Top Mushers in the Burn

It seems most of the top names have gotten out ahead of the massive storm that hit south central last night and are now in the burn. Reports are that the Burn is almost without snow, which means it will most likely be slow going - though there are some meteorologists predict that it could have gotten upwards of two inches of snow dusted on it last night. Still, most of the teams are keeping a steady pace of 8mph.

Both Seaveys are in the burn (Dallas is apparently resting at the moment according to teh GPS tracker), as are Gebhardt, Schnuelle, King, Mackey, Steer, and about 13 others.

We're moving right along in the race!

New Poll!

Make sure to come to the main part of my blog and vote for who you believe will win Iditarod 38! If you don't find your musher choose other and then comment below with your pick!

Highlights from the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod 38

The ITC could not have ordered a more perfect day. It was overcast, but not too warm or cold, and the few snow flurries that happened throughout the day just made it feel more "Iditarod".

Dan Seavey was the first of familiar faces to come down the trail. He drove a traditional looking freight sled while his dogs wore dog coats with the Iditarod name on them. Conway Seavey - Mitch's youngest - rode the second sled (brake sled).

Being a trail coordinator was fun and challenging. A lot of people couldn't make it after signing up (though only four informed me ahead of time) so we were a little taxxed on manpower - next year I am going to do a whole lot of recruiting and we'll just wean the list down with whomever does not show up (without prior heads up).

I want to give a thanks and shout outs to:

Jeff Reitter
Alan Reitter
Sue Reitter
Duane Reitter
Ed Mallott
Tom Frolich
Gary Caddell
Lori Cochran
Charmaine Ramos
Judy Imperiale
Danielle [sorry I forgot your last name! ack!]

All were vital to the success of the Tudor Crossing event, and I'm sure your contributions were appreciated by all involved!

The hay bales that seem to be a thorn in the side of certain others in our group (and the trail committee) went off without a hitch, and the area where they were placed was great fun. Jeff, Alan (my dad), and Duane (my brother) all helped in that section and, while there were some spectacular crashes, there was no problem and no injuries (mushers have scratched due to problems on the ceremonial start). My parents and brother were 'rookies' to the modern trail guarding duties and had a blast. I think we have some new diehards now!

All of the teams look great, and I love the ceremonial start for the celebration atmosphere. Jeff King riding the front of his sleds on skis using a rudder to steer his sled while the Make-A-Wish rider sat safely and warmly under a black bear rug of a blanket. DeeDee Jonrowe and her fullout pink team. Booties were flying, hot dogs were sizzling... fantastic, wonderful day.

Wonderful even when Dallas Seavey's team went running at me while I took photos, and then as he laughed (oh the joys of knowing a mischevious musher) he knocked over a hay bale (no doubt he wasn't paying attention to where his sled was going, but he still claimed to have done it on purpose). That's what the ceremonial start is about, having fun - and, apparently, having 16 dogs try to dog pile in your lap (I got out of the way in time).

All in all it was one to go down in the books as one of the best of all time.

Can't wait to see how the race turns out!

Great Time

Photos and 'review' to come later, but tonight I leave you with a shot of Dan & Conway Seavey - and team! I feel very fortunate to know the Seavey family.



Visit Team Seavey's website by clicking here, and make sure to cheer on both Mitch and Dallas during Race 38!

Musher's Banquet Tomorrow Night

And the countdown in hours begins. The musher's banquet is the kick off to teh kickoff. Mushers and their families mingle with race fans as they celebrate teh start of another year's race. It also hosts the drawing of the bib numbers determining where a musher will start in the line up. It's a night of celebration, it's low key but exciting none the less.

This year I have the honor of working the sales table at the banquet. Having never attended one before (tickets are rather inexpensive, but parking downtown is a huge pain). I have to admit I'm pretty excited. It'll be the "who's who" of mushcing as all the mushers must be presant that night to draw their number - this also ensures that those that pruchase ticketers rub elbows with "their musher."

In honor of this great tradition - and because I will not have time to blog tomorrow - tonight's blog will spotlight the mushers who are the ones to watch over the next two weeks.

