Thank you

Thanks for watching Iditarod 2007 with us. We've moved back to our kennel blog until next year!

Alaska Ice Competition Winner

http://www.icealaska.com/06/06mb/06mbimages/06mb-day7/06mb09-7lg.jpg

Iditarod 2007 has ended!

Ellen Halvorson pulled into Nome to receive the Red Lantern and Donald Smidt from Wisconsin, with his purebred Siberians pulled in ahead of her a bit.

The 35th Iditarod has ended, 18 days after it's Start in downtown Anchorage. That is a long time to be out in the wilderness of Alaska on a dog sled.

Congratulations to all of the teams! Until next year, then....

View from Mike's copilot seat in Beaver

Photo credit: Mike Cade

Approaching Anchorage in Beaver, March, 2007.

Susan Butcher's family into Nome

This is a great story by Jon Little about Susan's family reaching Nome.

http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/coverage_2007/cov07_mar18_02.html

Aliy into Nome! 10:57 AM !! Allen out of Elim!!

Well , it's coming to an end , and I'll bet Aliy and Allen are glad of that!! Aliy is into Nome with her great dogs, and Allen is on his way with his.... congratulations to both and to all of the mushers and dogs of the 35th Iditarod, 2007!!

Aliy out of White Mtn, enroute to Safety/Nome

Aliy is out of White Mountain enroute to Safety and then, to Nome. We're watching!

What a race this has been! We'll be glad to see Aliy, Allen and all of their great dogs into Nome!

Winner, Lance Mackey, Bib 13

Lance Mackey won the Iditarod sled dog race last night at 20:08 , Nome time, wearing Bib 13, on March 13th, the same bib no. of his father's/brother's (Dick/Rick). It's the lucky number for the Mackeys.

Lance won the Yukon Quest in February, as well. Amazing accomplishments, alone, but having also battled throat cancer, he is a big winner all around.

Photos: Father, Iditarod winner, Dick Mackey, in his blue jacket after the Thursday musher meeting; Lance's team taking off from Willow.

Nome Web Cam, Winner to be soon

It looks like Lance Mackey has it together to run into Nome in just a couple of hours from now.
While anything can happen out there, he left White Mtn looking strong , apparently. Paul Gebhardt is about two hours behind him.

Here is the Nome web cam: http://www.guilliam.com/alaska.htm
You have to refresh it every so often but it gives a good quick view of finishers.

Update from Jon Little/Cabela's

Another analysis, update from Cabela's Jon Little:
http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/coverage_2007/cov07_mar11_03.html

Aliy out of Kaltag

Aliy is out of Kaltag at 00:30 , with 8 dogs. The run to Unalakleet is taking 10 to 11 hours so imagine we won't hear about her for a bit. I don't know who the 8 dogs are, but hoping to hear from Kaz. That trail has really given dogs a pounding this year (and the mushers!).

Paul Gebhardt has gained the lead by running into Shaktoolik. What a race!

Allen shows to be in Eagle Island at 21:10 on the llth but bet he's out running.

Very neat picture on the Cabela's site of , I think, Martin's team, running past some moose prints. Haven't heard of any encounters with them this year, hopefully not.

Aliy in Kaltag; Allen out of Grayling

Aliy is in Kaltag with 9 dogs; Allen is out of Grayling. That ends that mystery, for now.

Aliy?

Aliy has been sitting in Eagle Island since 23:13 on Mar 10 with 9 dogs, per the stats. Everyone coming in behind her is leaving. Anyone see any scoop anywhere?

Possibles: she ran without checking out? she's needing long rest on dogs? she's waiting for Allen?? He ran just under 3 hours with 15 dogs into Grayling at just before 7AM, 3/11 (today). He could be out by now.

Roxy's report on Susan Butcher's family into Kaltag

http://dogyard.ramybrooks.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=343&page=1

David Monson and daughter, Tekla, age 11, are mushing to Nome. They pulled into Kaltag last night and Roxy Wright (mother of Ramy Brooks) reports on it on Ramy's website.

