Afternoon Update Day 2
Hello Iditarod Race Fans, Greetings from Takotna. How is that! We made it in as planned! All 8 of us, 2 Vets, 2 Comms, 3 Trail people and myself. Having snowy weather for the start means it had to turn nice eventually, right in time to get logistics in place. The flight over the Alaska …
Morning update Day 2
Good Morning Iditarod Race Fans. As I write this the first teams are arriving into Finger Lake with Richie Diehl getting in at 6.50 a.m. His runtime with 4.54 is about half an hour slower than last year ( Pete Kaiser 4.25, Jessie Holmes 4.23 ). With Richie resting in Finger Lake, he is soon …
Evening Update Day 1
Hello Iditarod Race Fans, it is still snowing in Willow. What a race start. In the 16 starts I have been around, this has definitely being the snowiest. That snow provided quite a few challenges, specially for Nicolas Petit, who got stuck in his own ( rather long ) driveway, pulling a big trailer. Eventually …
Update from Willow pre Race night
Hello iditarod Race Fans. The Ceremonial Start went off without a hitch, at least without any major hitches. Matt Failor’s dog truck had a little meeting with the ditch, Zoya Denure’s gangline did not not make it in the trailer, Jason Campeau’s starting bib was missing for a while….. In the end everybody made it …
Hello Iditarod Race Fans. I took a drive out to the Chugiak Dog Sled Track and as expected it was a busy place. Jeff Deeter from Black Spruce Racing in Fairbanks was out for a run. His dogs must feel like entering the Bananabelt with it being 20F above. Most of the winter they were …
Hello Race Fans, Friday before the Ceremonial Start is the calm before the storm. And storm it already is, depending on where you are located in this big state. While Mushers are busy with last minute preparations, the Iditarod Air Force is out trying to get race personal into the early checkpoints. Planes are taking …
Mushers Meet and Greet.
Hello Iditarod Race Fans, When I ran the race, fans were lining up at the start banquet to gather signatures after we drew out bib numbers. That made for some pretty long lines and a very late evening. Thus the Meet the Mushers event, a few hours prior to the banquet, was created. This is …
Hello Iditarod Race fans. This morning kicked off with a brief ” Official ” meeting of the Race Judges with Race Marshall Mark Nordmann before the Mushers meeting. The Mushers Meeting has a public part, where sponsors present and ” goodie bags ” are handed out. Topics covered are the race rules, and more specifically …
A Few more Vet Check Pictures
Hello Iditarod Fans, on my way to the Lakefront Hotel I stopped in at the ITC headquarters which was very busy. It is a like a big family reunion. Conversations pick up, where they left off a year ago. It was nice to catch up with Lance Mackey. Last I saw him was in White …
Vet Check time
Good morning Iditarod Fans. It is Vet Check time. The ITC headquarters is a busy place today with many teams having their mandatory Pre Race Vet Checks performed today. Veteran Mushers also have the choice of having these done ” at home ” at their ” house vet ” who they routinely work with. There …
