Leaders start to take their mandatory 24-hour layovers
TAKOTNA — Sebastian Schnuelle said he couldn’t believe it. A 13-hour run from somewhere beyond Nikolai all the way to Takotna, and his dogs still barked and lunged into their harnesses as he checked in to take his 24-hour layover. He wasn’t alone.
This race, with its relentless drizzle of snow and threat of rain, is seeing larger, livelier dog teams across the board. The vast majority of the top 20 are still running 14- to 16-dog strings. Schnuelle and the others, such as four-time champion Jeff King, know why. Dogs naturally slow down on soft trail and in warm temperatures, and when they run slower, they stay healthier. One of the arts of distance sled dog racing is finding the happy medium between speed and durability. If there’s a scale for that sort of thing, the 2008 Iditarod has forced its participants to fall well inside the safety zone.
Schnuelle, always upbeat, was especially chipper as he poured gallons of water into a large barrel over a wood fire; it’s the water supplied by the checkpoint for mushers to give to their dogs. Mushers parked up and down the steep hillside in downtown Takotna on Wednesday were mixing the water with dog food and meat, or serving it plain, for their dogs.
The only downside to this year’s slow trail, Schnuelle said, was dog booties. Mushers have to stop and change them all the time because they clump up with snow; if they run without them, they risk irritating the dogs feet. “That’s the only thing that’s a little annoying with this,” he said.
Besides stopping so often to tear off the Velcro-topped booties and replace them, Schnuelle said he’s been stopping every two hours to give his 16 dogs a snack of kibble soaked in a little warm water. Mushers dollop the oatmeal-like goop out of an insulated cooler right onto the ground for the dogs to eat.
Schnuelle arrived at 6:20 a.m. and wouldn’t leave until about 7 a.m. Thursday, choosing this hospitable checkpoint to declare his 24. Mushers have to take one of these breaks at least once during the Iditarod, and most pull over to rest at McGrath or Takotna; a few do it at Ophir and a handful run on to Cripple. One or two aim for Ruby, the first checkpoint on the Yukon River.
About 15 teams were in Takotna, and nine were at McGrath doing their 24s Wednesday afternoon. Another nine were at Ophir. And one, Paul Gebhardt, had continued on — so far.
DeeDee Jonrowe, who pulled in to Takotna, just before 8 a.m., about six hours off the lead pace of 2 a.m. set by Lance Mackey, mulled her options as she doled out a hot soup of thawed fish and beef to her team as heavy, wet snow fell about 1:30 p.m. Some of her dogs had a stomach bug that seems to take a day or so to clear up, she said, but she obviously wanted to keep going anyway, rather than rest up for 24 hours. They should all be better if she stayed 24 hours, Jonrowe pointed out; and they’re a young team with only five of her 15 who’ve been to Nome. She paused.”I’m not making much of a case for going on, am I?,” she said, laughing.
Teams going through Takotna this afternoon after taking a break at McGrath looked strong. Ken Anderson’s in particular. The full string of 16 dogs jumped and barked as Anderson grabbed a few odds and ends from his drop bag and scurried back to his sled. He was happy, at least now. One his runners had lost its plastic out in the Farewell Burn and he’d been scraping along on a metal rail that’s only supposed to hold the plastic on. It drug and slowed him down. The team picked up speed immediately after he switched sleds in McGrath.
Aliy Zirkle also blew through Takotna with 16 dogs. Zirkle dumped out her drop bags and sorted through what she needed to pick up here. She’d made a shopping list on a piece of scratch paper on the way over from McGrath so she wouldn’t forget. “Gatorade!” she declared. “I would have forgotten that if I didn’t write it down.” Also scribbled in pencil on her list was wide plastic runners, a vet pack with foot ointment, boot liners and “socks!”
The current race leaders — Mackey, King and Kjetil Backen — all pulled over to 24 at Takotna, known for its friendly hospitality. I’d predicted that King would not stop here, but I got that wrong. Of the three King was the only one awake around noon when I tucked my head in the door of the checkpoint. He was beaming, relaxed and talkative, and happy as his dogs — much like Schnuelle. His excitement, however, was tempered by the knowledge that there were plenty of other teams in just the same boat.
Backen has been fast and bullet-proof. Mackey has been fast, but is expressing concern over dogs being unwilling to lead. Observers say Gebhardt’s team is unified and serious as it chews up trail. And Mitch Seavey remains happy with his strong team, which is posting some of the fastest times among the front of the pack. By my calculations, Seavey is just a couple of hours off the lead pace; that’s insignificant. Mackey and Gebhardt were six hours off the lead pace last year at the race’s halfway point, and they ate away the lead by shaving a little rest and running faster than last year’s rabbits, King and Martin Buser.
If six hours is considered within striking distance, that puts Gebhardt, Seavey, Hugh Neff, Zack Steer, Ed Iten, Martin Buser and Ramey Smyth still in the hunt for first place. Those teams were in Ophir. That’s not to mention at least four teams taking their 24s in McGrath — Hans Gatt, Gerry Willomitzer, Rick Swenson and William Kleedehn. And five teams in Takotna — Jim Lanier, Aaron Burmeister, Schnuelle, Jessie Royer and Sigrid Ekran.
In other words, at this point, no team has taken firm command of first place in the 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Bad news for Barron?
Word from Cim Smyth as he blew through Takotna was that Jason Barron’s team had the same stomach bug that is bothering Jonrowe’s team. Barron left McGrath this morning, but reportedly opted to turn back to rest his dogs rather than push on, according to Smyth.
Weather an issue for more than mushers
There’s been at least three, possibly four, aircraft crashes in just the last two days as squalls of wet, heavy snow and warm winds buffet the region. Nobody has been hurt seriously, according to early reports. I don’t have details, and will leave that to the major news organizations for now as I stick to covering the race. I had hoped to hop over to Ophir and talk to the mushers resting there, but the heavy snow made passage through the hills between here and Ophir impossible. I may try to get there a little later.