Let's start off with the team favored, by most, to win: Lance Mackey. Mackey is riding high (on most days literally) off of his three consecutive wins. He is part of mushing royalty - his father, Dick Mackey, won the Iditarod in 1979 by a dog's nose, and Mackey's brother Rick is also Iditarod champion. If Lance wins this year he will be the first musher to win four in a row. Lance thrives under the attention he's garnered over the last few years, so winning his fourth is something he wants badly. But, Lance's sason has been pretty rocky. Last summer the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) announced that they would be enforcing the drug policy on mushers this year. Mackey has been very outspoken - he claims it's because people can't stand him winning all the time - stating that everyone in the state does it (for the record this life time Alaskan has never even entertained the idea of smoking pot, but, whatever, Lance). Lance is a cancer survivor who has a medicinal marajuana license - making it legal for him to use for medical purposes - and the ITC has stated it will not count against him. Mackey has stated he plans to race without his stash. We'll see.

Challenging Lance the past few years is four time Iditarod champion Jeff King. King is said to be the winningest musher in the sport. He's been part of several great rivalries from Susan Butcher to Martin Buser and, now, Lance Mackey. Jeff is a charismatic and innovative musher, much of the equipment (like the 'old man's sled') we see the mushers use out on the trail he has had a hand in improving. King's antics on the trail are also well documented by many reporters, and has helped give him an endearing quality that have race fans cheering him on year after year. Jeff King is well respected and liked by the mushing community and fans alike. He's a stark contrast to Mackey - while both seem to be showmen, Jeff has a sense of humility that Mackey lacks. Jeff gave $50,000 to the ITC with their dwindling funds and has been a champion for the race on and off the trail. King stated early this week that Iditarod 38 may very well be his last, he's sold many of his top dogs and is running a younger more inexperienced team. IF this is his final run down the trail his presence will be truly missed.

Another four time champion in the mix is Swiss born Martin Buser. Buser holds the record finishing time (just under nine days) and would probablybe the musher most likely to win the Mr. Congeniality competition. Buser's reputation is widely known - his dog care is second to none, he's been 'critisized' (for lack of a better word) in teh past for 'babying' his dogs - for Martin the placement is not half as important as the level of fun the dogs are running at. There is, quite possibly, no one else that embodies the Alaskan Dream like Buser. Marting moved from his native Switzerland to run dogs in Alaska in the late 70's. Though he lived in the state for many years before winning his first Iditarod championship in 1992, Buser was (and is) considered the first international musher to win (though three time champion Robert Sorlie actually flies over from Norway to compete.) and was not looked at as "one of us" until teh year his home in Big Lake, Alaska was threatend by forest fires. Fire personel in the area were evacuating everyone from the area, but Buser refused to leave without his dogs - all of them. so, without the help of those evacuating the humans, Buser set out to rescue the entire dog lot. All but two dogs survived (two got loose and ran into the woods and were never returned) and Martin Buser became Alaska's own.

Completing the club of repeat champions entered in race 38 is Rick Swenson. If there's anyone who does not fit the modern stereotype of mushers, it's Swenson. Rick seems more apt to be a linebacker or a blobsledder than a musher, but he's done fairly well. In 1979 he was the second place musher in a photo finish - losing by less than one second to Dick Mackey. Rick is also teh only musher to win five Iditarods. His knowledge of the trail is extensive, and this man from Kotzebue knows how to survive the toughest of conditions. Swenson is best known for his rivalry with the great Susan Butcher, in the 80s it was all about their head to head battles out on the trail. He hasn't quite dominated the sport recently, but he just might have another one left in him.

2004 Iditarod Champion Mitch Seavey gave a recent interview stating while he wasn't planning to race into his 80s (he's not close to that anyway) he does plan on winning this year - but what musher doesn't? Mitch is another musher in the Iditarod royalty. His father, Dan Seavey, ran in the first Iditarod coming third, Mitch is the 2004 champion and all of his age elligible sons (and a daughter in law) have run. In 2008, Mitch won the largest purse ever for a sled dog race when he won the All-Alaska Sweepstakes. While most mushers seem to just have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, Mitch has his strategy down to a science. It's almost mathmatical the way that he works. If everything works out to the schedule he plans to run there'll be no stopping him. His dogs are ready, as is he, if he wins it will be a great upset, and one that will have folks talking. It's about time he wins again, right?

