Hans Gatt turned in his best Iditarod finish ever but said at the finish line he most likely won’t run the Iditarod  again.  Though he sounded sincere, time will tell as many mushers say they won’t race again but time fogs the memory of the pain of the trail and off they go again. None the less, Hans ran a great race and finished with a great looking dog team anyone would be proud of.  As Jeff and Lance were racing up the coast it was apparent that they were both aware that Hans was posting travel times faster than theirs.

Make no mistake about it, Hans was racing to win.  He just chose to rest his dogs more and keep up their speed rather than doing the longer runs. Talking in Nome he stated that he made a few mistakes that kept him from winning and it was not the fault of his team.  Stating that his team preformed well he said that they did lack some of the “zip” they had in the Yukon Quest.  First in the Quest and second in the Iditarod, sounds like a repeat from last year.

Hans said in Nome that dealing with the constant cold of 40 below on the last part of the race was hard to cope with. That and the extreme sleep deprivation that racers experience.  Add the two together and it makes the race that much harder on the mushers.

Ken Anderson ran a very stealth race, staying out of view of the other racers and running different run/ rest cycles than the front of the pack.  His come from behind run after his 24 hour layover is something mushers next year should study in a well planned race.  From the Yukon River to Koyuk Ken rested at different points and kept steadily closing in on the front teams and maintained a smooth steady pace.

Hugh Neff ran at the front for most of the race, falling back some once he reached the coast.  Hugh said he will be back for next year’s Iditarod  and reflected a little on this years race.  At the beginning of this years race the teams experienced soft snow conditions and he was glad he had a “trail hardened” team fresh from the Yukon Quest. This year he stopped at every checkpoint to give his team  rest.  Rohn to Nikolai was one of the hardest runs for Hugh as he kept having the runner plastic peel off his runners and finally just ran 30 miles across tussocks on his metal runners. He stated that he feels it’s important for teams training for the Iditarod to run on rough trails and not always train on groomed trails which they most likely won’t see during the race. This year he was running a young team of dogs which he calls Annie’s Army bred from his leader by that name.  He stated that he questions focusing on run times during a race and thinks rest times are more important. On the weather in this years race, Hugh said it’s just as important that mushers take care of themselves as it is their dogs.  If your hands don’t work you can’t take care of your dogs.  In cold like the mushers had in this years race it takes lots of good  food for the dogs and dog coats to help them rest.  He also said though cold wears on a musher, wind is still their biggest fear.  Luckily  they didn’t get much of that this year.  Near the end of the race he said he got on the wrong run/rest time that made the final run up the coast more difficult.  Elim to White  Mountain was a hard run for him and his team.  Hugh still reflects on racing as a great privilege and being out in the country seems to be more of a spiritual connection for him.  He’s come a long ways from the streets of Chicago!  Hugh gave Hans Gatt a congratulations on a well run race.

Finally one must congratulate John Baker on pulling it back together after a five hour set back on his run to Cripple.  If you subtract that five hours from his time he would have been right in the thick of the front battle this year. None the less he made a strong recovery in the latter part of the race.