Race from Anchorage to Nome with the Alaska Public Radio Network
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
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
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.
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
The Iditarod trail sled dog race is entering the final push as Lance Mackey checked into Koyuk at 1:19 p.m. this afternoon and Jeff King chased right in behind him 8 minutes later. Checked out of Shaktoolik and heading toward Koyuk now are Ken Anderson, Martin Buser, Ramey Smyth and Hans Gatt. Checked into Shaktoolik are Paul Gebhardt, Mitch Seavey, Kjetil Backen and Rick Swenson. The Iditarod’s Unalakleet checkpoint saw heavy traffic this morning, as the second tier of mushers pulled in off the trail for a few hours rest. There’s plenty of action and a few surprises for race watchers that ought to keep this year’s race just that — a race — all the way to the finish.
Ellen Lockyer, APRN - Unalakleet
Mushing the Iditarod is usually a solo journey between the team of musher and dogs. But some racers have family members out on the trail. KUAC’s Libby Casey has more about the unique relationships in this year’s race.
Blake and Jen Freking work with their dogs in Takotna. The husband-wife team has a kennel of Siberian Huskies in Minnesota.
Libby Casey, KUAC - Unalakleet
A dog in the team of Minnesotan Jen Freking was killed Sunday night by a snowmachine. Freking was on the trail between Galena and Nulato, near Koyukuk. Iditarod officials say her dog Lorne was killed and another was hurt when they were hit around 10:00 p.m. last night. They said Freking is devastated, but has decided to continue on the trail. This is the second dog death in this year’s Iditarod.
Libby Casey, KUAC - Unalakleet
NOTICE POSTED ON JEN & BLAKE FREKING’S WEB SITE:
At 10 PM Sunday night, March 9th, Jen’s team was struck by a snowmachine on the Yukon River between Galena and Nulato. 3 year old Lorne was killed and Aries was injured. They emailed the message below from Nulato at 2 pm March 10th. -Cindy
After a good rest and reflection, we decided as long as the rest of the dogs were healthy and ready to go, we would continue to Nome. Aries spent the night here at the school getting IV fluids and pain meds. He was flown out this morning for further care. He has been a really good boy through all this. He has a lot of soft tissue damage beneath his left shoulder, but he has been stable and calm the whole time. Hopefully, he will be able to recover fully. Lorn had been an incredible member of the team the whole race. She had eaten well and performed 100% the whole way… I was so very proud of her. The accident was the worst nightmare imaginable. We are so lucky neither Blake or I was struck and more dogs were not injured. I thought we had just witnessed half my team killed at the time.
After 3 hours of sleep, we went out to feed and the dogs were all quite perky and ate great. At the time of the accident, we were both sure our race was over. However, on the long run to the checkpoint we realized we would be working through this tragedy wether we were on the trail or scratching. If we were not traveling together as we are, it would be harder to go on. But we have eachother for support and company. We just want to travel the rest of the trail with no thoughts of competition at all.
Thank you for all your support.
Jen and Blake
The competition is fierce in this year’s Iditarod. Jeff King and Lance Mackey left Shaktoolik within minutes of each other last night, headed across the ice of Norton Sound. Behind those two there were more than 12 teams jockeying for the top 10, as they came into Unalakleet through the night. Kjetil Backen led them in, with Mitch Seavey and Rick Swenson closest behind him, then Martin Buser, Paul Gebhart and Ken Anderson. Seavey is down to 9 dogs. Anderson has 15, Buser 14. Scratches include Ryan Redington and some rookies, including arctic musher John Stetson, who had a dog death.
Get the full update by listening to the attached audio report.
More than 20% of the mushers in this year’s Iditarod are running the race for the first time. Top rookie Rohn Buser is currently in 10th place, but most first-timers find themselves toward the middle of the pack.
David Shurtleff, APRN - McGrath
Defending champ Lance Mackey is still leading the Iditarod at this hour. He’s the first — and only — musher to leave Ruby thus far, checking out just after 3:30 p.m. this afternoon. Six other mushers have checked in to Ruby. They include front-runners Jeff King, Kjetel Backen, Mitch Seavey and Rick Swenson.
Libby Casey, KUAC - Ruby
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