Speaking of Seavey's, Mitch's third son Dallas is hitting the trail once again. Dallas came in sixth last year after a near flawless run. It was the highest placement for the musher yet, and he is well on his way to his goal of becoming the youngest Iditarod champion. Dallas is already the youngest musher to finish the race, he was just 18 years old - he turned 18 the day before the race, meaning he pretty much owns the title of youngest finisher for the rest of time. Dallas's momentum after the Iditarod was stopped abruptly this summer with the loss of his prized lead dog Fridge. Dallas worked hard with the young dog, especially after Fridge washed out of Mitch's team (Fridge and Mitch's personality's didn't click). When not training Fridge co-starred in Dallas's Wildride Sled Dog Rodeo in Anchorage, Alaska showing tourists and Alaskans alike the intricasy of training a lead dog. Even with the horrible setback of losing a close friend on the trail, Dallas is hard working and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him just as high or higher in the standings this time around.

Sentimental favorite DeeDee Jonrowe has never won the Iditarod though she's been in it as long as most of the old dogs. She's a cancer survivor and was looked at as the next woman in line to win the thing. So far she hasn't come through on the championship, but she's come darn close. DeeDee is still considered to be a champion among women, and has been the inspiration for many young girls looking to get into the sport. She loves her dogs, and she loves to run, and she's passionate about the race. She proudly wears pink in honor of breast cancer awareness and is one of those you feel compelled to cheer for. Will she be in contention for the championship? Anything is possible.

Other mushers to note that could pull out a spoiler are mushers like Zack Steer (who is being sponsored by the US Census Bureau), John Baker, Paul Gebhardt, and Sebastian Schnuelle. All I can say is it's going to be a GREAT RACE. stay tuned.

Photography by Antonia Reitter

Iditarod: What You Need to Know

With five days until the Ceremonial Start to the 38th Iditarod, it's time to get a few FAQ's out of the way. These are compiled from my crazed brain, with the help of working with Alaskan tourists for the last four years. If I miss anything, feel free to comment and ask away. If I don't have the answer I'll BS my way through it, just like I do all summer long! (Only half kidding, I will do my best to answer your questions with the right answers, unlike in the summer where I make it up as I go along and you'd never know it).

First off the Iditarod Trail is longer than the race actually runs. Mile 0 of the trail is actually in Seward, AK - not Anchorage. In 2004 -the year he won- Mitch Seavey ran his team from Seward to Anchorage before the ceremonial start began. He is - as far as I know - the only musher to do so for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

The official mileage of the race is 1,049 (a nod to Alaska's being the 49th state), but is closer to 1,100 miles.

The first race was run in 1973, and was basically a test to see if it could even be accomplished. It took over two weeks to get from Anchorage to Nome, and the mushers weren't so much racing as helping one another out.

Joe Redington is the Father of the Iditarod and gets the credit for starting the race - he went into debt so that he could afford to pay the winner - as well he should, however the first teams to ever attempt it all had a hand in the history making race, and many still continue to see her through.

There's a sort of Mushing Family Royalty in the Iditarod. The Redingtons, Mackeys, Seaveys and Busers all have multigenerational mushers within their families. All but, ironically, the Reddingtons have at least one Iditarod champion (The Mackey's win with the most - three). In 2000, the Seavey family became the first family in Iditarod history to run three generations in one race. Dan Seavey - who helped Redington coordinate the first race, and ran in that race - his son Mitch Seavey and his grandson Danny Seavey were the ones to all make it down the trail and into Nome.

Tyrell Seavey holds the record as being the first, first-year rookie to make the top 20.

Dallas Seavey - yes, another Seavey - is the youngest musher to finish. He turned 18 the day before the race started in 2005.

A musher is considered a rookie - no matter how many times they run - until their first Nome finish. If you scratch (quit the race) you will return in your next race again as a rookie. Rookies that finish receive an "Iditarod Finisher" buckle. You can only get it once, and it's highly coveted and is more prized -possibly- than a win. It's said that there have been more people to climb Mt. Everest or go into space than there are who have finished the Iditarod.