Allen into Grayling

Allen is into Grayling at 6:54 with 15 dogs. Go, Allen!

The winds are tough on the river... Jon Little has another interesting article: http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/coverage_2007/cov07_mar11_01.html

Speeds; Number of Dogs

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Speeds; Number of Dogs
See the main Iditarod results page to make sense out of speeds , www.iditarod.com,but just for a look; speed of team does not mean placing of the team in the rankings, but gives a look at who is keeping up/could move out faster.

Into Kaltag: Gebhardt ran at 8:38mph; King (in 1st place), ran at 8:27 mph; Buser, (in 2nd), ran at 7:57 mph, and Mackey ran at 8:37.Into Eagle Island: Baker ran at 7:23 (9th place); Steer (6th place) , ran at 7:10, Monson ran at 7:07; rookie, Sigrid Ekran ran at 6:88. Aliy with only 9 dogs ran in at 6:61 mph (currently in 16th place).

Speeds are an indicator , but since mushers stop along the trail to camp/rest/snack dogs, it is not always the straight ahead speed. However, since most mushers do some of the above ,the speeds are a helpful indicator

Also, of course, number of dogs in a team can make a difference in speed. Aliy has the lowest number of dogs (9) in the top 20 right now and she is not pushing them. Her dogs , as have many dogs, had some muscle injuries on the tough trails.Checkpoint rests allow the mushers to treat the muscle injuries with oils/massage/wraps , etc. Dogs are not allowed medications to mask their injuries. As a musher might take an Advil, this is not allowed for the dogs.

Baker and Barron have ten dogs out, right now. Mackey shows 14. Re: Buser's dogs fighting and having to drop one, we noticed in Finger Lake that a number of teams had females in season... that can create tension in teams that does not always exist.

posted by Julie at 5:50 AM 0 comments

Voila!

Like magic: we commented on whereabouts of Aliy and Allen, and, voila!, there they are on the stats report. Aliy is out of Grayling and Allen is in Shageluk. Good job, Stats!

Check in , check out

Checkin, checkout

Mushers must check in at checkpoints; (but not check out) except at mandatory rests they must check in/check out.So, Allen is probably not in Iditarod per the stats and Aliy is possibly not in Grayling per the stats... so we won't know, possibly, until the next checkin.I knew that last year, I just forgot :(... not the fault of the stats reporting :) So I think Jon Little is right; Aliy left Grayling with nine dogs.

Stats, late, wrong or what?

Stats, late or wrong or what?

Well, more than once we've been frustrated with the stats reporting... last year they lost Aliy for 2 days and she showed up way up front; today Jon Little for Cabela's reports that Aliy is out of Grayling with nine dogs; it seems credible since Kaz also said she'd probably be leaving with 9 dogs; but the stats say she is still sitting there.Little also refers to Burmeister being in there at 9AM, but my stats show that he is still in Anvik!What's the real deal?
posted by Julie at 3:51 PM 0 comments

Anchorage Daily News article re: the chase

This is the link to a new ADN article on the race chase.

http://www.adn.com/iditarod/race_2007/race/story/8696899p-8596210c.html

Weather, Grayling, Eagle Island

Grayling, today, areas of blowing snow , zero to 5 above, 15 mph winds. tonight, ten below,
15-20 mph winds.

Middle Yukon, Eagle Island, Mid Yukon valleys: Highs around zero, North winds to 15; tonight, hear twenty below, winds 10 mhp, in hills North winds 15-20 mph.

Aliy's in to Grayling

Aliy into Grayling, what does this mean?

OUT of Grayling are, Position 1, Buser, 21:06, King, 22:32, Mackey, 23:56, Genhardt, 3:42 and Iten, 5:23.

IN Grayling, Steer 22:45 (needs his 8 hour ); Seavey, 00:31 (needs his 8 hour), Sorlie, 6:28,Baker , 6:47 (needs his 8 hour),and ALIY, 6:56 .With Steer, Seavey and Baker needing (and possibly taking now) their 8 hour, Aliy is in the top ten hunt.

