Tekla Monson, age 11, the daughter of Dave Monson and the late Iditarod legend Susan Butcher, arrived unpresumptiously at 6PM under the burled arch finish in Nome with her eight dog team Saturday afternoon-after a 700 mile trip on the historical Serum Run Trail. Long sentence, but Tekla deserves it.
Author Archives: Joe Runyan
The Pack Arrives
Like stampeding buffaloes, mushers of the Iditarod pack continue to file into Nome despite winds, cold temperatures, bare trails, and glare ice. Understanding the behavior pattern of the incoming musher has become one of those counterintuitive condundrums. They sleep an hour, or not at all, after arriving and gather their fans for an appearance at [...]
Lance Mackey Interview
A note: I have just emerged from a filmed interview with Lance Mackey and his father, the 1978 Iditarod Champ, Dick Mackey with a new understanding of the human spirit.
The Incredible Lance Mackey — In Five Hundred Words Or Less
Lance Mackey, age 36, finished on Front Street, weaving his team through crowds of fans, slapping [...]
Mackey out of White Mountain
Lance Mackey and team steamed into White Mountain at the head of the Iditarod pack this early morning at about 1:30 AM to the applause of a late night crowd assembled on river ice. A church bell rang, the traditional signal that a team has crossed the ice from Golovin and ready to arrive in [...]
Mackey and Gebhardt out of Koyuk
Lead changes, moves in the night, unexpected appearances, and the “Incredible” Lance Mackey’s emergence in Koyuk as race leader have combined to make this year’s Iditarod a memorable down to the wire finish.
We’ve just landed the helicopter after a morning in the air following competitors from Unalakleet to Shaktoolik to Koyuk and beyond.
First, the news [...]
King and Front into UNK
Momentum Shifts as Front Four Race to Unalakleet
King Arrives First into UNK, Mackey Closes Gap
That’s the headline in Unalakleet, first village on the Berring Sea Coast, as four mushers, King, Mackey, Buser, and Gephardt thrust, parry, and posture with strategy moves and changes in momentum that leave the race decidedly undecided.
A shifty Iditarod fan needs [...]
Buser Pushes thru Greyling
Martin Buser continues to lead the pack of Iditarod mushers through Greyling enroute to the isolated checkpoint of Eagle Island on the north bank of the Yukon. He arrived Greyling at 10:22 PM, quickly grabbed gear and food, and exited the village, located high on a bank in pictaresque grove of tall spruce and thick [...]
Buser First to Eagle Island
No surprise to fans watching times on the Internet—Buser is first into Eagle Island checkpoint at 6:30 AM with a time of 9:24.
What does it mean to the following pack? Still located in Greyling, I walked around the checkpoint log cabin and did a reaction survey with AP writers, Cabellas Jon Little, our Iditarod media [...]
King into Kaltag First
Jeff King rounded the bend four miles down river and veteran race fans from the village of Kaltag saw his headlight bobbing in the moonless dark and predicted an arrival a half hour later. King and team continued to drive directly into a stiff headwind and pulled up the slip and checked in at 9:23PM. [...]
Steer Leads Pack
Steer Leads Pack out of Iditarod in Direction of Shageluk
Martin Buser and Jeff King end all conjecture in Iditarod when they arrive in quick succession about 4:30 PM Thursday evening. Incredibly, they have made a giant leap of 90 miles to include several short stops to feed their huskies. Conspicuously absent is Zach Steer, who [...]