Perfect weather! Perfect Trail! Perfect Day! PERFECT Ceremonial Start! Ask any one of the seventy-four mushers or any one of the thousands of fans and “PERFECT” is what the response would be on all accounts.
Trent Herbst ready to make the turn onto Cordova
There were so many things happening up and down 4th Avenue and along the 11-miles of the Ceremonial Start route, it’s impossible to see it all. But through all the sources of available media, one can assemble a pretty complete picture.
Mats Pettersson rounds the corner at 4th and Cordova
So let’s start at the corner of 4th and Cordova. The dogs have been in high gear for 5 blocks since leaving the starting line at 4th and “D”. Then it’s time for a sharp right onto Cordova. The dogs are loving the run and it’s like having twelve powerful engines on a two car freight train. For some mushers, Iditarides and tag sled drives it’s where they had a very up close and personal encounter with the perfect trail. While not the only “tip-over,” Jeff King’s was pretty dramatic. He was the 34th musher to round the corner. His team cut it tight and the right sled runner rode a little too high on the berm. Try as he might, King couldn’t over come the tipping sled. When the sled went over, King and his Iditarider were sprawled in the snow. The Iditarider’s Go-Pro captured the whole event.
King and Iditarider Test the Perfect Snow
There was a birthday boy out on the trail. Dallas Seavey turned 30! Seavey has a lot on the line in this race. If he were to win, he would tie Lance Mackey’s record of four consecutive wins. In addition, if he were to win he would tie Rick Swenson’s record of five victories. If he were to win this year, he’d claim five victories in just six years. It took Rick Swenson from 1977 until 1991 to collect his five victories. Oh by the way, Dallas at the age of 25, was the youngest guy to ever win Iditarod. In his four victories he’s set new time records twice. He holds the current record of 8 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes, 16 seconds. In the year that Seavey turned 18, he finished the Jr. iditarod and then a few days later turned 18 and ran Iditarod. He may be the only person to run both races in the same year.
Dallas Seavey who wants to make it 4 in a row and 5 total.
How about the distance double mushers? Still in the running for completing the two 1,000 mile races of 2017 are Hugh Neff, Allan Moore, Katherine Keith and Jessie Royer. Neff finished the Quest in 2nd place, Moore in 3rd, Keith in 7th and Royer in 8th place. Moore takes the SP Kennel “A” team for the Quest and hands them over to Aliy Zirkle for Iditarod. I wouldn’t be surprised to see many of Paige Drobny’s Quest dogs running on her Squid Acres Kennel partner, Cody Strathe’s, team to Nome. Will Katherine Keith and kennel partner John Baker divide up the Quest talent for Iditarod? Those questions can be answered in the morning as the mushers prepare to take to the trail in Fairbanks.
Noah Burmeister rounds the corner with a very precious Iditarider
Noah Burmeister is looking to build on the experience he gained in the 2016 race and hopes to break into the top ten in 2017. He’s got more than Iditarod on his mind. Noah met his 2016 Iditarider’s daughter at one of the race events last year. They are now engaged and plan to be married in Maui in April. His future wife rode in his sled for the ceremonial start this year. At the start, she was presented with a bouquet of welcome to the family roses by Richard Burmeister, her future father-in-law. Congratulations to Noah and his fiancée.
Moose are plenty smart when it comes to knowing where it’s easiest to navigate. They’ll choose the packed trails over deep snow every time. Dog teams were trotting down the Chester Creek trail one right after the other but that didn’t stop a curious moose from wondering out of the woods onto the hard packed surface. Musher 24, Nicolas Petit, had the task of clearing the trail for his own team and those to follow. Petit waved a sign and performed a go away moose dance and finally the critter wondered back into the forest. Nice photo opportunity for Petit’s Iditarider and nearby spectators.
Getting the Starting Line Ready for the Restart in Fairbanks
The scene in Fairbanks has geared up considerably over the past twenty-four hours. Large numbers of volunteers have been relocated to the northern Restart point. The early checkpoints of Nenana, Manley, Tanana are staffed. Some ninety dog handlers registered as volunteers this afternoon. Organizers are expecting 60 more to register before the race start at 11:00 am. The mushers are ready, the athletes are ready and the volunteers are ready. It’s going to be a great race.
