March 16, 2007
Since my report last night, there have been ten more teams arrive at the Nome finish line. Bill Pinkham arrived in Nome in 32nd position at 8:34 p.m. last night. The next team (Jon Korta) didn’t arrive until 4:09 a.m. this morning. Eight other mushers arrived throughout the day. Tim Osmar arrived at 7:46 a.m. in 34th position. Then at 10:09, there was a race down Front Street between Clint Warnke and Scott Smith. Clint won this mini race by 10 seconds at 10:09:39 with Smith’s team hot on his heels arriving at the finish line at 10:09:49. That was almost as close as the Dick Mackey and Rick Swenson finish in 1978 when they finished 1 second apart. That is pretty remarkable after over 1,100 miles of race trail! The next team to arrive was that of Allen Moore who was followed by Rick Casillo, Thomas Lesatz, Mike Williams and Matt Anderson.
Dallas Seavey departed Safety for Nome at 8:27 p.m. tonight. Two teams left White Mountain after 6 p.m. tonight. The mushers for those teams are Andrew Angstman and Robert Bundtzen. Bryan Mills and Cindy Gallea are in White Mountain with Hernan Maquieira on the trail to White Mountain from Elim checkpoint. There are no teams currently in the Elim checkpoint.
Jeff Wells, Dan Carter and Kelly Williams are on the trail between Shaktoolik and Elim and should arrive in Elim early in the morning. Teams Rossi, Morlock and Nikolich are resting in the Shaktoolik checkpoint at this time. Jeremy Keller left Unalakleet at 5:37 p.m. He will arrive in Shaktoolik during the night sometime.
The final four have all departed from Kaltag and are expected into Unalakleet during the night or in the morning. Bruce Linton left at 8:55 a.m. this morning. He could make it into Unalakleet before midnight. We will just have to wait and see. Donald Smidt left Kaltag at 10:15 this morning. Heather Siirtola hit the trail out of Kaltag at 12:26 with Ellen Halverson following at 12:51 p.m.
A lot of students have asked about the special awards. We will not know some of them until the Awards Banquet on Sunday evening. The Rookie of the Year is Sigrid Ekran who finished the race in 21st position. The Humanitarian Award is voted on my the race veterinarians and officials, while the Lead Dog Award and Sportsmanship Award are voted on by the mushers who have arrived in Nome by the time of the Nome meeting of the Iditarod Official Finishers meeting. Most Inspirational Musher Award is also voted on by the mushers while the Most Improved Musher Award is based on race record comparison.
I’d like to thank Brenda Burrows’ 3rd grade class at West Annapolis Elementary School in West Annapolis, Maryland for the really tasty pizza this afternoon. I ate two whole slices myself. I am going to have to go on a diet after the race but I have enjoyed the pizza during the race. I have put on just a little weight. Not much you understand, but a little.
Keep checking my reports over the next few days to find out who wins what awards. I’ll be on the job pawing reports so that you don’t miss anything.
Until next time,
Lots of Tag Wags,
Zuma
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