IDITAROD XXXVIII rookie musher Hank Debruin, (Bib #45) scratched at 5:08 p.m. Alaska Time (March 16, 2010) in Nulato Checkpoint.  The 47 year old musher from Haliburton, Ontario, Canada had 13 dogs on his team.  Debruin made the decision based on his team’s ability to continue to compete in the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

IDITAROD XXXVIII Musher Lance Mackey (Bib # 49) arrived in Nome Alaska at 2:59 pm Alaska Time with 11 dogs, and is the first musher in Iditarod Race history to win four back to back Iditarod Championships.  Mackey gave all the credit to his team and his leaders… especially his three year old female Maple (last year’s Golden Harness winner).

Mackey also recognized the fact that there were no less than four other mushers that battled him all the way to White Mountain.  Even then, Mackey’s battle wasn’t over as the 2010 Yukon Quest Champion, Hans Gatt, continued to gain on Mackey’s team before running out of trail on Front Street.

Mackey’s team made it to Nome in 8 days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 9 Seconds making him the second musher to ever eclipse the 9 day barrier. 4 time Iditarod Champion Martin Buser still holds the record.

But no one has ever accomplished what the incredible Lance Mackey has: win 4 straight Iditarod Championships. Mackey did say that he thinks he’s up for a fifth in 2011.

The lead teams at this point are all in White Mountain and Lance Mackey has just headed out on this final stretch to Nome.  All the dogs in the front 3 teams ate well here and all the mushers were exceedingly sleepy.

Both Lance and his team seemed revived after their 8 hour rest and the others most likely will be too. Although this is Lance’s race to lose at this point, the race isn’t over until the lead dog reaches the finish line.  Many Iditarods have been won and lost along this last 77 miles of trail.  Lance’s Dad, Dick Mackey took the lead to win his 1978 championship along this section.  Rick Swenson has taken over the lead a number of times along this section of trail as well.  I don’t expect Lance to falter in this run but as the saying goes, it isn’t over until it’s over.

Lance was greeted in White Mountain by his father Dick Mackey as a little bonus to his run.

As for other reflections at the front, John Baker is in White Mountain and if you look at his times and subtract the 5 hours he had the misfortune to spend outside of Cripple he would be right in the mix of this front pack now.  Ramey Smyth came into White Mountain with a strong looking team and reported losing his dog team out on Golovin Bay.  He ran after them for about an hour into the village of Golovin and there he found his team where they had luckily pulled in and parked themselves instead of heading all the way to White Mountain.

How do you know Nulato?  As a checkpoint on the Iditarod trail?  As a small village on the Yukon River?  Maybe you’ve learned a little history and know it began as a Russian trading post.  Being here for only 3 days, I’ve seen mostly the inside of the school and gym.  My journeys outside the building were limited to running out to check the temperature and wind speed.  Today I asked if I could be shown around the village.  I don’t think it’s fair to say I know about Nulato, unless I know more about it.

Bill offered to take me around Nulato on his snowmachine.  We began on the river, on the Iditarod Trail, and surprisingly he spotted a musher coming that I couldn’t even see.  Considering we are down to just a handful of mushers coming through, it was a gift that there was one on the trail for me to take pictures of.  He pointed out fox, rabbit, and lynx tracks.

A trip up to the cemetery was next.  I’m awed and amazed at the beauty of the wooden fences and crosses that embellish these sacred places.  Bill told me about the families buried there, who they were and their roles in the community.  He even pointed out his grandparents’ and parents’ final resting places. It was a history lesson given by someone who had lived it.

From the hill the cemetery is on, Bill pointed out the mouth of the Nulato River on which he would wind back into the hills to fish for grayling and other types of fish.   He showed me the mountains the other direction where he goes to hunt wolves and geese.

Around town I saw the airstrip, the electric plant, one of the stores, the tribal council building, two wash-a-terias, the post office and the city offices.  Bill pointed out the newly graveled road for expansion building.  When we reached the dump site, he mentioned that it is where wolves like to hang out. And he said up into the trees he hunts black and grizzly bears.