Rick Swenson is the only musher to win five Iditarods, and is the youngest musher to win at age 26. He also was part of the historic one second finish in 1978 - the year Dick Mackey won - where it was also decided that the winner would be decided by the nose of the first dog over the finish line and not the first musher. This finish was inducted to the Alaska Hall of Fame in 2010.

Libby Riddles was the first woman to win in 1985, it would be the only championship she'd win, and it was almost a fluke. A freak storm blew in in the last possible moment and Libby was caught out in it, but not wanting to lose time she continued moving forward believing she'd already lost the race. She won!

Susan Butcher would be the true 'women's champion' winning a total of four - she is the only woman to do so. Susan became the icon of the sport, and changed the face of the Iditarod for the mid 80s and most of the 90s. No other woman has won since. A phrase was coined after Susan began winning - "Alaska: where men are men and women win the Iditarod."

There are only a select few who have won four Iditarod's or more. Members of the club include Rick Swenson, Susan Butcher, Doug Swingley, Jeff King and Martin Buser. Each, in their own way, brought something special to the Iditarod - and changed the sport for the better. The race you see now has been greatly influenced by this "club."

Martin Buser holds the fastest time of any Iditarod winner, just under 9 days.

The average time for the winner these days is 9 and a half days.

Doug Swingley (Montana, USA) and Robert Sorlie (Team Norway) are the only "outsiders" to win the race. "Outsiders" is the term to describe non-Alaskans. (Interestingly enough while Doug Swingley won four impressive Iditarods, he is not well liked/respected by most Alaskans - whereas Robert Sorlie - a three time champion - is beloved by most. Go figure.)

Though he is considered by some to be the first international Iditarod champion, Martin Buser (Swiss born) became a US citizen in 2002 - taking the oath under the Burled Arch in Nome.

Lance Mackey is the third Mackey to win an Iditarod title - making their family the first to have three champions in one family. Lance is favored to win the 2010 race.

Jeff King is known as the innovator. It seems every year he comes with something new to the race. He is the inventor of the "old man's sled", which is a racing sled that has a caboose-or, rather, chair in the back. Most scoffed at the idea when he first introduced it (hence the name "old man's chair") but now it is widely used by newbies and old timers alike. He has even had heated handlebars in the past, though those had a tendency to get a little *too* warm.

While the purse is a substantial size for winning the race, it doesn't come close to covering a musher's expenses. Most mushers support their kennels by doing tours and demonstrations in the summer months inbetween training.

The unofficial song of the Iditarod is Hobo Jim's "Iditarod Trail." After Joe Redington's death in 1999, Jim wrote another song about the race entitled "Redington's Run" in honor of the "Father of the Iditarod."

The race has two courses, which are alternated every other year, around the Yukon River. In even years the Northern route is used, the southern route -of course- is run in the odd years. Of the two it's said the Southern Route is more brutal because the wind is in your face, not behind you. This gives the Southern Villages a chance to host checkpoints -and allows the race to pass through the ghosttown of its namesake: Iditarod.

Iditarod is a Native Alaskan word meaning "A Great Distance."

Iditarod 2010

It's getting to be that time of year again! We have just over a month left before the hardiest dogs along with a special breed of men and women hit the Iditarod Trail in a two week test of strength and determination. The Iditarod is the Last Great Race On Earth for good reason.

I've grown up with the race always being a part of life - no not as a musher or anything like that - but an Alaskan. It's our sport, even if we don't race it, it's OURS. No one else in the world has one quite like it. Some would like to take it away, which makes it all the more beloved by those of us who knows what it really stands for. What it's really all about.

What makes me jump into this mode when it doesn't even come to town until March? I got my first email from the Iditarod Volunteers of the year! I have been asked to help with the sales table at the Iditarod Race Headquarters in Anchorage (Millenium Hotel). So I'm a bit giddy this evening. And I just had to share. I'll go now...


*hums*
Well, give me a team
And a good lead dog
And a sled that's built so fine!

And let me race
Those miles to Nome,
One thousand forty-nine!

And when I get
Back to my home
Hey, I can tell my tale!

I did, I did, I did
The Iditarod Trail!!

Photo by Antonia Reitter(Me!). Iditarod Trail lyrics by Hobo Jim.