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Iditarod leaders bunch up

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King and Buser depart for coast

Old Woman Cabin Photo by Will Peterson

Jeff King departed Kaltag at 4:46 this morning to stake his claim on the Iditarod lead after a 6 hours 23 minute rest. Martin Buser departed Kaltag 13 minutes later after cutting his rest to 5 hours and 44 minutes. These two teams have been running neck and neck at the front of the pack for the past 200 miles, but King is showing signs that he is ready to start increasing his lead. Over the 70 mile stretch from eagle Island to Kaltag, King finished in 8 hours and 28 minutes. Buser was considerably slower finishing in 9 hours and 15 minutes. This points to some issues starting to appear with Martin's team. He as to decide whether to try and keep pace with King, or whether he wants to hold off those chasing him.Lance Mackey and Paul Gebhardt are in a dog fight for 3rd place now about 3 hours off the lead. Mackey still has quite a few dogs on his team that won the 1000 mile Yukon Quest less then 2 weeks ago. A few of those dogs showed some hesitancy when rousted from their rest in Eagle Island. I might show some hesitancy myslef if I just ran 1600 miles! The run from Kaltag into Unalakleet is 90 miles. Most will break this run in 2 stopping half way at Old Woman cabin.

Cat and mouse games begin

Jeff King at Anvik Photo by Roxy Wright

Martin Buser cut short his rest at the Iditarod checkpoint to jump out in the lead over his nemesis Jeff King. At the Eagle Island checkpoint, it looks like Jeff returned the favor. King checked out there at 12:55 this afternoon after a 5 hour rest to grab the lead in this years Iditarod. Buser checked out 5 minutes later with a 6 and 1/2 hour rest. Perhaps Buser intended to stay longer, but once he saw King take off, decided he better not let him get away. Maybe King tried unsuccessfully to sneak out without Buser knowing. We might never know. The run times of each have been close to equal over the past few stretches, so one way to gain advantage is by jockeying with the rest periods. It's a risky game to play however. Cut too much rest, and you'll lose speed on the trail. For the most part, the lead teams have been doing their rest at checkpoints of late. That helps us observers gain better insight on where they stand. Chances are good they will rest again at Kaltag 70 miles down the trail. They should get there by 9:30 tonight. How long they rest there is anybody's guess, but chances are good that once one team leaves, the second will be close to follow. We've seen this cat and mouse games with these 2 before. The pass from Kaltag to Unalakleet on the coast can be a brutal 90 miles more then likely calling for a stop along the way. The lead could change several times along that stretch and we would never know. That's what happened last year between King and Doug Swingley as captured by this fantastic audio recorded by Roxy Wright. The second wave of front runners are still resting at Eagle Island. Paul Gebhardt and Lance Mackey arrived there in a dead heat 3 and 1/2 hours before King and Buser departed. They should be hitting the trail soon. Zack Steer still running on his own run and rest schedule arrived 3 hours after Paul and Lance. Zack has yet to take his 8 hour layover and will drop a few places once he does. Ed Iten is making his push to the front passing Ramy Brooks on the way in to Eagle Island and now finds himself in 5th position. A bit further back at Grayling in 17th place is Rookie of the Year contender Sigrid Ekran. More on her later.

Gebhardt pushing race leaders

Paul Gebhardt Photo by Jeff Schultz

After the mushing season finished in 2001, Paul Gebhardt had his fill of dog sled racing. He sold his kennel and began concentrating on his carpentry trade. Paul had finished as high as second in the Iditarod, but was feeling burnt out. His retirement didn't last long. By the summer of 2002 he had a kennel again and started building a dog team from scratch. He cracked the top Iditarod top 20 again in 2004, and the top 10 in 2005. Then last year he finished 3rd by deploying a unique strategy to take his 24 layover very late. So while Lance Mackey and Jeff king race up the Yukon River trying to reel in Martin Buser, they continue to glance over their shoulder to verfy Paul Gebhardt with his unique bamboo framed sled is not closing in. For his part, Paul is currently about an hour behind Mackey and about 3 hours from the lead. With a bit more then 400 miles left in the race, he is still very much in contention. We recommend you checkout Evy Gebhardt's thoughts about the race and Paul's chances as she now flies up to Nome to greet her husband in what promises to be a strong finish. Also, you owe it to yourself to checkout the written and audio reports at Alaska Public Radio Network like we do on a regular basis.

