Thanks to all the thousands of you who have downloaded the podcasts this season.  You’ve blown us away - your support is appreciated.

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Thanks for all those who tuned and listened to our live coverage this morning, it was pretty crazy to have nearly 1,000 listeners all listening at once around the time Lance crossed the finish line.

We’ll have audio posted soon of the hour long broadcast, many thanks to KICY for the “on the ground” reports, and BSSD SBD who were hosting a great webcam!

Lance Mackey left the last major checkpoint in the Iditarod Sled Dog race at an early 2:11am this morning, he is on his way to Nome, and onto making Iditarod history.  Mackey is set to be the third Iditarod musher ever to win three consecutive championships, putting him in the same category as legendary athletes Susan Butcher & Doug Swingley - no one has yet to win four in a row.

Mackey led the Iditarod for more than he ever has before, having very little serious competition once arriving in ghost-town checkpoint of Iditarod, marking the race’s halfway mark.  It wasn’t for the lack of a competitive field that Mackey found himself often alone at the front of the race, Lance’s rival last year Jeff King was seeking a record-tying 5th Iditarod win, as was Martin Buser.  Sebastian Schnuelle took Lance Mackey’s Yukon Quest throne this year after the former reigning champion decided to bow out of this years race, Schnuelle saught to also take Mackey’s Iditarod throne  - and currently is on track to place an impressive second place if he is not passed by John Baker out of White Mountian.

After going through Safety at 8:48am Wednesday morning, an arrival into Nome should be around Noon Alaska time.

We’ll be broadcasting pre-show coverage live online, stay tuned for updates as Mackey makes his way to Nome.

About an hour before the first musher crosses the finish line, you can get online and listen to “Iditablog live pre-race coverage”.  Live special guests, your listener questions, and a ‘09 trail recap will take us up to the live finish from Nome.

Until the live broadcast begins, you can listen to the “Best-of Iditablog Podcasts” which include archived Iditarod finishes going back to 2005, this year’s prior podcasts, and some other fun surprises.  The “Best-of Segments” will stop airing a half hour before the live broadcast begins.

Listen by clicking “play” in the box below, or (click here) to open in a new window. Live Radio from: Ustream

Wow, lots to go over this morning…

To say that trail conditions over the last 24 hours have been brutal might just be an understatement. Extreme cold temperatures and high winds made for a dangerous 50 below wind chill factor along the Bering Sea coast yesterday and into this morning for the top 19 mushers. Those running along the Yukon River, and even teams in the back, still traveling the interior didn’t find weather that much better as sub-zero temps and occasional ground blizzards made Monday a bone-chilling day for many traveling the Iditarod trail.

Sunday & Monday morning speculation was leaning towards Lance Mackey locking a third straight victory, however mother nature used this as an attempt to teach those of us who made these claims what happens when you assume. Mackey ended up spending most of yesterday pooled up in Koyuk after what he called a “demoralizing run” for his dogs from Shaktoolik. After making it to the small village of about 300 around noon, Lance took an eight hour rest - twice the rest time as he took in ‘07 & ‘08 in this location, before winning the Iditarod. Mackey’s time between Koyuk and Elim posted overnight and into this morning was surprisingly similar to recent years, however normally waiting only an hour or two before heading onto the mandatory 8-hour layover in White Mountain, this year Mackey spent time over 6 hours in Elim.

Lance might be able to count himself fortunate however, because it appears as he was slightly ahead of the worst weather of the trail. Behind him Jeff King & Hans Gatt were forced to turn around outside of Shaktoolik last night and return to the checkpoint, something King hasn’t done since over 10 years ago when he was in a similar location with Lance’s older brother Rick Mackey. King & Gatt had been camping with Aaron Burmeister & Mitch Seavey who were all 15 miles out of the checkpoint when they realized going onto Koyuk wasn’t going to be a good idea. While King & Gatt turned around, Seavey & Burmeister have been hunkered down at most likely a location described on the trail description as a “dilapidated shelter cabin” where “more than a few mushers have had to hole up here to wait out storms”. They’ve been there for at least 9 hours already. Also, Hugh Neff received minor medical attention in Shaktoolik yesterday for some pretty nasty injuries that sound frostbite & wind related on his face, rumors had been emerging that he had been taken out of the race but those don’t appear to be valid at this point.

