Iditarod 2011

[arf2184]

Is anyone else following the Iditarod this year?

The trail conditions have been good so far, but many dogs have been showing early signs of illness.

Martin Buser is currently in the lead. If he wins it this year, he ties with Rick Swenson for most Iditarod wins ever. Earlier in the race he lost five of his dogs after his team got tangled with the Jamaican Newton Marshall's team and he had to unhook some of the dogs to untangle them. Five took off. Two of the five showed up at the next checkpoint. The other three were caught and brought in by another musher. Buser had to wait until all his dogs were found before he could check in, but he didn't think it set him back really because he was able to feed his dogs in that time.

Rick Swenson likely broke his collarbone when his sled tipped over on Day 2, but decided to keep running anyway. That's got to hurt. I don't think I would do it. He said as long as he can take care of his dogs, he wants to keep going.

Lance Mackey (winner for the last 4 years) had to drop 4 dogs already so he's down to 12.

Several other mushers have dropped dogs that showed similar symptoms to Mackey's (loss of appetite and not pulling well). Some suspect kennel cough is being spread around. Finishing up day 3, there's been a few mushers that scratched from the race, including Paul Gebhart who was down to just eight dogs.

DeeDee Jonrowe lost some time after her team left the trail. By the time they got back on track, she decided to turn back so she could rest her dogs at the previous checkpoint. She's working her way back up again though and is currently in the top 20.

Ray Redington Jr is using personal GPS to help pace himself this year (first year that this is allowed). I got to meet him last year at the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla (he took a picture of my friend and I...lol). He was nice and let me hold and play with puppies so I'm rooting for him...lol. He's currently in 7th place, but there's still a long way to go.

 

[Remyma0408]

No, not following it but I'm always interested in hearing about it. I remember being younger saying I wanted to run it. Not so much anymore, lol.

 

[LovinHedgies]

I'm not following it either, but its interesting to read about it. Kennel cough has been in issue in my town, its nasty I hope those pups recover quickly!

 

[arf2184]

The Alaska Daily News has the best (free) race coverage. http://www.adn.com/iditarod/

The blog is great, complete with pictures and video clips of musher interviews and dogs. http://community.adn.com/adn/blog/116441

And my personal favorite, Meet the Sled Dogs (Skunk is adorable): http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node/156047

The lead racers have finished up their 24 hour break in Takotna. A few mushers pushed on (opting not to stop long in Takotna), making them technically in the lead, but they still have to take their mandatory 24 hour rest. Trent Herbst from Idaho was the first musher into Iditarod, AK and won the $3,000 prize.

Once he over takes the three mushers that still have to take their 24 hour break, Buser will once again be in the lead.

Lance Mackey had to drop two more dogs and is down to just 10 and still not quite half way through the race.

A few more mushers have scratched because they were worried about their dogs just not being right and didn't think they could safely make it to Nome.

Zoya DeNure had one dog collapse on the trail. Miller (the dog) didn't seem to be breathing so she tried to resuscitate him (mouth to snout), put him in the sled, and turned back to Rainy Pass. The vets got him on IV right away. Zoya didn't want to leave Miller without knowing that he was ok so she opted to scratch rather than just drop him and continue on. Miller was flown home and was back to normal when he arrived home, but the vets aren't sure why he collapsed, or why he was unable to walk for several hours after getting back to Rainy Pass.

Mitch Seavey injured his hand pretty bad while cutting open a straw bale. The injury was bad enough that the race marshal withdrew Seavey from the race.

Still a long way to go.

 

[minrex]

There's a really good book that Gary Paulsen wrote about his experience running the Iditarod, called Winterdance. I had no idea just how insane that race is before I read that book.

 

[CTChin]

Every since I watched a video of a frustrated musher pounding...and I mean pounding on one of his dogs several years ago... I cannot bear to watch it. I know there are good mushers out there but that did it for me.

 

[minrex]

Every since I watched a video of a frustrated musher pounding...and I mean pounding on one of his dogs several years ago... I cannot bear to watch it. I know there are good mushers out there but that did it for me.

Abusing dogs during the race is forbidden, and if a musher is caught doing it, they're summarily disqualified.