When we reached the mouth of the Nulato River, we stopped and I gazed down the Yukon into which it flows while Bill explained that the wolf skins weren’t good this year because there wasn’t enough snow.  And he described the breaking up of the river as a big celebration.  People sit along the river bank watching the  powerful display of nature.  Back down onto the river and the Iditarod Trail where there are tripod trail markers.  He said, “See where the wolf tracks run alongside the rabbit tracks? The wolf was probably running after the rabbit.  Amazing, isn’t it?”

And I thought to myself, “Isn’t this – ALL of this – Bill – Nulato – Amazing?” Now I KNOW Nulato.

It is a race of Champions.

Jeff King gave his dogs a little more rest last night at Koyuk.  At this point we’d have to say that this is Lances’ race to lose.  But remember that happened two years ago when the rolls were reversed, Jeff was in first place coming into Elim and Lance went on to win.

Though both Lance and Jeff might like to back the pace off a little they are keenly aware that Hans Gatt is breathing down their necks and posting faster travel times.  All three front teams look great.

In the middle of the night at Koyuk when the teams arrived, all the mushers seemed exhausted, cold and mentally stressed because they came into Koyuk on a different trail over the sea ice than they had used in previous years.  The new trail  may have added an additional 5-6- miles to the run.

The situation now is with a mandatory 8 hour layover at White Mountain,  even if your team is a little slower… it’s hard to get caught before the finish in Nome if you have much of a lead.  Nothing is impossible and anything is possible yet.

IDITAROD XXXVIII rookie musher Emil Churchin, (Bib #53) scratched at 12:40 p.m. Alaska Time (March 15, 2010) in Ruby Checkpoint.  The 42 year old musher from Anchorage Alaska had 13 dogs on his team.  Churchin made the decision based on his team’s ability to continue to compete in the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

These two guys remind me of something from Greek mythology, warriors traversing a battlefield with chariots led by half wild animals.  This may not only be one of the greatest Iditarods competitively ever but those of us standing out here along the Bering Sea ice watching this, feel we may be watching one of the greatest competitions in any sport.

To add to this mix the teams nipping at their heels aren’t rolling over or backing off.

On March 10^th, 2010 IDITAROD XXXVIII Musher Justin Savidis (Bib #10) lost one of his team members, Whitey, a three year old male, between Nikolai and McGrath Checkpoints.  Friday, (March 12, 2010) Justin Savidis scratched in McGrath in order to help McGrath Volunteers and the Iditarod Air Force continue to search.  Earlier today, Whitey was located and returned to McGrath in good condition.  Both Whitey and Justin Savidis are now back in Anchorage, Alaska.

They actually seemed unfazed.  After their rest they marched right out of town on their way to Shaktoolik just like it was any other run.  It will be interesting to see what he pulls next.

Lance himself seemed extremely tired when he arrived here but ate a good meal and was chatty and friendly to all the race fans.

The rest of the top four mushers,  Jeff King, Hugh Neff and Hans Gatt,  all have teams looking extremely strong at this point of the race and all were eating well.  This  is a sign of the dogs not being overly tired.

With the front four teams so far ahead of everyone else now, I really haven’t seen much of the others coming up behind them as these guys sprint on to White Mountain

You can get more details on rest and travel times in the race current standings.

If you’re wondering why their travel times were so long between Kaltag and Unalakleet,  it was because all four  front runners  reported really soft fluffy snow that slowed their rate of speed most of the way here.

All of them seemed a little frustrated with that and reported that the first 28 miles out of Kaltag took 5 hours because of the trail conditions.

Three- time Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey is the first to arrive at the Gold Coast community of Unalakleet in bold attempt to distance himself from the rest of the front runners. Mackey (Bib # 49) arrived in Unalakleet early this morning at 03:32 am Alaska Time with 12 dogs. Mackey’s team’s strong run from Kaltag to Unalakleet earned him the Wells Fargo “Gold Coast” Award.

The Wells Fargo Gold Coast Award includes a beautiful gold cup and $2,500 in gold nuggets. Mackey was presented the award and the gold nuggets by Scott Johnson, Nome Business Relationship Manager and Dave Cunningham, Unalakleet Advisory Board Member.

