Start of the Race—-Early morning arrivals anticipate 2PM start 

Technically, the exit of Iditarod mushers from Willow Alaska is known as the Restart.  But, to race aficionados it really is the start of the race.  The clock starts, the rules are clear that no more help or assistance for the musher is allowed.   From Willow to the finish in Nome, the race is an individual oydessey of self maintenance,  a solitary mental journey of decisions, and a level playing field for mushers and their teams.

Our team arrives about 9AM after  two hours of driving north on the STeese Highway, including last minute stops, from Anchorage to Willow.  ZZ tops over the loud speakers enhanced the race start, rendering a version, I was told, of “Well Dressed Man.”

 

When we arrive, security personnel are already in place checking press passes and directing traffic.  I talked to one veteran volunteer  who tells me he has been in position since 6am.   A few mushers, including Ray Redington have arrived about 8AM to avoid a predictable traffic jam of tourists.  By 9:45 AM,  John Baker and Lance Mackey, two of the pre race favorites, are already unloading their sleds and going through a final checklist.  The race starts at 2PM .

Weather is calm, clear sky, maybe 10F, which is considered warm.  By 2PM, temps will rise and mushers will consciously try to slow their teams in what will be considered balmy trail conditions.

Let’s talk strategy

OK, it helps to understand the mindset of the mushers, so let’s dig deep for a few paragraphs!  

With warm temperatures and deep snow on the south side of the Alaska Range, the mushers are generally anticipating slower travel speeds.  Aside from the extra work it takes to travel in loose snow, the mushers want to keep their dogs running cool by slowing them down—-despite their natural inclination to blast out of the chute.   Unrestrained, some of  these very exuberant teams could really be stressed at the end of fifty miles.  

Therefore, the experienced mushers want to put slower leaders to the front, talk the team down into a very conservative pace, and get through the frenetic first night of congested teams, barking, yapping, camera lights, crowds, new trail, novelty with a contained team.

Technically, if you’re interested, the top mushers are really thinking about how to navigate the first days trail from  Willow(our present position at the Restart) and Rohn checkpoint, which is situated on the N. side of the Alaska Range.   Most mushers acknowledge that this is the most difficult part of the race, and it just happens to occur in the first one and half days of the race.   It includes the big climb up the s. side of the Alaska Range, the Happy Valley Steps (famed location of video quality wrecks) and the Dalzell Gorge.

So, how do you do it?   It’s possible to do it in three hops, that is by resting near Skwetna, one on a lake somewhere between Finger Lake and Rainy Pass, and finally a rest at Rohn.  That’s three runs.   The advantage is the musher only has to stop and make camp twice, and only has to boot the dogs twice (because he and handlers booted at the start, so that doesn’t count.)  Theoretically, a three hop strategy is more efficient, only because camping chores are reduced.

However, a conservative strategy, one that insures the dogs run no more than six hours , is a four hop strategy.  When I saw John Baker drive in to the lot, I asked him, “Four hops or three hops?”   Right away he said, “Decided on four,” which is essentially what Lance Mackey told me.  That means some of the top mushers will be dividing up the runs in shorter bursts.   However, there will be no wasted moments.

Trail adjustments—-Happy Valley Steps is now the route

Alert fans may have noticed that the Happy Valley Steps, the traditional trail, will be used rather than a road pioneered by a new mining concern.    I talked to a trail breaker and he told me the newly installed road was a good way to slide off the valley margins of the Happy River into the bottom, but that blowing snow continually drifted the trail just as it dropped into the canyon.  It was considered safer to use the old trail.

Reems have been devoted to descriptions of the Happy Valley Steps, but it’s worth another comment.  Generally, the first mushers on the trail will experience little difficulty descending on the steps, given that the trail breakers have spent inordinate time and care in banking the trail properly.

However, as each team drops off the canyon edge, brake tines dug deep into the trail, a trench will begin to form and with each succeeding more anxiety filled descent, with brake tines now sunk deeper, the surface will quickly degrade.   I ran the race in 2008 with Rachael Scdoris.  We were running the race in the back of the pack and what we found was a trench, literally, over our heads and viewed root wads and rocks at the depths of the trench.   I got to the bottom and wondered how we lived through the most out of control descent in my mushing career.

Tom Thurston

Around the lot, I talked to Tom Thurston, who is hoping to knock a day or two off his 12 day pace of previous races.   He tells me about his new leader “Cougar”, who he discovered last year marching through salt water overflow (water sometimes spills on the top of the ice—pressures at work) near Golovin on the Bering Sea Coast.  “I went from 9 miles and hour to 5.  I tried every leader in the team, and finally Cougar decided to take control and get us out of there.  She’s been my leader ever since.”

TRUCK—47

Kirk Barnum, busy assembling equipment and completing last minute details introduces me to his crew, including Aiyana, who we should congratulate.  She ran the Jr. Iditarod.  Unable to focus intelligently when she spelled her name,  Aiyana finally grabbed my notebook and spelled it.  Thanks Aiyana, great name, look to see you next year, and hope you do well.

Bruce Linton

Bruce Linton’s truck was in position with his team of Yukon Quest veterans.  I met Gus Gunther, who actually ran the Quest with the team and reports that all 14 of the Yukon Quest (that’s the maximum you can take on this race) will be represented in Bruce’s 16 dog Iditarod team.   Gus’s report?  “I took it easy, and as you can see, these dogs are in excellent shape.”   This will be great team to watch.

More on what you need to know about Lance Mackey’s team

Since arrived early, and I was there early, Lance was unencumbered by throngs of fans.  He led me around the dog truck and went through the line up.   This is what I learned.

The first 100 miles (as mentioned above) will be conservative and slow.  Probably Mayor and his super reliable leader Maple will lead, mostly because they are calm and intelligently slower.  Once the pace and the team are under control as the race progresses, pups out out of his famous team dog Zorro(this dog, now retired, is monstrous at 75 lbs, huge for a racing Alaskan, and an unbelievable team dog) to include Mayor, Ferno, Munch, and Fuzz.   In addition, for more back-up he is using  Jessica (Judy Courier), a leader now incorporated into the team.

Final Thoughts

Walking back to the center to write this update , I note the volunteers gathered for a big meeting.  “Remember, this is not like yesterday at the ceremonial start, these mushers will be very serious today.  So please try to appreciate their intensity.   They may not want your help today, and they are probably not interested in signing autographs.” 

 

Wonder how you get the little moving dots on the GPS tracker?  Here a technician installs a gps unit on Lance Mackey’s sled.

 

Final Tip   4x champ doug Swingley calls in

Relying on a wide range of experts,I get a comment from 4x champ Doug Swingley who calls in from Moab, Utah (where he is training his long distance 100 miler arabs.)  Doug tells me to watch for times into Yetna, first checkpoint from the start.

Note that Baker, Lance, and Jeff KIng, the 4x champ returning after a year Hiatus, are going out of the chute in the first twenty.

If they arrive to Yetna in 3 1/2 hours, they may consider a three hop run to Rohn.  If however, it takes five hours, this may change their strategy to a four hop strategy.

More on that later today after we get some travel times.