King, Gatt, and Neff were joined by 11 other mushers in Shaktoolik this morning who will be all eventually competing against each other for the final top 10, and 20 positions in Nome.

More trouble in the back of race, as not only did we learn yesterday about two strange dog deaths in rookie Lou Packer’s team but then the two mushers whom Packer had earlier been traveling with also scratched between Iditarod & Shageluk. Kim Darst and Blake Matray were checked on by Iditarod Air force pilots who had airlifted Packer and his dogs out of the race when the three teams had all been on the trail for an extraordinary amount of time. Once Darst & Matray scratched at 8pm it was decided that they would start moving toward Shageluk early this morning and await a snowmobile convoy to ensure their safety on a trail that is blown over and doesn’t exist anymore.

Here is where the top 19 mushers are currently located, it’s anyone’s top ten right now. The weather forecast for the Eastern Norton Sound & Nulato Hills, including Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk and Elim calls for wind chill temperatures to temporary become less harsh this afternoon as the air temp moderates to 5 below.

Into Elim:
Lance Mackey

Out of Koyuk (moving):
John Baker
Sebastian Schnuelle

Out of Shaktoolik (camping):
Aaron Burmeister
Mitch Seavey

Into Shaktoolik: (in order of arrival time)
Jeff King (returned)
Hugh Neff (returned)
Hans Gatt (returned)
Sonny Lindner - 3/16 -16:15
Dallas Seavey
Cim Smyth
Paul Gebhardt
DeeDee Jonrowe
Aliy Zirkle
Jessie Royer
Ken Anderson
Martin Buser
Ramey Smyth
Ed Iten - 3/17 - 2:58

Earlier today (at approximately 2pm Alaska Time) Iditarod Race officials deployed an Iditarod Air Force (IAF) aircraft to check on the whereabouts of Iditarod Rookies Lou Packer (bib #43), Kim Darst (bib #52) and Blake Matray (bib #9). All three mushers were overdue on their run to Shageluk. Packer was located approximately 22 miles past Iditarod. He signaled that he was in distress. The (IAF) pilot landed and found that two of Packer’s 15 dogs were deceased. A plane load of dogs were immediately flown out and a second flight is underway to airlift Packer and the remainder of the team.

A group of local residents from Shageluk are on the trail to assess and assist Darst and Matray.

A necropsy will be conducted by a board certified pathologist to make every attempt to determine the cause of death of the two dogs.

With Lance Mackey into the Bering Sea village of Koyuk having left Shaktoolik a full 5 hours ahead of Sebastian Schnuelle, its a pretty valid question as to whether Mackey has locked up a third straight Iditarod win. Going into Unalakleet yesterday Mackey also had a powerful lead, but holding the large gap into this point in the race makes it very difficult for any of his very strong competitors to catch up. When looking at the running speeds of the top 7 out of Unalakleet and into Shaktoolik, it becomes clear that Mackey’s had the fastest team on that stretch of the trail and others are running out of time when looking for an opportunity to make a move.

If we can’t count on a challenger for first place, then the race for second becomes very interesting. Sebastian Schnuelle, Jeff King, John Baker, Mitch Seavey, Aaron Burmeister, and Hugh Neff all arrived into Shaktoolik within twenty minutes of one another, and all but Schnuelle decided to stay and rest at a checkpoint that Mackey decided he could afford to fly through early this morning.

The weather in western Alaska isn’t pretty right now, the national weather service is calling for up to 30 mph winds, combining with -10 temperatures to create wind chills up to 50 degrees below zero! Friends of mine in Nome were saying that around 10 strong blizzards so far this year have hit the Gold Rush city, making this winter much snowier and colder than most.

• where we find the current race leaders (Unalakleet)
• What’s happened since our last podcast
• Notable awards along the trail
• We answer your tweets & emails
• Running down Iditarod 2009 Coverage on Versus TV network
• Looking ahead to the finish

Thanks everyone for subscribing and downloading these podcast, we hope to do a handful more as the race goes up the coast and finishes in Nome!

