9PM Unalakleet—-Zirkle leads pack out of Kaltag, but with her own plan

Our insider crew just arrived this late evening in Unalakleet,  the first village on the Bering Sea Coast.  Symbolically,  the Bering Sea Coast and villages of Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, White Mountain and the finish to Nome represents the last third of the race, and also another Herculean obstacle.  Having  scaled the Alaska Range (first third) and traversed the giant Yukon Basin, teams and mushers enter the coastal zone, the province of the Eskimo.   Although weather is kind today, the Bering   Sea Coast and cold winds usually are expected to test the teams.

Here we can expect a final push.  The teams that have preserved strength, and with a little luck avoided hazards, will begin to distinguish themselves to the front.  Although we look at the time sheet and see Aliy Zirkle resting outside of Kaltag, followed by Aaron Burmeister, Jake Berkowitz, Martin Buser, Joar Ulsom, Mitch Seavey and Jessica Royer, other players are now moving to the front.  Some of them like Dallas Seavey, Jeff King, and , just to name a few, the Smyth brother Ramey and Cym, think they can make a move just as others have done earlier in the race.

I talked briefly  to a few mushers in the Kaltag checkpoint.  It’s a bummer, but Martin and team got caught in a horrific rain storm, the trail melted out from underneath him, and team was breaking trail for the pack to Kaltag.  It was brutal and it cost him a lot of team strength, a fact that is going to cost him some time.   He was philosophical about it and said, “This is going to be an even greater team next year.”  He is still in the hunt, but the eleven hour effort from Eagle Island was huge.  The team is not dominating today.

Aliy Zirkle is certainly driving a powerful team.  She stopped short of Kaltag and rested, then blew through the checkpoint, and is probably camping at a Shelter cabin known locally as Tripod.  She hasn’t given out her plan, but some think she could blow through Unalakleet and rest again in Shaktoolik.  That would be a bold move—I think she will just have a strong run to Nikolai.  I didn’t confirm directly from Aliy, but it looks like she decided not to run her team more than 8 hours on the Yukon, especially considering the warm afternoon weather.  She just shut them down short of kaltag, then blew through the checkpoint.

Aaron changes his red plastic, which is for warm weather, to green plastic for colder weather like 15 below to 15F above

At the same time, Aaron Burmeister has decided to pull the hook and is basically leaving Kaltag first because he will pass a resting Zirkle.  Theoretically, I say he is now running first in the Iditarod.  I talked to him and he said that he had slowed a little to give his dogs time to recover from the canine creeping crud circulating on the trail .  He was ready, he said, to make his move, so it wasn’t surprising that he pulled the hook after four hours rest.  He is putting  pressure on the entire pack and doesn’t want to let anyone take a deep breath.  His intent is to go all the way to Unalakleet—maybe a ten hour run for his powerful team.

Jake Berkowitz is still driving 15.   Yesterday Jake was literally sicker than a dog—maybe food poisoning.  He said he is the weak link but  feeling better today.   Most observers think Jake’s team is in the best condition for a scramble on the coast, plus they are fast. I saw him at his sled and asked him why he’s doing so well.  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe having all these dogs in the Yukon Quest helped.” No doubt a thousand mile race preliminary hardened him and dogs.  He’ll go to Unk tonight for sure—my bet.

Jessie Royer was happy with the team, but she is another exceptionally happy person all the time—like Aliy Zirkle—so its difficult to get past her optimism. I think she is a contender but observers said her team had a very hard day at the office.  It looks like she is giving them an extended rest.

Mitch Seavey is regarded by all my colleagues as a prime contender.  His team seems very strong.  He was inside resting, but he will do battle to the front—guaranteed. 

Our Norwegian competitor we can just call Joar. I think Vikings had only one name.  He is a like an invading barbarian that sleeps on bare dirt and runs down rabbits for breakfast.  He is a tough guy and is finding himself in the spotlight of the top ten.  I said, “Joar, you are running a great race.”   “I am? You think so?”  “Yeah, look at where you are sitting, the dogs are moving great!”  “Really, I am glad you think so.”  He is a tall guy, very lean, always smiling, obviously enjoying his adventure.   A friend of his told me he has had race experience, but has never won the big races in Norway, where the tradition of dog sleds is as strong as Alaska.   “Oh, yeah,” he said,” today is Saturday, be sure to wish the FinMark Slope racers good luck (the big race in Norway.)”

Now, a word about the Incredible Lance Mackey.  I talked to members of a film crew following Lance they report that he was eating a piece of fudge, of all things, and broke his tooth , exposing a nerve root.  He was flat on the snow in pain, and Lance is tough.  Although he will never admit it, he is a basket case, in many ways reduced by radical radiation and cancer treatment.   His teeth have been a medical problem and this is one more obstacle to his racing career.  The race judge took the information and found the village health care nurse to meet him.  I see that he has now arrived in kaltag and I hope they can take care of him in a way that allows him to continue.  He has been running a phenomenal race.

interior of unk checkpoint. Fans and volunteers are already gathering for the first musher to the coast. The people of UNK gather in great numbers for the first musher—maybe 7AM

Sebastian has reminded me to mention Dallas Seavey who has been sand bagging for the entire race in the middle of the pack, moving along and always keeping the leaders in sight, but never taking the initiative or expending the energy to move to the front.  He is now making his move, willing to bring his team out of their comfortable somnambulance (got that word in a word quiz, means to walk while asleep, a good description of the 2011 champs team.)   I just looked again at the tracker and he is at mile 628 and Zirkle , now leading, as I write, at 637.  I interviewed him for a magazine article  a couple of weeks before the race and he told me he was spending his spare time studying race times.  He intimated that the last half of the race is the place to make a move.   I think he has been babying his team for 500 miles and just decided to go to work.  

Let’s hope Jake Berkowitz feels better.   Many peg his team as the strongest at the moment.

Final Thoughts

A few locals tell me that the wind is going to blow.  If you live anywhere on the Bering Sea Coast, you are an expert on wind. One local told me a minute ago that a low pressure, pretty deep at 979 milllibars, is coming up the coast and could make some weather (code name for the wind is really going to blow.  The snow will swirl around the sled runners in artistic sheets while buffeting the sled and occassionally obscure the next trail marker in a white cloud.)   All the mushers will be wearing pull over white wind parkas for wind breaks and viewing the world from the tunnel formed by their ruff.

On our flight from kaltag we noted machines parked at the Old Woman Cabin, a shelter cabin at the base of Old Woman, a well known landmark for hunters.  It’s a little over half way from Kaltag to Unk and locals like to greet the lead mushers.  WE’ll have plenty of reports from locals from the trail.