9 AM Monday—Finger Lake Checkpoint by Joe Runyan, 1989 Iditarod champ
The excitement of this early morning of mushers into Finger Lake has now waned, especially as we hear that Ray Redington is into Rainy, closely followed by Yukon Quest Champ Hugh Neff. Discussing his dramatic run in a blistering 3:15, insiders here in Finger Lake think Ray might have been lucky to have travelled on a very fast trail. The time is historically near a record breaker.
Anjanette Steer loads a half bale of straw and exits direction rainy pass
However, do not discount the mushers that have restrained their teams—-think the Busers (father and son Martin 4x champ and Rohn), John Baker, 5x champ Ric Swenson, Iditarod champ Mitch Seavey, and John Baker, 2011 champ, all of whom decided to rest momentarily in Finger Lake.
As Ric Swenson opined, “Well never know whose team is going to shine until we get over the Range.”
Jeff King
No chance to check in with Jeff King. He arrived like a leaf in the wind, signed in, and departed at a lope, his sled fishtailing out of the dog yard onto the Iditarod trail. I noticed he was wearing a distinctive outfit—checkered as I remembered it. Not sure of my memory, I asked a checker, “It was different but I can’t tell you how. What was King wearing? I thought it was black and white checker patterned gear.”
A very observant volunteer clarified, “It was actually a very cool snake skin pattern, with the scales colored brown almost black, looking like the rattlesnakes we have back in Alabama.”
My contacts at the chute check in rated the teams of Neff, King, and Kaiser as the most dynamic and powerful. That’s a gut feeling, but you have to take it seriously.
Ric Swenson
My old trail partner from twenty years ago is busy checking out his dogs. Swenson has this gruff exterior, but he is a complete baby with his dogs. He still has that characteristic chatter with his dogs I recognize, petting them, offering another snack. He looks at me, “I know, you’re wondering what I am doing out here? I just can’t get away from it, I like the dogs too much.” The winner of 5 Iditarods has comfortably assumed an evolved strategy of fielding an excellent team, running them conservatively, and enjoying another Iditarod. Commenting on the front runners to Rainy Pass, “Oh, I’ve done that. But I paid for it later, that’s why I am camping here in Finger.”
Ramey Smyth
Front runner Ramey, 2nd last year, has already had one of those musher moments in the first day. Anecdotal information has reached us that he fell asleep on the runners, lost the sled, and ultimately lost 45 minutes before recovering his team. First reports indicate Rohn Buser discovered the driverless team behind him. Thinking, in the dark, that it was a super team, he automatically put on the brake to allow a pass. Rameys team dutifully passed Rohn’s team. Rohn realized the team was driverless and eventually caught it tangled on the trail.
Ramey, after chasing the team for 45 minutes, was picked up by Jeff King, we are led to believe, and transported on the sled for another five minutes to the dogs. Taking the liberty to add some poetic license, Ramey must have been a gigantic sweat ball.
Bruce Lee, Insider, talked with Ramey as he checked in and out of Finger, and reported Ramey was in good spirits, laughing at himself. Objectively, his dog team never travelled an inch further than necessary. All he lost was a little time.
Jake Berkowitz
Jake Berkowitaz at the Finger lake checkpoint
Jake is just off the Yukon Quest trail, a successful mid-distance racer, and I consider him a good news agent. I asked him what he thought of the race to the front. “Honestly, teams were flying by me at an incredible pace. I think 15 or 20 teams passed me.” I asked him if he thought his speed was OK. “I just came off the Quest, and I thought my dogs were covering the ground. I always ask them to slow down, especially the first day.”
Note the photo of Jake’s alcohol cooker. See the flame, orange and blue, at the bottom?
Jakle's alcohol cooker, note the flames at the bottom. Alcohol does not contaminate the taste of the dog's ration
Mitch SEavey
Mitch, who is known to be very conservative in the early going was resting in Finger Lake. I asked him about his injured right hand index finger (fans might remember that he severely cut it in last years race and scratched to find a surgeon). “Well, I am adapting. My right hand is not very useful.”
His team has been trained long miles, even monitoring speed with his gps, pointing to the one he had mounted on his handle bar. “I never let them go faster than 9 miles an hour, and after a winter, they know it. I think I’ll still have a team when I need them on the coast (the Bering sea coast on the last third of the race).”
The Busers—Martin and Rohn
The 4x Champ is found working with his dogs, now resting comfortably on straw. Moments later, his son Rohn, who won the Kusko 300 as a cap to his successful pre-season, pulls in beside him and begins taking off booties and decommissioning the team for a rest.
Rohn and father Martin Buser rest in Finger Lake
Martin, dressed in a festive Hawaiian holiday wind breaker, gave me a short tutorial on blankets. “Some of my dogs have the husky fur, so I don’t worry about them. But other ones have a seal coat (think a slick coat, which is actually advantageous in the warm weather at Big Lake near Martins kennel).
I have an insulated and a not insulated coat. Depending on the dog, I use them.” I could see that his “seal coated” dogs were blanketed. I later heard reports from mushers with thermometers that is was -25F on last nights trail.
I asked Rohn if he trained with his Dad. “No , we don’t do the Rumble line,” indicating they liked their independence.
Final Thoughts
We plan to move further up the trail in an attempt to catch front runners. Pilots tell us the weather is closing so we are quickly trying to get over the Alaska range in the next hour.
Note that lance is not getting off the tail lights of Hugh Neff. These two are battle hardened off the Yukon Quest.
The wild easily identified sled of Wade Mars