Remember, you can subscribe to podcast via iTunes (link) and follow us on Twitter (link)

Lance Mackey arrived at the checkpoint of Unalakleet just under an hour ago. Reports say Mackey’s team is looking strong and he is focused on winning his third Iditarod in a row.

Also, Versus TV coverage of Iditarod 2009 debuted tonight, check local listings for times and replay dates.

We will be recording the new podcast episode within the hour

As Lance Mackey was leaving Kaltag at a very early 4am this morning, he probably knew those right behind him were scheming a way to get ahead of the reigning Iditarod champion.  Mackey had been at the last Yukon River checkpoint resting for nearly 4 hours and was the only musher there the entire time, little did he know was that Sebastian Schnuelle would pull in just an hour and a half later and make a bold move of his own - to keep moving along to Unalakleet after completing a 9 hour run from Eagle Island.  It’s not that Schnuelle is or isn’t planning on resting, but between Mackey departing Kaltag and Schnuelle arriving, three other strong dog teams pulled into the checkpoint. By the time Schnuelle got there we can speculate that he realized a surprise needed to be made, and he needed to keep the other teams guessing.  There are a few comfortable spots to rest along the way to Unalakleet, although they are a good distance away from Kaltag.  About 35 miles down the 90 mile trail is the “tripod flats cabin” which is owned and operated by the Federal Bureau of Land Management, and “Old Woman Cabin” 15 miles futher can be favorite and popular spots for mushers who plan on running through Unalakleet.

I’ve spent lots of time in Unalakleet and love the amazing mix of native culture with a twist of balanced modern lifestyle.  Once we have a musher to the coast I look forward to sharing some pictures and thoughts on this amazing place, and its amazing residents.  It’s also been a few days since the last podcast, Greg and I plan on getting together this afternoon and re-hashing the trail so far - and looking ahead to the next, very exciting phase of the Iditarod….. they’ve been saying “The real race begins on the coast” ever since last Sunday in Willow.

Keep sending us your questions and comments to josh@radioalaska.org and we’ll try to anwser them today as we record the podcast.

As Lance Mackey rolls into Eagle Island continuing his steady 6-7mph pace, it looks as if he has a lead that is getting tougher to challenge. The two teams who were previously leading the race and now running behind Mackey, Aaron Burmeister and Sebastian Schnuelle will see the lead they built up, slowly start to fade away over the next day as they take a manditory 8-hour layover on one of the two remaining Yukon River checkpoints.  Mackey has already taken his and he’s 30 miles ahead of them, but so have the teams running right behind them - Hugh Neff, Mitch Seavey, and Jeff King.

The question now shifts to if either Seavey, King, or Neff will be able to make up the distance between them, and Lance Mackey.  Hugh Neff is facing some pretty formitable competitors in a hunt for his first victory, Jeff King is searching for a 5th Iditarod Championship, and Mitch Seavey is looking for his second.

It’s becoming clear going into Eagle Island that teams are running a little bit quicker than in years past.  General wisdom says sometime on Sunday is when the town of Unalakleet usually expects the first musher to reach the coast, and the last few years it hasn’t been uncommon to see a team come in closer to sundown.  The pastor of Unalakleet Covenant Church told me once as long as it isn’t during the church’s morning services, he doesn’t have a preference as to the time of day - but its looking like Lance could possibly interrupt a sunday morning sermon if he isn’t careful.

Lance Mackey is just about to reach Anvik by late Friday morning, the first stop along the mighty Yukon River. It doesn’t appear at this point that any of his competitors are going to be able to catchup in route to this milestone of the Iditarod although Sebastian Schnuelle and Aaron Burmeister are closing the 10 mile gap between them and Mackey.

The Yukon River is a major part of the Iditarod trail which, in southern-route years goes from Anvik up to Kaltag. The river runs along many small villages that rely on the Yukon as a main thoroughfare for transportation, not only with boats during the summer but also by often using the frozen river as a snowmachine highway during the winter. The first musher to the Yukon is always greeted by a gourmet chef from the Millenium Hotel in Anchorage, where they receive a 7 course meal prepared over a campstove and a nice “after dinner mint” of several thousand dollars cash. If eating in a rush doesn’t sound like fun, don’t worry - the musher is also invited back to the Millenium to enjoy the meal again with a loved one (except for the “after dinner mint” - you only get that once).

