1PM—-Momentum changes, Burmeister out first, Seavey the Younger follows, next Aliy by Joe Runyan

Please refer to all the exact times using the wonderful resources of the Insider, and suffer my approximations.   I was in the dog yard as Burmeister and Dallas Seavey booted dogs, at the same time noting that Zirkle was behind in schedule to the two.

Burmeister noted his apprehension about leaving Unalakleet because the myriad of snowmachine trails provided a lot of excuses for errant leaders.  Sure enough, he pulled the hook and promptly ended up guiding his dogs back on the trail after negotiating half a dozen intersections.   In time, he got them rolling.

Dallas Seavey soon followed, both leaving around 12:40 PM, just for the record.  Dallas stopped, switched a few dogs and was soon back on the trail within sight of the checkpoint and already with Burmeister.  I didn’t see Aliy leave, but it must have been fifteen minutes later.

Concurrently, another development

More action.   With a grand entry of loping dogs, Jake Berkowitz and Pete Kaiser come into Unalakleet holding hands.  They are driving gorgeous teams , but, unfortunately they are essentially 6 hours behind.  More on that in a moment.

While Aliy is nearly ready to depart, we are diverted to a small emergency.   Berkowitz cut his hand with a knife while separating chunks of fish on the trail.  I happen to be there and immediately tell comm to arrange a medic to sew him up.  Knowing that it was really stupid to allow Jake to continue caring for his dogs with a cut made with a knife that was cutting fish,  Mark Nordman, Race Marshal, and Larry Weslake logically suggested he get sewn up.  Bruce Lee, your commentator, and I, with the permission of officials, put straw under the dogs.

Back with Baker

Back in the headquarters  see John at 1 PM, where he tells me he is playing it cautious and resting his dogs.  I told him about Berkowitz and Kaiser.  “There is still time for them to win the race.  I’ll go with them,” indicating he was not taking chances with his team.  He is going to generously rest his dogs.

My brilliant reply was, “Really, Kaiser and Berkowitz.”  John opined, “250 miles in the race, we keep forgetting to identify the competition.”

Final Thoughts

An airplane waits to take the Insider to Shaktoolik to witness the fight at the front.  Next report, Shaktoolik.

Weather  remains cold but uncommonly calm for a region that is known constant wind.

Delving into our collective memory, we can think of plenty of examples of well prepared teams roaring up from behind to win a race.   The early history of Rick Swenson, the 5x winner, was instructional in the 70’s and 80’s.