King chasing familiar team

Ramy Brooks

6 weeks ago, Jeff King found himself trying to close the gap on Martin Buser in the Kuskokwim 300. Martin's strategy was to charge to the front early, and try to hold off all challengers at the end. After the halfway point Jeff started catching up and was able to decrease the gap at each successive checkpoint, but the race was over before he caught him finishing second a mere 8 minutes off the lead. As the Iditarod race has reached the Yukon river, Jeff may be getting a feeling of deja vu. Martin has tried to stay out in front the entire race, but Jeff has been closing in since the halfway point. Martin arrived first to the Anvik checkpoint to claim the "First Musher to the Yukon Award". Jeff arrived 75 minutes later. The gap at the previous checkpoint in Shageluk was 80 minutes. This time however, Jeff has 489 miles of racing left to close that gap. Both teams seem to have plenty left in the tank so it promises to be close. A bit further back, but certainly not out of contention are Lance Mackey and Paul Gebhard who arrived 1 hour 22 minutes and 1 hour 28 minutes after Jeff. Making his move to join the front pack is Ramy Brook who is another 2 hours behind Paul. Ramy has shown to be very proficient at closing gaps at the end of the Iditarod, so we aren't counting him out yet. According to Roxy Wright, all top five will take thier mandatory Yukon River 8 hour layover in Anvik.

One of the previous leaders, Zack Steer is starting to show signs that he is losing momentum. Zack has dropped down to 7th, but has not lost touch with the leaders yet.. Zack ran his first Iditarod in 1998 In that race, Zack fastened an engagement ring to the collar of his lead dog Henry in Anchorage. Henry carried an engagement ring all the way to Nome, and at the finish line, Zack pulled the ring out and proposed to his girlfriend Anjanette. Thankfuly after that production, her answer was yes. Sadly, Henry passed away last summer, however this year, Zack is carrying the ashes of that special dog with him to Nome in order to put Henry in his final resting spot.

Iditarod leaders head toward Shageluk

Zack Steer has retaken the Iditarod Sled Dog Race lead by checking into the Iditarod checkpoint 9:28 pm last night and departing 10 minutes later skipping rest there. It appears he did take a good rest between Ophir and Iditarod though, so he is the team to catch right now. Martin Buser and Jeff King departed Iditarod more then an hour later with plenty of rest in the bank. 2 hours later Mackey, Anderson and Gebhardt departed within 15 minutes of each other. They may try to catch Steer by going the 90 miles to Shageluk then Anvik in one go, and taking their mandatory 8 hour layover there. 2 hours later Mackey, Anderson and Gebhardt departed. Ramy Brooks may well decide to join this pack having arrived at Iditarod 5 hours before Mackey and Gebhardt departed. Ramy already has his 24 hour layover complete, and it should be noted that while Ramy has never won the Iditarod, he has the second fastest time ever for completion of the race finishing second to Martin Buser when he set the race record in 2002. We'll be watching the Innoko River High web site for updates as these teams approach Shageluk.

Lead could tighten leaving Iditarod checkpoint

Iditarod team in action

For the record, 2 years from now, we will make the journey from Crow Village to the ghost town of Iditarod to view the race from that vantage point. I'm not quite sure yet how to effectively blog from there but we have 2 years to figure it out. Perhaps we'll find a ghost blogger if you will excuse the gratuitous pun. The race that is the namesake of this town passes though here only every other year when it follows the southern route. This is a pivotal landmark on the southern route half way through the race. 90 miles of rugged tundra from the previous checkpoint, it looks like 6 teams have chosen to take their 4 hour layovers here. I'm still not 100% convinced that Paul Gebhardt chose to take his 24 here, but the race update still shows him there and we have no way to disprove that, so we'll go with that for now. It appears that the remainder of the field has or will choose to take their 24 prior to here. Because of that, once teams start departing this outpost, we will know exactly where they stand in the race. By tomorrow morning, we will have a good idea where the leaders stand, so all we can do is speculate where they stand now. Let's take a closer look at the top 5 who look to leave Iditarod in a very close pack.

