IDITAROD: Special Coverage from APRN

The closest Iditarod finish ever was in 1979 when Dick Mackey outlasted Rick Swenson by 1 second. The 2008 race has Dick’s son Lance pitted against Jeff King in perhaps the tightest race for the lead since that legendary finish. With the teams working their way up the Bering Sea coast to the mandatory 8 hour layover at White Mountain, the leaders have arrived at checkpoints within 1/2 hour of each other since the Koyuk checkpoint on the Yukon River.

Mackey admits that his team is traveling slower then King’s team. In order to keep pace with King he has chosen to cut his rest periods shorter. King appears a bit tired in some videos at the checkpoints, but obviously he is alert enough to calculate his rest period length so that his faster paced team catches up to Mackey’s by the next checkpoint. Look for both teams to make a push all the way to White Mountain after there rest at Koyuk. Mackey knows he will have to leave the Koyuk checkpoint first to maintain his chances. A key point will be at the Elim checkpoint where a new mandatory vet check will require additional time for King’s 16 dog team. Both teams have GPS trackers, so race fans will certainly be watching closely if the race remains tight.

Meanwhile, an increasingly large pack of teams are now battling it out for the 3rd place finish assuming the gap to Mackey and King is too large to overcome at this point. Ken Anderson, Ramey Smyth, Martin Buser, Hans Gatt, Paul Gebhardt, Mitch Seavey, and Kjetil Backen all are in contention having departed the Shaktoolik checkpoint. Each will need to take at least one significant rest on the way into White Mountain.

As the leaders of the Iditarod dogsled race depart Unalakleet and head up the Bering Sea coast, 2007 Iditarod winner Lance Mackey and 2006 Iditarod winner Jeff King have distanced themselves from the pack and continue to swap places at the front. Mackey left the Kaltag checkpoint for the 90 mile jaunt over the pass to the coast at Unalakleet first and King departed 4 hours later, however Mackey did not rest his team at Kaltag and King did. Mackey likey chose to rest along the trail, and by the time they reached Unalakleet King was out front by 30 minutes. Both teams were treated to some spectacular northern lights duing the early morning hours. Mackey chose to cut rest short at Unalakleet, and was on the trail in the lead again after 2 hours 45 minutes of rest. King chose to take 5 hours of rest spotting Mackey a 42 minute lead.

There is a new rabbit to chase. Jeff King has pulled ahead of Lance Mackey during the first half of the run from Kaltag to Unalakleet. This 80+ mile leg will take mushers a dozen or so hours and there are many still hungry for the win — whether it be their 6th, 5th, 2nd, or 1st. One of the places that folks sometimes stop to break the run up is the Old Woman Cabin. This was a favorite of Susan Butcher and last year some of her ashes were left by her husband and daughter. The Kaltag-Unalakleet leg has it all: woods, steep hills, river crossings, open tundra. The last 10 miles of the trail near Unalakleet often becomes dodgy with markers and is sometimes difficult to follow if coastal winds cause the trail to drift over.

With the Iditarod sled dog race lead pack now negotiating the Yukon River section of the trail, an ageless group of mushers are demonstrating that they still have what it takes to keep up with the youngsters in the field. Race leader Lance Mackey at 36 years of age is the baby of the crowd. He is being hotly pursued by the team of 51 year old Jeff King. 52 year old Paul Gebhardt has worked himself back into 3rd place after having a disastrous run into the halfway point at Cripple. Rounding out the top 10 are 47 year old Mitch Seavey, the ageless 67 year old Jim Lanier, 54 year old Ed Iten, 55 year old Rick Swenson, 38 years young Kjetil Backen, 49 year old Hans Gatt, and 49 year old John Baker. The average age of the top 10 mushers at this point is 49.8 years old.