Risky Business—Predicting the Iditarod
Annually, for a long time, maybe twenty years, I have recruited the genius of Dean Osmar, the 1984 Iditarod Champ for a Top Ten Prediction. At the same time, he insists that I match his list.
This is risky business, seldom resulting in accuracy, but at the very least it identifies a group of mushers who we think can take the marbles in 2013. Therefore, with that understanding, note our Top Ten list and just figure we blew it if we overlooked your favorite competitor.
Dean Joe
- Dallas Seavey Dallas Seavey
- Aaron Burmeister Aliy Zirkle
- Pete Kaiser John Baker
- Aliy Zirkle Aaron Burmeister
- Jeff King Jeff King
- Mitch Seavey Mitch Seavey
- Rayme Smyth Rayme Smyth
- John Baker Ray Redington
- Ray Redington Pete Kaiser
- Jake Berkowitz Martin Buser
Well, we’re hoping not to dodge empty pop cans if we missed anyone, but the reader now has a general feel for the front pack. As an overview, Dean thought the younger mushers like Dallas Seavey, Pete Kaiser, and Jake Berkowitz were ready to battle the veterans such as 4x champ Jeff King, 1x champ John Baker, and 1X champ Mitch Seavey. I was inclined to give deference to last years 1st and 2nd mushers Dallas Seavey and Aliy Zirkle and the veterans. Nevertheless, the only disparity was Dean’s Jake Berkowitz, a young and rapidly improving musher, and my Martin Buser, noting that the 4X champ will be driving a team to include standouts from his son Rohn’s team.
Both of us included 4Xchamp Jeff King in our calculations despite the fact he scratched in last years Iditarod. King convincingly won the2013 Kusko 300, a three hundred mile race that included most of the top mushers, and earned some pre-race respect. I saw Jeff King yesterday afternoon at lunch.
King is an innovator who has developed a long list of improvements, some of them superfluous and humorous like his handle bar heater that almost burnt his sled in a giant conflagration, and legitimate game changers like his tail dragger sled, side pull harnesses that allow his huskies to pull from a different angle and therefore reduce fatigue, and innovative gear improvements. Usually, he likes to unveil them, but I prompted him nevertheless to preview new inventions. Well, he admitted, he does have a sled with “articulated runners” (an effort to make the sled travel more smoothly over rough terrain) and a seat which also doubles as a cooker.
Jeff Kings seat, which also doubles as a cooker. The yellow fabric at right of photo covers the cooker—even while the alcohol cooker is burning. King, you have to believe him, claims the pot gets to 400F, but you can still sit on it.
The cooker is permanently mounted to the sled with a stainless steel frame and allows him to actually heat water, warm up his trail snacks, and even keep him warm, if necessary. I caught up with him this Satureday morning at the Ceremonial start to document the new additions. The stove, I am told, “can get to 400F and heats up all my trail food. I tried a 200F thermometer the first time, and it melted the mount, so I got a meat thermometer and actually watched it measure 400F.”
Barnum, the 76 pound phenomenon, can trot with one of the fastest teams on the planet
While we are at the King parking spot, how about the team? Front end personalities include Skeeter (older female and mother to many), Bailey (Skeeter is his mom), and Barnum, a classically built husky who happens to be a monstrous 76 pounds. “Barnum is the class clown. When he hits the harness you can feel the sled lurch forward.” Burgular, King comments, is another of his main leaders. “He barks like a girl, but runs like a cheetah.”
