4 PM—Finger Lake—Monday March 5 by Joe Runyan, 1989 Iditarod Champ
Positioned in the back of the pack, I get a chance to meet mushers with a goal to finish in Nome. The hurried frenzy we saw at the front of the pack early this morning is replaced by a decompressed zen. These mushers are ever the committed enthusiast but the atmosphere in the checkpoint is relaxed, almost desultory.
Michael S'upenant dispensing vitamin E and Pepcid
A few huskies, now abundantly rested, bark incessantly in the softened late afternoon light filtering through falling snow while their mushers make final departure plans for the Happy Valley steps, a source of anxiety for some. Pat Moon, who seriously injured himself last year after planting his head in an immovable spruce tree, admits butterflies in his stomach every time he considers the steps. A group of us advise him that he doesn’t have to ride the sled to the bottom if the ride gets out of control. No one expects that he would drag on the sled as it careens down the trench. After all, the trail goes back up a narrow and steep incline from the river floor and the dogs will surely stop—an easy catch if you lose them.
Elsewhere in the yard, Matt Giblin, driving a “second” Jake Berkowitz team of pups, focuses on his goal—let the pups learn the trail to Nome and the protocol of camping.
Art Church, 55, an old friend for decades of mushers is running his fifth Iditarod with a team from the Vern Halter kennel. Curiously, Art spent most of his winter forty miles from La Cruz, Mexico but now finds himself climbing the south shoulder of the Alaska Range. Yet, without a dog team, Art had fortunately paid his entry fee last summer and assured his entry. Vern’s team was available and Art seized the opportunity.
The irrepressible Art Church preparing to put the team back on the trail
“For a while, Vern was really screwing with me and insisted that this was a top ten team. He had me pretty nervous. Then he told me, “Aw, just make sure you don’t get better than 40th and make the team has some fun,” relayed Art.
A well behaved Dog yard
Incredibly, the dogs arranged in neat rows of 16 or so dogs, are surprising well-behaved. Trained since pups that fighting is a strict prohibition, the pack is generally congenial. Occasionally a jerk decides to sucker punch a neighbor over a morsel of meat or just for the general thrill of it. On the radio, I hear a vet,” I noticed a laceration on the left cheek, and in the same team, another dog with a slight limp.” I remember some barking and growling in the team, injuries are the result.
With dogs worth thousands of dollars, an alligator is not well regarded. An occasional argument is tolerated, but a chronic biter usually gets a ticket off the Iditarod trail.
Volunteer Crew
Find a photo of the crew taking a break. After a team leaves, they rake the dog straw beds onto a large tarp and then drag the mass to a central pile. Then the straw is distributed in the woods. Why wouldn’t the lodge on the lake utilize the straw? I forgot that meat scraps in the straw would certainly attract spring bears.
Ryne Olson
Lithe, athletic, Ryne Olson is driving a pup team for front runner Aliy Zirkle. How did she get a job with Aliy? She heard about Aliy’s competitive racing and read a few articles. Fascinated, she wrote Aliy an email and asked if she needed help. When Aliy replied yes, she moved from Michigan to Fairbanks. Many of the dogs are from Allen Moore’s Yukon Quest team (Aliy’s husband).
The Beringer Twins, Kristie and Anna
The Beringer sisters prepare to depart Finger Island
Identical twins, the two are hard to separate, especially since they are parked adjacent at the Finger Lake yard. Kristie told me that they were also travelling about the same speed and hoped they could stick together for the trip to Nome. Since this was Anna’s first Iditarod, Kristie was the trail boss.
Travis Cooper stops momentarily in Finger, consulots with vets before departure
Final Thoughts
Anybody with a computer can watch the little gps dots at the Insider and note that Hugh Neff , Ray Redington, Burmeister, Lance Mackey, Zirkle, and John Baker are leading the pack this afternoon out of Rainy Pass. Of course, there are more teams in the mix, but it is a good early indicator of the mushers with the confidence to push the pace.
I talked to all the handlers in the Finger Lake checkpoint and asked for their observations on power of the teams. Many were impressed with all the front teams (don’t forget King, who is posting fast times, Seavey, Buser, et al) but Neff received honorable mention.
Here’s my opinion. After battling it out on the Yukon Quest, and given their habit of basically taking care of the dogs themselves, it’s hard to discount Hugh Neff and Lance Mackey. They just completed a thousand miles of racing and know their sled bags. All is thoroughly practiced and they have the “feel” for the pace. Watch them make the pack race with them. All though the pack may discount them, disclosing “I run my own race, don’t pay any attention to nobody,” the perception of a leader is still real.