1. Zack Steer: Zack took his 24 at Ophir. He departed there with his 15 dog team at 5:21 this morning. With a rested team, he could make it to Iditarod in 13 to 15 hours, but he'll need some rest once he gets there. With good luck, we'll guess his departure from Iditarod to be about 2 in the morning to get the jump on those still taking their 24s there.
2. Lance Mackey: By our calculations Lance gets off his 24 in Iditarod at 2:31 in the morning. He still has 15 dogs in harness.
3. Jeff King: Jeff checked out of Ophir with every one of his dogs still in harness completing his 24 at 5:54. He has started making his move towards the front, and should be to Iditarod to catch some rest well before Lance leaves. He won't want Lance to get too far down the trail without him, so look for him to follow Lance out of the ghost town.
4. Paul Gebhardt: By our calculations, Paul gets off his 24 in Iditarod at 2:43. He has 14 dogs still in harness.
5. Martin Buser: By most accounts, Martin's 15 dog team had the most speed coming into the 24s, and we certainly saw some impressive video of his team in action on the Iditarod Insider. He finished his 24 in Ophir at 6:47, and might well make it to Iditarod by 7:00 this evening. He won't want to lose touch with the leaders, but he will likely choose to catch them with speed rather then skipping rest. Look for him to depart Iditarod shortly after Paul.

The race updates don't show it yet, but Aliy Zirkle should have completed her 24 in Takotna at 4:48 this morning and enroute to Ophir. The small cabin and temporary wall tent that serves as the checkpoint in Ophir is a crouded place right now. 6 teams have opted to take their 24s there and are still waiting for them to end. Those 6 include Zack Steer, Jeff King, Martin Buser, Jim Lanier, Robert Sorlie, and Hans Gatt. Also at the checkpoint is John Baker who has already taken his 24. Steer, King and Buser should have already left Ophir coming off their 24s at 5:19, 5:49, and 6:41 respectively. You'll have to show some patience and understanding with the Iditarod update mechanism as they radio their reports in from this very remote outpost. Aliy will arrive within the next half hour barring any problems. She will become part of a lead pack who have their 24 hr layovers in tow.

Mushers begin taking 24s

As some mushers are electing to take their required 24 hour layover and others are choosing to push on and take the 24 later, it becomes difficult to determine who the leaders are. Let's take a look at some of the contenders.

Zack Steer: Zack as surprised a lot of folks with his run this year hanging with the leaders most of the way. This is the 4th Iditarod for the owner of the Sheep Mountain Lodge. He arrived at the Ophir checkpoint first after running non-stop from Nikolai. It looks like he chose to take his 24 there. With his number 7 bib, he will have to tack on 2 and 1/2 hours to his 24, so there will be others in Ophir with shorter 24s. He should be back in the hunt with a well rested team.

Jeff King: Jeff looks to be taking his 24 at Ophir as well. Jeff also ran non-stop into Ophir from Nikolai helping him move up towards the front of the pack. With bib 31, Jeff's layover is 45 minutes shorter then Zack's, but he'll still leave Ophir after Zack.

Martin Buser: By most accounts, Martin's team has the most speed on the trail right now. He pulled into Ophir 30 minutes after King, and appears to be taking his 24 there. Maybe him and Jeff will get a chance to reminisce about the Kuskokwim 300 race? The 19 bib of Buser's has a 20 minute disadvantage to King's bib.

Lance Mackey: Lance has stayed towards the front the whole way and shows no sign of slowing. He was the first to go beyond Ophir and check into Iditarod. He may 24 there, or he may go on after a rest. Look for him to keep pushing the pace.

Paul Gebhardt: Paul checked into Iditarod second. Last year, Paul didn't 24 till very late in the race, and it proved to be a very useful strategy for him. He is not tipping his hand whether that is the strategy again this year, but we think it is. He will likely lead the race for a few checkpoints while everybody else is taking their breaks, and then hope to catch up again on the Norton Sound.

Mitch Seavey and Ed Iten: These two have raced side by side the entire race. We don't know what happens when they get to the burled arch. Maybe they go under the arch together, maybe they flip to see who goes first, or maybe the competitive juices kick in and they start kicking and scratching each other 1 mile from the finish. As of this writing, they have checked out of Ophir (together of course).

