Saturday AM Tracker 157 miles between Beals and Robbins

Travis Beals after taking his 8-hour Yukon rest in Galena has checked into Nulato at mile 582.  Back of the pack mushers, Bryce Mumford and Joshua Robbins have just departed Cripple at mile 425.  Like yesterday, roughly 150 miles separates the leaders from the wheel dogs.  Again, the rookies of 2024 are a very strong class.  They might be rookies on the Iditarod trail but they are not rookies when it comes to managing dogs and eating up the miles of trail.

The trail from Ruby to Galena follows the Yukon River running generally west.  Insider KattiJo is reporting from Galena went out on the trail to show folks what mushers can expect on the 50 mile run.  Because there is snow machine traffic the trail is well packed and has some broken up snow cover.  The wind is blowing from the northwest  and it’s cold, even colder with the windchill. 

The trail on the river is flat.  While that sounds good, add the temperature and wind plus the boredom of a flat run and mushers will be glad to say goodbye to the river at Kaltag.  A word about boredom, it affects both the mushers and the dogs.  Challenge keeps everyone alert and in the game, a flat river doesn’t offer that.

While Dallas Seavey and Jessie Holmes are out of Galena heading to Nulato, Paige Drobny was in Galena resting and tending to her canine athletes.  The mushers are very in tune with their athletes and know who needs what special TLC in the checkpoints.  Paige does a lot of massage and applies heat to combat stiffness.  Dogs are like people, we sometimes get a little stiff from exercise but once we get moving again, the stiffness goes away.  The dog coats Paige uses have pockets over the shoulders so warmers can be inserted. Sound familiar – a nice warm rice bag for a little soreness?

Drobny has three females from her Hip-Hop litter that have been leading.  She told Insider that every dog on her team can led.  Each dog has its own personality and prefers to lead in different situations.  Some leaders might be good on the flat, others on icy trail and others on the coast in the wind.

Iditarod Trail Invitational Biker at Cripple (Photo: Siri Raitto)

When Insider was at Cripple, we saw a walker pulling a sled and later a biker roll through the camera view. Iditarod isn’t the only event traversing the trail from Anchorage to Nome.  The Iditarod Trail Invitational (ITI) started in Knik on February 25th on the same day the Jr. Iditarod finished.

There are two distances for the ultra-athletes to choose from.  The 350 mile event ends in McGrath.  The 1,000 mile event ends in Nome.  There are walkers, skiers and bikers in each event.  This year there are 102 ultra-athletes on the trail, 64 going to McGrath and 38 continuing on to Nome.  By far biking is the most popular option followed by walkers then skiers.

Athletes must carry survival gear at all times but they can send consumables through ITI drops or to village post offices.  Consumables include food batteries and handwarmers.  To qualify for the 1,000 mile event, an athlete has to complete at lest one ITI 350 event.

The Iditarod Trail Invitational is billed as the “World’s longest and toughest winter race for only the most experienced, rugged and intrepid competitors.”  The same could be said for Iditarod.