By Terrie Hanke in Safety/Nome
The trail from Safety to Nome was bu
sy on Friday afternoon. Seven mushers covered the twenty-two mile distance going to Nome. A few race volunteers did a round trip by snow-cat stopping to cheer for the mushers they met on the trail.
Mushing mortician, Scott Janssen claimed 39th place shortly after noon. Janssen, a Minnesota boy has dreamed of doing Iditarod ever since he moved to Alaska and met Paul Gebhardt. In this, Janssen’s second Iditarod, he improved from 42nd to 39th place and knocked nearly 23 hours off his previous time.
Rookie Curt Perano was born in New Zealand. He’s been running dogs since Y2K and moved to Minnesota to work for Iditarod veteran Jamie Nelson. Perano has built his own team and now lives in British Columbia. He’s done many mid-distance races including the John Beargrease. It was a natural progression from the mid-distance scene to marathon type races. Perano finished his rookie race in 40th position in 11d 22h 40 m 45s.
Art Church knows the Iditarod from the perspective of a musher and a race judge. He claimed 41st place at 14:57.02. Church was one of the musher greeted by the “cat-crew” between Safety and Nome. Art scratched in 2008 but has completed the race in 2010 and 2012. Church hustled in from Safety taking 2 hours and 51 minutes to reach the burled arch. His average speed for the race was 3.35 miles per hour.
Justin Savidis finished his second full Iditarod in 12d 4h 45m 53s for 45th place. Just eight years ago, Justin and his wife, Rebecca, packed their belongings and moved to Willow, Alaska for a new job and to run dogs. Justin has an impressive resume of mid-distance races. He has a degree in Park, Recreation and Tourism with an emphasis in experiential learning. Adventure is a part of who he is. The “cat-crew” stopped to cheer for Justin not to far out from Safety.
Wearing bib #4, Bill Pinkham crossed the finish line for the seventh time today. Pinkham finished in 42nd place with a time of 12d 1h 15m 41s. Pinkham comes from a long history of playing rugby. Mushing filled the void after leaving the rugby team. Pinkham ways he enjoys being out in the “white silence.”
The “cat crew” took the opportunity to photograph Bill and his dogs between Cape Nome and the city of Nome.
Anna and Kristy Berington were on the land side of Cape Nome as the “Cat Crew” took the trail on the sea side of the cape. We were sorry to miss the twins as they approached Nome. The Beringtons were born and raised in northern Wisconsin. They began mushing at the age of ten when they built a sled out of skies and a milk crate then hitched up the family pets – a Great Pyrenees and a Border Collie. Both Anna and Kristi have served in the National Guard. Anna ended up working for a sled dog touring company and decided she was ready to go for the real deal of racing. Kristi wrangled horses for a while. Their love for animals, especially dogs, has brought them to the Last Great Race. Kristi finished her third Iditarod today, forty-three seconds behind twin sister Anna, who earned her rookie belt buckle this afternoon. The veterinarians commented on what great condition their dogs were in at the finish line as well as the generous amount of love shown the dogs by Anna and Kristi.