John Baker: John is the first musher to complete his 24 way back in McGrath. He was the 6th musher to check into McGrath, so he should pass quite a few mushers who are taking their 24s. Weather will be the biggest factor in how far he is able to penetrate the leader board. And if the weather turns nasty on the Norton Sound, he is well positioned to take advantage of that having trained his team in Kotzebue.

Robert Sørlie fades from contention

Robert Sørlie photo by Magali Philip

Most experts picked Robert Sørlie as one of the pre-race favorites to win this year's Iditarod. After all, he has won it the last 2 times he has entered, and Team Norway has always fielded great teams in their 5 years of racing the Iditarod. But something is not right with Robert's team this year as he approaches the half way point of the race in 21st place. Robert's planning for the race is meticulous. He opted out of last years race by supporting his nephew Bjønar Andersen in his bid, yet Robert flew up and down the trail during the race preparing his plan for this year. He was so confident in the integrity of that plan that he only carries a laminated copy of it. In other words, it is not subject to revision. It appears now that he has fallen significantly behind on that plan. When the 13 dog team of Robert's pulled into the McGrath checkpoint, they were a full 3 hours behind the pace Robert set to that point the last time he won this race in 2005. The pace of the leaders will slow as the race moves on, but at this point, Robert is arguably out of contention for winning the race. He may still get a top 10 finish, but that might only be possible if many teams in front of him falter, or some significant weather steps in to alter the outcome.

Zack Steers into Iditarod Lead

Zack Steer photo by Getty Images

Zack Steer from Sheep Mountain Alaska became the first musher to check in in to the historic mining ghost town of Ophir 420 miles into the 1100 mile Iditarod Sled Dog race. Steer who has finished as high as 14th in the 2000 race was met at the checkpoint by the Forsgreen family who have manned this checkpoint for years. Chances are good, they had a steaming bowl of stew ready for him. Not far behind him on the trail are at least a dozen teams who are trying their best to keep in touch with him. Included in that group are a couple of four-time iditarod winners Martin Buser and Jeff King who are currently running second and third. In fourth is Lance Mackey still with a complete team of 16 dogs, 13 of which helped him win the Yukon Quest 1000 mile dog sled race less then 2 weeks ago.

2005 trailbreakers at Don's Cabin photo by Will Peterson

From here, we will lose track of the leaders for awhile. The run from Ophir to the ghost town of Iditarod is 90 miles. That is too long to do in one go, so there will be at least one rest for each team along the way. One popular testing spot is at Don's Cabin about 40 miles out of Ophir. As the wind continues to blow, mushers will find shelter there plus a workable stove. As the Alaska sun rises today, the leaders will be departing Ophir, however even with the fast times we have been seeing this year, it will take a minimum of 12 hours from departure at Ophir till they arrive at Iditarod this evening. Given the remoteness of this territory, there will be precious little data available on what is happening during that period. Also, we'll start to see some of the teams stopping to take their 24 hour layovers now adding even more to the confusion.

Mackey takes Iditarod lead

Lance Mackey

In 1978, Dick Mackey was running his 6th Iditarod race. He drew bib number 13. Dick went on to win that race. 5 years later, Dick's son Rick was running his 6th Iditarod race. Oddly enough, he drew bib number 13 as well. Rick would win that race. Now 24 years later, Dick's other son Lance is running his 6th Iditarod. Lance would make it his top priority to draw bib 13 for the race in the hopes that there might be something more then coincidence for that combination of numbers delivering a victory. At 8 am this morning, Lance Mackey, still proudly in possession of bib number 13 was the first musher to pull into the Nikolai checkpoint on the south fork of the Kuskokwim River 282 miles into the race. With 1/4 of the race and arguably the worst trail conditions behind him, Lance sits in a very enviable position. His team still with all 16 dogs looked very very impressive pulling in to the checkpoint on the Iditarod Insider video. Lance will hope to catch a nap here before taking off for the McGrath checkpoint, however, other mushers are certain to arrive in Nikolai before he departs. This is an ideal checkpoint to gauge how the leaders are doing since most will choose to take their rest here after the previous rough section of trail. Of course there is always an exception! Martin Buser typically will rest at a fish camp right before Nikolai, and once the sun goes down a bit, he will hit the trail again and blow right through Nikolai not stopping until McGrath. So if you see lots of mushers checking into Nikolai before Buser, don't be too hasty in counting him out.

