes at the checkpoint and then moved on down the trail in a move perhaps calculated to rattle his competitors in this very close race. Kasilof Alaska musher Paul Gebhardt made a strong move to the front of the pack checking into Skaktoolick at 2:48 before the snow dust had settled from Mackey's departure 7 minutes earlier. Perhaps he convinced his team that they would get an extra portion of Kenai Peninsula wild salmo fish heads if they arrived at Shaktoolick quickly. Gebhardt apparently has decided to settle into the checkpoint for a rest despite Mackey's departure. Gebhardt was the first of the leading group of 4 to check out of Unalakleet last night at 9 pm followed 19 minutes later by Lance Mackey who would pass him somewhere along the way. Gebhardt and Mackey have been trailing King and Martin Buser since the halfway point at Iditarod, so this is a significant development. In a replay of his charge towards the front of the pack last year, Gebhardt has made up 6 hours on the leaders since the Iditarod checkpoint 360 miles ago. Buser and King who have been departing checkpoints in close proximity to each other since Iditarod left Unalakleet 24 and 26 minutes after Mackey. In an illustration of how close these front 4 are, King checked into Unalakleet in first place, and he checks out in 4th place. As such though, he does have the most rest in the bank, which is critical for maintaining speed at this late juncture in he race. If he is maintaining a speed advantage, it wasn't enough to close the 45 minute gap Gebhardt put on him by departing Unalakleet with only 4 and 1/2 hours rest. Gebhardt's speed of 7.24 miles an hour over the 40 mile leg was not outstanding, last year he was able to cover this leg with a speed of 7.8 miles an hour driving to a 3rd place finish. King completed this leg with a 7.45 miles an hour speed last year in his winning run. I'm sure it tested King's patience when Gebhardt left early cutting rest short, but you can be sure that King has a plan on how to finish this thing out, and he is sticking to it. Meanwhile, Zack Steer is refusing to go away as he waits in the wings hoping the 4 front runners burn themselves out trying to out race each other. Zack has maintained a steady pace throughout the entire race by breaking his running segments into consistent 6 hour segments regardless of where the checkpoints fall into that schedule. Zack is 4 and 1/2 hours from the lead. He is running a full mile anhour faster then the leaders, but there is not enough race left for him to catch them unless they slow considerably. That is still possible though as each of the 4 leaders are starting to show signs of wear and tear.

If your looking for some great insight her on who is going to win this race, I don't have it. There are currently 4 teams that seem to have an equal chance of winning this thing, and one more waiting in the shadows. Frankly, I'm surprised the refresh mechanism for the Iditarod standings page still works after I have used it so many times. I am still convinced that at some point, one of these teams will provide some separation that will carry them through to a first place finish. I just don't know when that will take place or who it will be!

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