She's dropped to ten dogs, don't know who she dropped.Pretty exciting! Go Aliy!

Aliy out of Shageluk

Aliy is out of Shageluk with both her 8 and 24, so she's really running better than some in front of her, but they are further ahead down the route. Hard to read these stats right now and they keep running like rabbits out there. It is really an interesting race!

All mushers need another 8 hour at White Mtn, but for the most part they're free to go as best their dogs can go right now. There should be snow on the Yukon, better than those tussock filled hazards they've passed.

Today at the Zoo

Went to the Anchorage Zoo, visited the wolves and the polar bears.

I sat down and two of the males came to visit me. The small female seemed to scold them for doing that, although it didn't bother this big guy.

IDITAROD:Bennie Stamm scratched with a knee injury.... sorry, Bennie!! This race is tough.

An article by Mike in The Sandy Post

This is fun to read : Mike's article in The Sandy Post, (Sandy, OR)

http://www.sandypost.com/sports/story.php?story_id=117338946701415200

Allen and Aliy both in Takotna

Allen arrived Takotna, yahoo! Both are there now and Aliy must be readying to leave as he arrives.
Baker arrived Ophir with his 24 and Rick Swenson has his 24 and he is pulling forward out of McGrath.
Now it's going to be very interesting.

24's

As Lance Mackey sails into Iditarod, others are still 24ing and equalizing bib no.s. (he has not 24d yet).

We'll be checking the far right columns for checks in the 24 column and the 8 hour columns now that some have reached the half way point. If you look at the top 20 or so , there are, to this point, no checks in the 24 column. Aliy is 24ing and equalizing her bib in Takotna.

There is tough trail ahead. Lance took 17 hours to get into Iditarod. Hopefully a lot of that was camping time, but reports are that it was tough trail.

More photos

Allen Moore and Kevin Neher at the Banquet. Kevin is taking over Bennie Stamm's team (after Bennie finishes this year's race.)
Bennie says he's retiring. We've heard that before from , hm, too many to count.

Robert Sorlie and Sigrid Ekran at the Banquet. (Norway)
Al Hardman and teams.

Rachael Scdoris and Dallas Seavey at the Start (Rachael is not running but her VI, Tim Osmar is).

Photos? what happened?

Dee Dee leaves Finger Lake
Allens team arrives Finger Lake

Karen feeding dogs.

I thought I had put a lot of photos on here, but not when I pull it up.


Will try a few random ones for fun. The other blog is active with many photos.

ADN on 24 hour rest strategies

This is the Anchorage Daily News article on strategies for the 24 hour rest.
Aliy is 24'ing in Takotna.

http://www.adn.com/iditarod/race_2007/features/story/8690605p-8588772c.html

SPKennel update by Kaz

This is the link to the blog Kaz Zirkle is updating on Aliy and Allen.
http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Kaz!

Read Jon Little's article about leaders

Great photo of Aliy in this article....
http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/coverage_2007/cov07_mar07_02.html

She's poised in a good position resting her great dogs.

Allen Moore enroute to Nickolai

Allen gets his turn to take the toughest trail ever (said Mackey and others). Will look for updates later in morning. His two year olds are getting a good view of how to run the Iditarod.

Post from Windy Pups site: Aliy into Takotna

Aliy thru McGrath, into Takotna
Aliy has 14 dogs into Takotna at 2:34. Zack Steer was in lead position into Ophir. Aliy is in position 7 at the moment. Mackey rested 5 hours + in Takotna.Takotna is a popular place for teams to take their 24's (mandatory 24 hour rest stop). There is a small lodge that serves great food for the mushers , checkers, pilots , spectators... great moose stew, as I recall. There are some nice quiet places to bed down dogs and the mushers can sleep on the floor of the church.School children are given the day off and villagers keep a huge boiling pot of water for the mushers, making it a bit easier on all.
posted by Julie at 6:23 AM 0 comments

Aliy out of Nickolai

Aliy's out of Nickolai. Just saw her on CH2 TV saying she was a bit bummed by a wrong turn many of them took.... blowing snow/wind blew out the trail markers and they ended up going on the Iron Dog race trail. But she's still in top 5, so looking good. Saw Kaz briefly. Dogs dropped are Skittles and Venus. Venus took some hits on the Burn, I think, her front end .

