McGrath Teams resting, looking at runtimes

From Rohn, we made it out to McGrath. McGrath is one of the 2 major logistic hubs along the Iditarod Trail ( Unalakleet the other ). Flying over the trail is giving me a whole new perspective after usually being on a dog team or snowmachine. Right out of Rohn is the dreaded farewell burn. A windy and dry section of trail, often bare of snow. This year was no exception. Take a look at the pictures below, showing a dark brown ribbon of trail. A little bit past Buffalo Camp, about 35 miles out, snow is getting better and mushers are back to winter wonderland.

Unfortunately Shaynee Traska did end up scratching in Nikolai. I had hoped the run there went well for her and she changed her mind. Scratching from Iditarod is heartbreaking, as an incredible amount of preparation goes into making it to the starting line.

Most mushers are resting right now. It is warm out. Daytime temperatures were above freezing. Although that is very pleasant for the humans, dogs prefer it much colder. That being said… resting in the warm afternoon sun is very beneficial for the dogs. Better to soak up the warm sun, than to run in it. Looking at the tracker, teams are taking the “long way” into McGrath, staying on the Kuskokwim River, instead of taking the shorter overland route. That explains some 7hr plus run times from Nikolai.

Looking ahead on the trail. Aliy Zirkle is one of 2 teams out of Ophir. She only rested 2 hrs there. Her reasoning behind that is likely trying to avoid the heat of the day. If she would have stayed any longer, that would have gotten her run time smack dab in the middle of the warmest part of the day. That slows a team right down. Here are some examples: Both Martin Buser and Nicolas Petit took 3hrs and 3 minutes to cover the trail from Takotna to Ophir Both teams ran during the colder part of the day, with Martin right arriving before noon, and Nicolas Petit getting in at 1.08 at night. There is a whopping 11 hrs between the 4 time Champion and last years runner up! Now looking at teams which got to Ophir this afternoon, like Kristi and Anna Berington, they took 3hrs and 55 minutes. Avoiding the heat of the day in a year like this, is key to keep good speed in a team. A one hour time difference on a 20 mile run, is pretty major and adds up quickly over 1000 Miles.

Aliy Zirkle, although she appears to be in 1st place looking on the tracker, is 5 hrs behind Petit, once he gets of his 24 hr layover. Nicolas will also benefit from a scent being put down on the trail. And if he gets real lucky, the trail will glaze over, once it starts freezing tonight. Luckily snowmachine traffic seems to be exceptionally low this year. We only had one group of “snowmachine tourists” come through Rohn, and they were planning to stay well behind the front of the pack. When Aily Zirkle arrived in Nikolai at 9 a.m. she was right on par with most years arrival time of the lead pack. She rested for 4 hrs, which is also pretty much the norm for the front runners in Nikolai. Unfortunately that put her back on the trail at 1 p.m. Not ideal. Nicolas on the other hand gambled and ran all the way to Mc Grath till 3 p.m. He ran 44 minutes faster than Aliy, and that was with Aliy come off her 4 hr rest.

Speed seems to be the name of the game these days. During my racing time, we ran long and rested short (ish), that has changed back to running short and keeping a teams speed up. Looking at the run to McGrath, both Nicolas Petit and Joar Leifseth Ulsom ran a little over 6 hours. Most of their competitors took closer to 7hours. That is a big difference. Aniak´s Richie Diehl is moving along pretty quickly too, so is Matthew Fairlor, who won this year’s Kusko 300 in Bethel, both clocking in at 6hrs and 17 minutes.

The weather is supposed to stay warm. I pulled up the forecast for Grayling, as that is where I am headed next. It shows a daytime high of 35F. That is right on par with the average for this time of the year. It being warm is nothing out of the ordinary.