Author Archive for John Proffitt

Iditarod cash prizes official

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 13, 2008
in Iditarod 2008
. Closed

The Iditarod Trail Committee officially released the cash prize list today, including the now complete list of top 30 finishers. Here’s the list:

01 - Lance Mackey $69,000
02 - Jeff King $65,100
03 - Ramey Smyth $61,400
04 - Ken Anderson $57,800
05 - Martin Buser $54,400
06 - Hans Gatt $51,100
07 - Mitch Seavey $48,000
08 - Paul Gebhardt $45,000
09 - Kjetil Backen $42,000
10 - Sebastian Schnuelle $39,200
11 - Zack Steer $36,600
12 - Cim Smyth $34,000
13 - Rick Swenson $31,500
14 - Jessie Royer $29,100
15 - Dee Dee Jonrowe $26,900
16 - Gerry Willomitzer $24,700
17 - Ed Iten $22,600
18 - Ray Redington, Jr. $20,600
19 - Aaron Burmeister $18,600
20 - Jim Lanier $16,800
21 - Aliy Zirkle $15,000
22 - Silvia Willis $13,300
23 - John Baker $11,600
24 - Sigrid Ekran $10,000
25 - Hugh Neff $8,500
26 - Warren Palfrey $7,100
27 - William Kleedehn $5,700
28 - Matt Hayashida $4,300
29 - Ed Stielstra $3,000
30 - Melissa Owens $1,800

Total Top Thirty = $874,700

Remaining Finishers @ $1,049 each = $43,009 (estimated)

Total Purse = $917,709

Top 31 Iditarod teams now into Nome

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 13, 2008
in Audio Updates and Iditarod 2008
. Closed

31 teams have made it to Nome in the Iditarod. All finishers take home $1,049 for their accomplishment, but the top 30 earn additional prize money. Number 30 is Melissa Owens, who arrived in Nome at 11:21 a.m. today. Owens lives in Nome, and was welcomed by a huge hometown crowd who turned out to cheer her on.

Libby Casey, KUAC - Nome

 
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Iditarod’s top 15 are into Nome following Mackey’s second championship

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 12, 2008
in Audio Updates and Iditarod 2008
. Closed

Teams continue to pour into Nome this evening, wrapping up their 1,100-mile run on the Iditarod trail. The latest to arrive was DeeDee Jonrowe, who finished at 4:07 p.m. this afternoon, in 15th place.

Libby Casey, KUAC - Nome

 
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Iditarod 2008 photo gallery

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 12, 2008
in Iditarod 2008
. Closed

sleddoginsled.jpg
One of Hugh Neff’s dogs, hiding out in his sled in Unalakleet.
Photo by Ellen Lockyer.

We’ve finally posted a collection of Iditarod 2008 photos spanning from the ceremonial start in Anchorage down to the finish line in Nome, thanks to friends of APRN as well as our trail reporters.

You can find our photo collection on Flickr, and even watch a slideshow if you’d like.

As of this writing we have a little over 160 photos, and we’re adding more as we gather them. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this collection in order to receive updates. Plus, be sure to also take a browse through Radio Icebox, where trail reporter Libby Casey has also posted many of her photos along with her blog posts.

And if you’d like to share your photos with us, you can e-mail them to iditarod [at] aprn [dot] org or just send us a link to your own online gallery!

Mackey wins, King takes second and the top 10 are rolling in

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 12, 2008
in Audio Updates and Iditarod 2008
. Closed

Lance Mackey stayed ahead of Jeff King and won the Iditarod at 2:46 a.m. this morning. KUAC’s Libby Casey reports from Nome in the attached audio update.

Meanwhile, it’s still a race for third between Ramey Smyth, Ken Anderson, Martin Buser and Hans Gatt, all coming off their 8-hour layovers in White Mountain within a half hour of one another.

Plus, there was another dog death last night. Ed Iten’s dog “Cargo” died between Elim and White Mountain.

Running for the rest of the top 10 are Mitch Seavey, Paul Gebhardt and Kjetil Backen. Then it’s Zack Steer, Sebastian Schnulle and Rick Swenson, who took an extra half hour’s rest in White Mountain.

 
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Lance Mackey: Iditarod 2008 Champion

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 12, 2008
in Iditarod 2008
. 3 Comments

Yet another Lance Mackey win in the Iditarod. This year he did it in 9 days, 11 hours, 46 minutes, 48 seconds (official time).

We’ll have audio updates later this morning on APRN stations statewide. And check back here to the web site or subscribe to the podcast. We’ll have updates from Libby Casey in Nome, plus more coverage from further back in the race from Ellen Lockyer.

Barring some unforeseen problem, Jeff King will take second place in this year’s race.

We’re in the last 30 minutes, tracking Mackey’s arrival

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 12, 2008
in Iditarod 2008
. Closed

We’re still live Twittering, but Channel 2 has also gone live now, via satellite from Nome. Keep an eye out for Libby Casey around those parts — she’s covering the finish for APRN this year. She also covered the finish of the Yukon Quest this year for KUAC, where she greeted Lance Mackey as he won the Quest yet again.

That’s the big story this year, of course. Lance Mackey taking the Yukon Quest + Iditarod in 2007, then repeating both races in 2008, winning both. His win last year was unprecedented. Lightning, in this case, has struck four times in a row.

We’ll have formal reports this morning on Alaska Public Radio Network stations statewide. Plus, we’ll post the stories here, of course. In the mean time, feel free to join us on Twitter or share your comments here.

GPS reveals how Mackey does it

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 12, 2008
in Iditarod 2008
. 4 Comments

Well now we know how Lance Mackey keeps winning these races. It’s a sudden surge of speed right at the end, as evidenced here:

GPS data on Mackey's speed

Who can beat 162 MPH?

Live Twittering continues… Mackey passes Safety checkpoint

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 12, 2008
in Iditarod 2008
. 8 Comments

Join us on Twitter for live coverage right up to the end of the race!

Lance Mackey has already passed the Safety checkpoint. So far, Jeff King has not poured on enough speed to make up the 1-hour difference in their starts from White Mountain. So it looks like Mackey’s race to lose at this point.

You can see a spreadsheet we’re updating as we countdown to someone’s victory.

If Mackey does indeed win this race, he will set yet another dog sledding record, with this unprecedented winning streak:

  • Iditarod 2008
  • Yukon Quest 2008
  • Iditarod 2007
  • Yukon Quest 2007

Will Elim checkpoint trick put Mackey into Nome first?

Published
by
John Proffitt
on March 11, 2008
in Audio Updates and Iditarod 2008
. 3 Comments

The race is literally on in the Iditarod as the two front-runners begin the final 77-mile run to Nome. A winner is expected early tomorrow morning. Lance Mackey left the White Mountain checkpoint at 4:53 p.m. this afternoon, and Jeff King will follow him out nearly an hour later at 5:50 p.m. The next group of mushers vying for third are more than 4 hours behind, giving the two leaders a wide berth. Ramey Smith, Ken Anderson, Hans Gatt and Martin Buser are all taking their mandatory 8-hour rests in White Mountain in a tightly packed group. They’ll leave the checkpoint within 30 minutes of each other starting at 11:44 p.m. tonight.

Be sure to listen to the attached audio report from the trail — it includes the tale of a practical joke (very practical) from the Elim checkpoint that might make Mackey the winner yet again. He played “the oldest trick in the book” for Iditarod mushers and caught Jeff King at least partially off-guard. Given the tight nature of the remainder of the race, this little trick might make the difference between winning and losing.

Libby Casey, KUAC - White Mountain

 
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