UPDATE at 07:41: Jacques Philips has now officially scratched at Rainy Pass. We will await the update from Magali before posting more details.

DeeDee scratches from Iditarod

DeeDee tends her dogs at Skwentna checkpoint

DeeDee Jonrowe became the second significant musher to scratch from the Iditarod falling victim to the same dangerous ice waterfall that claimed Doug Swingley. It appears she has broken a finger. DeeDee has run the iditarod 25 times finishing second twice and last year finsihed a strong race in 4th position. The 53 year old has missed the Iditarod twice while she was recovering from breast cancer and is an inspiration to many. French musher Jacques Philips currently sitting at the Rainy Pass checkpoint is contemplating whether he will scratch as well. This is a familiar situation for Jacques. He crashed coming into this checkpoint in 2005 on his return from a 14 year retirement from Iditarod racing. That resulted in a dislocated hand which he was able to stablize with duct tape, but he found that he could not adequately take care of the dogs with only one usable hand and had to scratch from that race.

Jason Barron and Cim Smyth were the first teams to check out of Rohn and head out for the long streach across the Farewell Burn. The burn is an area with little vegatation after a forrest fire ripped though there many years ago, and because of that the wind has removed much of the snowcover. This stretch could claim some more teams if they are not careful. The teams for Barron and Smyth are both due to rest soon, so we expect a trio of teams nipping at their heals with rest in the bank to pass them up on the way into the next chekpoint at Nikolai. Those teams are Lance Mackey, Zack Steer, and Martin Buser. The pace being set by them is very fast and may slow down further in the race. Don't expect Buser to slow down at all unless his dogs begin to give out as his strategy is to stay out in front and push the pace the entire way. Further back in the pack but still very much in contention are Robert Sorlie and Jeff King who seem to be sticking closer to more traditional but fast schedules. Also in the mix are such mushers as John Baker, Aliy Zirkle, and Mitch Seavey. It appears now that Ramy Brooks has fallen significantly off the pace. Hopefully we can get an update on that situation from Roxy. Note: Roxy reports that ramy has in fact left Rohn - the initial iditarod.com race reports just seemed to miss that fact as sometimes happens. Ramy was the 7th musher to leave Rohn.

Swingley scratches from Iditarod

One of the pre-race favorites to win this year's Iditarod has scratched at the Rainy Pass checkpoint. 4 time iditarod winner and last year's runner up Doug Swingley pulled out of the race apparently with some broken ribs and a broken thumb suffered while negotiating an ice waterfall near the Happy River. Changing booties with a broken thumb would be next to impossible, and the prospoect of riding down the dalzell Gorge and through the Farewell Burn with little snow cover and a pair of broken ribs did not appeal to him. Swingley has finished the race with broken ribs before, but the snow conditions were a lot different then. 2007 Yukon Quest winner Lance Mackey was the first musher to check in to Rohn after negotiating the Dalzell Gorge.

Buser leads Iditarod

Martin Buser who started the 2007 Iditarod 19th has charged into the early race lead as he departed the Finger Lake checkpoint to begin the ascent of the Alaska Range. The 30 miles between Finger Lake and Rainy Pass is a difficult trail including the drop down to the Happy River via the Happy River Steps, but the conditions are reported good this year. Martin typically pulls up short of Rainy Pass to give his dogs some rest so he can make a run to the Rohn checkpoint in one go. The Rohn checkpoint has a special meaning for Martin. It is also the namesake of his 17 year old son Rohn who recently won the Junior Iditarod, and has has been instrumental in helping Martin develop a very strong team for this years Iditarod. Other pre-race favroites that have checked through Finger Lake and look to pass Buser if he does opt to rest are Doug Swingley, Mitch Seavey, Robert Sorlie, Jeff King and Lance Mackey. Watch for these teams to continue and play "leap dog" with each other in the early going as each have different run/rest schedules.

