McGrath Sunset (Photo: Terrie Hanke)
Insider interviews with mushers today in McGrath has revealed a common thread – mashed potatoes. If they had been talking about dinner that would have been a good thing but they weren’t. The mushers were talking about the trail – soft trail that slowed teams down heading into Nikolai and again from Nikolai to McGrath. Matthew Failor who thought his run felt really slow said it was a combination of a couple inches of overflow on portions of the trail and 4 inches of new snow over the whole trail from Nikolai.
Other musher echoed his thoughts. Mille Porsild decided to take some rest in McGrath because of the two slow runs her team experienced – the last 20 miles into Nikolai and the trail from Nikolai to McGrath. Jessie Holmes decided to rest briefly in McGrath because the soft trail. He says he reads his dogs and resting now would payoff later. While resting in McGrath, Amanda Otto told Insider the trail was slow and the way to deal with it is to take more frequent breaks with more snacks to replenish energy.
Dallas, who is on his way to Cripple, stopped to change out sleds in McGrath. Race rules allow a musher three sleds during the race including the one they start with. Sleds can be shipped to hubs – McGrath and Unalakleet. Seavey changed to a lighter sled over the durable one he’d used through the Steps, Gorge and Burn. He recently built the sled with carbon fiber materials including stanchions constructed of hockey sticks. He’s hoping for easier travel with the lighter sled.
Mushers send a sled to McGrath in case of a breakdown in the Steps, Gorge or Burn. They can usually cobble a sled back together well enough to get to McGrath. Sleds sent to Unalakleet are for the coast, not a big freight hauler because on the coast they want to be moving faster so lighter is better.
Jessica Klejka who is sitting in Takotna is on the Iditarod trail for the third time. Seems like Jessica has been around Iditarod for much longer than that, perhaps because she’s a four year veteran of the Jr. Iditarod and her younger siblings have run the Jr. Iditarod too. Both Jessica and her brother Jeremiah are Jr. Iditarod Champs.
Jessica has the closest Jr. Iditarod finish on record. Jessica was leading Cain Carter as they began crossing Willow Lake to the finish in 2008. Cain urged his team to pass and his leaders drew even with Klejka’s wheel dogs. Jessica’s dogs were not be denied. Her leaders crossed two seconds ahead of Carter’s.
Have to share the story of Jeremiah’s victory also. He came across Willow lake thinking he was in third position. He was confused by all the cheering and the congratulations until he was told the two teams in front of him had taken a wrong turn so he was the first to cross the finish. Remember back to the finish of Iditarod 2014 when Dallas Seavey thought he was third to finish, not knowing he had passed both Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle in white out conditions near Safety. No one was more surprised than Klejka and Seavey to learn they’d won the race.
Getting back to Jessica, she grew up in Bethel and went to UAF so she could stay connected to dog mushing. Jessica attended Washington State University’s vet school and now owns Knik Veterinary Clinic serving Bethel, Naknek and Kotzebue. Her very first race was the K300’s campout 100 when she was 12. She also remembers Jeff King talking to her 6th grade class. Jessica is grateful for the mushing advice she has received from Bethel mushers. Jessica and her husband, Sam Brewer own and operate Tailwind Kennels. They are the proud parents of Lucy.
Bailey Vitello, back for his second Iditarod is currently resting in Takotna and is also a Jr. Iditarod veteran. Vitello earned 7th place in the 2012 Jr. Race. Vitello is from Milan, New Hampshire but is happy to now call Nenana his home away from home. In his 2023 rookie Iditarod run, Bailey placed 24th with a time of 11 days, 16 hours and 49 minutes. Later in the season, Vitello was 5th in the Kobuk 440 and was the top placing rookie. Vitello started mushing at a very young age, sitting in the sled while his parents stood on the runners. He did his first race at the age of two. After that he was usually the youngest musher at the races he participated in, albeit he could hardly see over the handle bar of the sled. When he was old enough to run the Jr. Iditarod, he and his father took a year off and came to Alaska to train. Jr. Iditarod was a transforming experience. He’d never been around so many kids who loved sled dogs as much as he did.
Hunter Keefe Dances on the Runners Near Iditarod (Photo: David Poyzer)
Hunter Keefe was Iditarod’s 2023 rookie phenom! He didn’t earn Rookie of the Year honors, Eddie Burke, Jr. did. But with his 11th place finish, his singing and dancing on the runners, his enthusiasm and never ending smile he won everyone’s heart. He received the Donlin Gold Sportsmanship award in 2023 for picking up Eddie Burke, Jr. and re-uniting him with his dog team after Burke dozed and fell off his sled. Keefe was happy to give Eddie a ride to show off his fantastic dog team. Hunter who grew up in Michigan has wanted to be a musher since the age of 6. That’s the year he dressed as a musher for Halloween. He began mushing in middle school and admits there was no plan “B” for a career. Immediately out of high school he came to Alaska to work with distance dogs. Since 2020 he’s been working with Raymie Redington and racing with Redington dogs. There’s an iconic photo of Hunter on the trail near Iditarod dancing on his sled. The guy was living his dream in 2023, learned a great deal and is back in 2024 to do Raymie’s dogs justice.
At this time, 18:00 on Wednesday, there are very few teams moving. GPS tracker shows Dallas Seavey nearing Cripple. As the first musher to reach Cripple he’ll receive the Dorothy G. Page Half-way award presented by GCI. On the opposite end of the race, Bryce Mumford is getting close to McGrath. In the middle of the pack, Benjamin Good is a couple miles out of Takotna. That’s it, everyone else is resting either in McGrath, Takotna or Ophir. There are basically three stakes of orange musher icons on the tracker page with one at McGrath mile 312, Takotna mile 329 and Ophir at mile 352.
In recent news, a two hour time penalty will be added to Dallas Seavey’s 24-layover for an infraction of rule 34 requiring gutting of an edible animal killed in defense of self or team.
Race Photographer Siri Raitto is hoping to make it out of Rainy Pass to continue capturing the race further down the trail. Weather hasn’t been the most cooperative as it continues to snow.
It looks like Travis Beals, Ryan Redington and Peter Kaiser will be the first teams to complete the 24-rest. They are all resting in Takotna and will pass through Ophir before Jessie Holmes is released. Let the racing begin!