Unalakleet is strategically located on the coast of Norton Sound, just north of the Unalakleet River. There are only six more checkpoints remaining between Unalakleet and the burled arch of Nome.

The award will be re-presented to Mackey in Nome on Sunday, March 21^st, during the Iditarod Awards Banquet.

IDITAROD XXXVIII musher Warren Palfrey, (Bib #27) scratched at 7:00 p.m. Alaska Time (March 13, 2010) in Galena Checkpoint.  The 34 year old musher from Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada, had 10 dogs on his team when he made the decision.  Palfrey made his decision based on his team’s inability to continue to compete.

Jeff decided it was more prudent to rest his dogs and try to maintain his speed rather than chasing down the trail after Lance.  Jeff said with a smile on his face, “this guy really knows how to race”.

Someone once said that a great warrior deserves a great opponent.  These two have certainly found theirs.

Hugh Neff decided to follow Jeff’s lead and rest his dogs before trying to take over first place and Hans Gatt raced through Kaltag  to position himself closer to the championship.

All I know is we’re having trouble keeping up with these guys with snowmachines and airplanes so we’re off to Unalakleet to try keep up

As of this writing, the first 5 mushers into Nulato, have been greeted, parked, and checked in by the vigilant people of the village who will be there for the remaining field of racers as well.  “We love this race,” they say here.  Welcome home to Nulato!

IDITAROD XXXVIII musher Ryan Redington, (Bib #25) scratched at 3:30 p.m. Alaska Time (March 13, 2010) in Galena Checkpoint.  The 27 year old musher from Wasilla Alaska had 11 dogs on his team.  Redington made his decision because some members of his team were not feeling well. He felt it was in their best interest to scratch in Galena.

Hugh Neff, Lance Mackey and Mitch Seavey all cut their rest a little short to stay in the thick of the competition. While Jeff got more rest on his team and a short sleep for himself the others got their dogs fed and chores done and then took whatever time they could for themselves to eat, drink and have a very short nap. Mitch in fact got no asleep for himself. Hans Gatt was asleep when the above three hit the trail and once he woke up he slowly prepared to leave preferring to give his team a good rest. He seemed a little surprised that all three had left so fast. At the point of writing this, they are all racing to the next checkpoint of Kaltag. There’s a good chance that at least one of the teams will blow through and keep going rather than stopping in the checkpoint for a rest.

This is a classic battle of two champions, Lance Mackey and Jeff King and a repeat of 2008 when the roles were reversed and Jeff was drafting off of Lance, only this time they have a group of others ready to take this championship away from them if they make the smallest mistake.

Teams will cycle up and down in their performance level during a race but for those of you wondering how the teams look at this point compared to one another appetite is a great indicator of how a dog feels. At this point the teams that are eating the best are Lance Mackey’s and Hugh Neff’s by far.  Next stop it may be different but right now those teams are storing up a lot of calories.  Dogs often don’t want to eat in the middle of the night when they’re sleepy. Especially if  it’s cold like tonight.  They’d rather just curl up on their straw and go to sleep. If they don’t eat well they don’t have has much energy to put into their next run and they can slowly run out of energy.  As the pace of the race picks up we’ll see if this trend continues.

Jeff King leads the pack with a very strong looking team but no one has thrown in the towel and given him the race.  There’s a lot of trail miles remaining  for the teams behind him to make a move to take over the lead and do battle with Jeff.  We might expect one of the other mushers to make some type of “tricky” move going down the river like skipping a rest at one of the checkpoints. There’s a number of ways to run this section of the course, breaking the run to Kaltag into different lengths with different resting locations.   Jeff King usually likes to rest at each of the checkpoints heading down river and his competitors know this, so they might try something to throw him a curve ball.

We will be sending updates from the different checkpoints  along the Yukon as the racers pass through, as well as video clips on the Insider.   By viewing those clips you can judge Jeff’s,  Lance’s and Hugh’s teams for yourselves as they pull out of  Ruby.

Also  in the mix of the race we’re beginning to see the other racers break into different packs as they race for  5th through 10th and 10 through 15th.  Watch those rest periods, dog numbers and trail travel times to figure who has the most power.