From Millenium Chef Cory Gerber, here is the menu he created for this year’s musher to have for lunch in Anvik (should they choose to stay!)

appetizers
Braised Pork with potato & yokee (sp?)
Beef & Goat Cheese Salad
Alaskan Crab Ravioli

Fish course
Alaska Bouillabaisse with a saffron tomato broth

intermezzo
Mango Sorbet served with Lemon Preserves

entree
Crispy Duck Leg with Braised Red Cabbage and Bacon
Dry Aged Rib Eye with Celery Root Puree served with a slow cooked mushroom sauce

Cheese plate
Platter of assorted Artesian cheeses, sausages, chutney, and Salmon

dessert
Flamed Strawberry Romonoff, served with French Vanilla Ice Cream and a Lemon Shortbread cookie.

Prepared and served on site by Food & Beverage Director - Bill Wallace

Lance Mackey claimed the gold nuggets that are offered each year to the musher who is the first to reach the halfway point of the race. Mackey passed Aaron Burmeister, and Hugh Neff to become the first musher to the checkpoint of Iditarod. The long stretch of trail from Ophir took all of the top ten mushers most of Thursday to travel, however Mackey was the only one so far to make the trek without stopping. A 15.5 hour trip for current third place musher Hugh Neff took the reigning champion, Mackey only 10 hours to complete.

It’s still a close race for most of these competitive mushers, but we are starting to see some key players attempt to separate themselves from the strategies their competitors might be using, such as Mackey’s decision to go straight from Ophir to Iditarod, or Martin Buser’s decision to rest 6 hours in McGrath before taking his 24-hour layover in Ophir.

We’ll be back later this morning to keep tabs on these mushers, and hopefully take a look at the rest of the Iditarod participants - its been easy this year to focus on the top ten because they’re all so close together and the GPS tracker system allows for instant data. There are amazing people and stories in the middle and back of the pack too…. it would be fun to hear them.

Whew, our 24-hour layover time is complete for the top ten mushers and the race is on to the checkpoint of Iditarod. Race pundits were saying yesterday that they expected to see three mushers emerge after the layovers were completed and that some mushers might start to loose ground. Specifically it was speculated that Hugh Neff & Sebastian Schnuelle might not be able to hold back Jeff King and Lance Mackey, but Aaron Burmeister had the rest and the right dog team to compete and hold his own….. lets see where we are now.

Burmeister was first of out Takotna and first into Ophir just three hours later. But look at these run times & speeds for those in so far -

Between Takotna & Ophir:

The *CURRENT* GPS positions going into Iditarod have Burmeister staying in 1st by a few miles, however Lance Mackey has advanced into 2nd place going quite a bit faster than both Burmesiter, and Neff who is just a under a mile behind the reigning champion.  Schnuelle is a few miles behind still in fourth place and Jeff King passed Ken Anderson to move into 5th.

The one really noticeable difference between these competitors after watching the GPS tracking this morning is that Mackey is moving quite a bit faster than everyone else.  He’s clocked in at 10mph sometimes, with everyone else previously mentioned clocked at 6-7mph - obviously these might not be totally acurate, but its a pretty big difference.

Out of the top ten there are some big moves being made, that could change what the top positions look like in a day or two - Ed Iten came out of his 24-hour layover at a BLAZING 11.87mph between McGrath & Takotna, we’ll see how he compares going into Ophir.  Aaron Peck continues to impress after being the very first musher to take his 24-hour layover all the way back in Nikolai, he’s into Ophir at 7.85mph which is close to how fast Neff & Schnuelle did that stretch.

I’m still dying to know what happened to Martin Buser - resting 6 hours in McGrath before pushing onto Ophir where it now appears he is taking his 24… was it the trail conditions that kept him from going further, or is he planning on a very well rested team that doesn’t have to break trail? There are still lots of voices saying its all going to come down to patience in this weather & trail conditions, and thats what Martin is good at… We’ll have to wait and see!