Iditarod ready to roll

Jeff King at 2006 start Photo by Jeff Schultz

83 mushers and 996 well trained dogs will line up on 4th street in Anchorage at 10 am this Saturday for the ceremonial start of the 2007 Iditarod. The re-start comes Sunday at 2 pm in Willow. The re-start was moved once again from Wasilla to Willow due to snow conditions. This change should come as no surprise to followers though since the restart has not been at Wasilla since 2002. Current weather forecast calls for about 12 degrees (F) at start time under mostly cloudy skies, so the dogs should be raring to go, and mushers will be working hard to keep them from going out too fast.

There are 4 very strong favorites in this years race:

1. Martin Buser (Big Lake, Alaska): It's been a few years since 4 time Iditarod winner Martin Buser has run with the leaders of the Iditarod, but he definitely has things going his way this year. Martin's Happy Trails Kennel's fielded two of the strongest teams in the rugged Kuskokwim 300 earlier this year beating an all-star field by taking first followed by Martin's 17 year old son Rohn who took 4th. Rohn also entered teams in the Goose Bay 120 taking second, and the Junior Iditarod taking 1st. There is no doubt that Martin will have some great dogs to pick from for his Iditarod team, and he certainly knows the Iditarod trail well having completed 23 consecutive races, and setting the current course record in 2002.
2. Robert Sorlie (Hurdal, Norway): The last 2 times Robert has entered the Iditarod he has won. There is no reason to believe he can't accomplish that feat again this year. Coming off a strong finish in a 373 mile race in Norway, he proclaimed this is oe of best teams he has ever had. Since he should know what makes for a good team, we have no reason to doubt his analysis. Robert is part of team Norway, and has been on an every other year rotation running the Iditarod. Last year, it was his nephew Bjornar Anderson's turn for Team Norway, however Robert provided support by traveling up the trail, by airplane, watching, studying and analyzing as the event unfolded from checkpoint to checkpoint.
3. Jeff King (Denali, Alaska): Jeff is the reigning Iditarod champion, and is showing no signs of backing down having won the race 4 times. Jeff is the "king" of innovators, having been the first to develop the sit-down sled and many other innovations. His latest innovation this year was the installation of a doggie Jacuzzi at the Denali Kennel. Jeff finished second to Buser in the Kuskokwim 300 this year, but could well have won if it weren't for some trickery by Martin at one of the checkpoints (see this blog for more info). Every time Jeff finished the Kusko strong, he does well at the Iditarod. Strategy was his key to victory last year in a tight finish against Doug Swingley, and will either make or break him again this year.
4. Doug Swingley (Lincoln Montana): Doug is another 4 time winner of the Iditarod. He absolutely dominated the race from 1999 to 2001 before announcing a short lived retirement. After a few years getting back into the swing ofthings, he had a very strong race last year with a young team who only faltered towards the end when they had to negotiate bare ice. We suspect that issue has been adequately dealt with, and all indications point to Doug having a very strong team this year.

Martin Buser's 20 minute lead over Jeff King in the Kuskokwim 300 at Tuluksak can be traced back to some gamesmanship maneuvers in Aniak. Martin checked into Aniak on the return leg at 6:27 and promptly spread some straw for his dogs so he could feed them and provide a bit of rest. 23 minutes later Jeff King showed up at Aniak and prepared to do the same parking his team right next to Martin's. The checkpoint vet asked Martin how long he intended to stay, and within earshot of Jeff King stated his intention was to stay for 2 hours. Jeff finished feeding his dogs and headed inside to get a bite to eat, but Martin elected to stay with his dogs. As soon as Jeff was out of sight, Martin hitched up his team and snuck out of town. Once word got back to Jeff of Martin's departure, he was halfway through his sandwich. Not wanting Martin to gain a big lead, Jeff left his sandwich behnd, and got his team ready to go, however the maneuvers gave Martin a 20 minute advantage leaving Aniak. Chances are good that we may see some similar moves by these 2 in 6 weeks during the Iditarod.