Mike leaves tonight , so I'll be walking in circles by myself, but meeting Gwen and her sister for breakfast at Gwennie's in the a.m. Quiet around here.... lots of scratches; handlers picking up dogs, etc. One of Allen's dogs is in, but still no word on whether or not Allen is actually sitting in Rainy Pass, and if so, why? Storm?

Frita

Let's give Mama Frita some press. Her two daughters, Bullet and Mouse , are one on Aliy's and Allen's teams this year.

Anyone at my kennel quickly learns to love Frita. This is a photo of her meandering around with another awesome leader, Liller .

Frita is shy with strangers, as are Mouse and Bullet. Yea, Frita!

(gotta show my colors for my dogs:)

Mouse of Randy Chappels Quest team excitement , last year

Last year Randy Chappel lost his team on a mountain top in the Yukon Quest. Weather closed in on a number of other mushers, as well, at that time and it ended up in a Blackhawk helicopter rescue of 8 teams off the mountain.

Mouse was Randy's solid gold leader, who rested her team until the helicopter appeared. This is Mouse arriving in Finger Lake with Allen's team this year.

(It's no secret that I love Mouse and Bullet (Aliy's leader ) who are Frita's daughters (now my Frita, formerly and always, Aliy's Frita).

Go, Mouse! :)

Teams doing well

SOME OF THE CURRENT LEADER TEAM PHOTOS FROM RESTART
Aliy's team out of Willow, go Bullet!
Lance Mackey out of Willow.
Both Aliy and Lance are Yukon Quest champs.

Ramy Brooks' very great looking team.]He's also a Quest champ.

More photos

The vets and mushers sleep in the white tent.
View from the back seat of the Beaver. The wind was blowing so hard, we were bouncing all over the place. The pilot said, "well, we hope to get off the ground and bounce pretty well, but then we'll be okay."
:) and we did, and we were.
The photos of the teams from the plane always give me a sense of the great vastness of this Alaskan landscape and how tough the dogs and mushers are.

Two mushers waved to us yesterday but I can't find the photo, yet.

Alaskana/Iditarod

Dog drop is behind me in this photo.
The kind volunteers (in very warm gear) take an injured or tired dog, individually, in their laps, ride the COLD toboggan ride to the airstrip and load the dogs for their rides home.


Some Alaskana/Iditarod photos from yesterday.

Best part of my gear was my knee high OR boots (can't see in photo) from the sale bin at REI.

This sleeping dog photo is for Karen for Mark. "Charge IS being quiet!"
(Karen Ramstead's beautiful champion North Wapiti show and working Siberians).

More Photos, Titles later

It's helpful to see identifying colors, as usual; orange on Ray's; hot pink on Dee Dee's; yellow on Seavey, etc.
I'll put titles on these later.... has been a very long day, since 4 AM and I have a soft bed, unlike the mushers and dogs out in 50mph winds.

More photos, Finger Lake

The winds kicked up and as we took off at the end of the day. We arrived at about 9AM and left about 2 PM, quite a long while to be out in this day's weather. But as my hands froze from standing around, the mushers walked around tending to dogs with sometimes bare hands.

Finger Lake

Well, it took 2 hours to figure out how to get into this blog. Some people having trouble accessing so here is an Iditarod Blog from us.

This was a long day and it puts a lot in perspective. We started early (4AM) getting 'geared up' for the weather, long day. We were outside all day and quite chilly by the time our nice de Havilland Beaver took us back to comfy Anchorage and a great hamburger with hot coffee.

As we left chilly mushers were leaving for the WINDY departure from Finger Lake to the challenging trail to Rainy Pass (upon which arriving they certainly will not have a hot shower and a cozy chair). And for nine or more days they will sleep with their dogs and we will have hot showers.

Photos from trip to Finger Lake, Monday, Iditarod.