Buser has 20 minute lead

Martin Buser

As the Kuskokwim 300 leaders settle in for their mandatory 4 hour layover at Tuluksak, Martin Buser holds a slim 20 minute lead over 8 time K300 winner Jeff King. While Jeff may have won the most K300 races, Martin still holds the course record set in 1994 (on a shortened course) at 37 hours and 4 minutes. This years race takes a longer course, so that record is not in jeopardy, but if Martin keeps his current pace, he should cover the 52 miles to Bethel in 6 hours arriving around 3 this afternoon making his race time about 44 hours. Don't be surprised however if Jeff King who has been slowly gaining passes him up along the way. Wasilla High School sophomore Rohn Buer who just happens to be the son of Martin has slipped a bit in the standings as Jon Little passed him up pulling into Tuluksak. He still has run a spectacular race using Martin's puppy team given he is currently running in 4th place less then 3 hours from the lead. Another note about the trail length - the route was lengthened about 22 miles this year by adding the Pike Lake loop and taking out the Whitefish Lake loop. We have a suggestion for the K300 trail committee next year to substitute a checkpoint at Crow Village for the second Aniak checkpoint thereby trimming the route by 5 miles making it closer to the traditional distance

Buser-King-Buser

Kotzebue musher Tollef Monson drove the first team in Aniak on the return trip to Bethel in the Kuskokwim 300, however he will now take his mandatory 6 hour layover. The remaining mushers streaming into Aniak already have their layovers taken care of. Next into Aniak, and now the leader of the race is 3 time iditarod champion Martin Buser. Following close behind was 4 time Iditarod champion and 8 time Kuskokwim 300 winner Jeff King. The surprise however was the next team in driven by the 16 year old son of the leader, Rohn Buser running Martin's puppy team. The puppy teams are doing good this year given the warmer weather, but look for them to fade as the race nears the finish. The teams aren't stopping for rest at this point in the race, but will likely need to take some rest before the finish or they will fade. Other mushers within an hour of the lead and certainly capable of closing ininclude Lance Mackey. Ed Iten, Hugh Neff, Paul Gebhardt, and Aliy Zirkle.

Busers are first to Kalskag

Martin Buser arriver first at the Kalskag checkpoint for the Kuskokwim 300 followed 1 minute later by his 16 year old son Rohn. Both mushers settled in to take their mandatory 6 hour layover. Martin started the race in the last wave some 28 minutes after Rohn who started in the first wave, so he has passed every other team on his way to the front of the pack. Ramy Brooks who elected not to take his layover at Kalskag was the first musher to leave Kalskag some 20 minutes later.

K300 Ready to Roll

Rohn Buser

At 6:30 pm ADT today the 26th running of the Kuskokwim 300 will begin as the dog teams of young Rohn Buser and Ramy Brooks simultaneously start heading east on the Kuskokwim river in Bethel, Alaska. 16 year old Rohn is the son of legendary dogsled racer and former Iditarod champion Martin Buser who is also in the race. Rohn is named after an Iditarod checkpoint, and will be racing Martin's puppy team. The driver who will be lining up next to him is one of the favorites to win - Ramy Brooks. Ramy has finished second in the Iditarod twice. The weather today is in the single digits, but that is downright tropical compared to last year when the start of the race had to be postponed for 3 days because of frigid temps. While there has been plenty of snow this winter, there hasn't been much lately so expect the trail to be medium firm and medium fast. We expect the first teams to reach Crow Village on the out leg about 6 tomorrow morning, so stay tuned for updates.

21 mushers signed up for K300

Jeff King at 2006 K300 finishline Photo by K300.org

A strong lineup has registered for the 27th annual Kuskokwim 300 (K300) sled dog race slated to start at 6:30 pm on Friday January 19 in Bethel, Alaska. The prohibitive favorite is returning champ and 8 time k300 and 4 time Iditarod winner Jeff King. We say it is slated to start on the 19th, however last year's start was delayed by 3 days because of frigid temperatures. While there has been a recent cold snap in the Kuskokwim valley with temperatures approaching minus 50, the weather is warming up again, so we are very hopeful this years race will start on time. The route has been modified this year adding an out and back loop to the Pike Lake cabin and elliminating the Whitefish Lake loop which makes the route distance about 320 miles. The route passes through Crow Village approximately 133 miles into the race and again at 187 miles on th return leg. Other top tier mushers registered include Aliy Zirkle, Paul Gebhard, Jeff King, Martin Buser, John Baker Jon Little, Ed Iten, and Ramy Brooks. Every one of these mushers has had a top 10 finish in the Iditarod. Martin Buser and Ed Iten have each won the K300 before, however nobody even comes close to the 8 victories for King including victories in 4 out of the last 6 years.

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