Finally, some bad news coming out of Takotna this morning - former top ten contender Bjornar Andersen decided to scratch after being injured in a crash between the Rohn & Nikolai checkpoints. He traveled another nearly 70 miles to Takotna where he decided to scratch from the race. His injuries appear to be internal, but the extent isn’t currently known. Race officials said he will be taken to Anchorage for medical assessment. Kevin Klott with Anchorage Daily News was in Takotna and has a few more details (click here).

keep sending your questions to josh@radioalaska.org, we love hearing from you - thanks again to the THOUSANDS of you who have been downloading our shows!

24-hour layovers are the biggest part of Iditarod strategy today for those looking to be first across the finish line in Nome. The scheming started last night when some of the first into McGrath decided that they weren’t going to take an early layover, but use the overnight conditions to push on another 3 hours or so to Takotna and possibly even further if possible. Another half of the leaders decided to gamble that those continuing on might fatigue themselves by going too far, or that an early rest might mean more speed needed to pass the top 5 as they rested themselves. What you’re thinking and planning and what nature has in store can be two different things. Blowing snow covers the trail from Takotna to Ophir and going onto Iditarod presents its own problems. This type of weather could change the plans of those who were counting on a 24-hour layover further along up the trail, and those who were counting on others resting up the trail. Iditarod victories have been born from risky moves in unsetteling weather, but its also a good way to wear out your team unnecessarily.

Aaron Burmesiter continued leading the whole pack into both McGrath and Takotna, this relatively unknown musher from Nome with 11 years of Iditarod experience has caught the eye of an international audience. There is still plenty of competition for his positing though, all of the top ten teams arrived at Takotna within 4 hours of Burmesiter, Neff, and Schnuelle. Keep an eye on Martin Buser, he has been jumping back and forth from the top to the bottom of the standings lately, and his website indicates that he has a plan and some new strategies this year - being the only musher so far to continue out of McGrath after a full 6 hour rest might indicate heavily he plans on pushing as far as possible before taking his 24-hour layover.

It will be hard, but keep in mind that racers will seemingly disappear from the standings as they wait out their layovers - Ken Anderson went from nearly top 5 to being currently represented in the 20s on the standings because he was the first to declare his rest while many others have continued on ahead. Ken will be the first one back on the trail with his mandatory layover complete and will sure aim to regain his position at the front.

Keep an eye on the twitter feed, either on the right side of the page under the “navigation menu” or by subscribing here, these times of waiting can be rough on all of us fans and spectators!

The confusion on who will be leading two days from now hasn’t let up as an extremely large and competitive field of Iditarod mushers continue to make their way to McGrath Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. Aaron Burmeister was enjoying what he calls the strongest team he’s ever had as he was leading the pack out of the Nikolai on late Tuesday afternoon, just a few feet behind him was Hugh Neff - Sebastian Schnuelle hopped on the back of his sled just 10 minutes later. These three mushers represent what is often referred to as a group of “young mushers” waiting for their shot at a victory and Iditarod fame. Lance Mackey was once part of that group but two years of consecutive wins have put him in the “establishment” category (the ESPY nominations and Conan O’Brian appearance might have contributed to that as well). Lance isn’t very far behind these three, and neither is Paul Gebhardt or Jeff King. There is no denying the fact that right now it is anyone’s race. Will the leaders start taking their mandatory 24 hour layovers soon? Takotna, and Ophir could be good guesses, but some have been known to push it as far as possible… we do know that where teams start taking their 24 hour rest will play a part in the eventual outcome of the race.

About the Layovers:
There are a few things each team must do in order to complete the Iditarod and among them is completing a series of mandatory layovers. A 24-hour layover must be taken at some point during the race, but can be wherever a musher chooses. An 8-hour layover must be completed at a checkpoint of the mushers choosing along the Yukon River (Anvik to Kaltag), and a final 8-hour layover must be completed in the village of White Mountain before making the final stretch into Nome.

Other names to watch include Bruce Linton, he is doing very well so far in the 20s and running near Linwood Fiedler, Dallas Seavey, and DeeDee Jonrowe. As we mentioned in the podcast Nome’s 19-year old Melissa Owens is rocking the trail in her second Iditarod appearance, shes running in the teens near Rick Swenson, Aliy Zirkle, Cim Smyth, and Jessie Royer.

Going into Nikolai the names of the mushers at the front of the Iditarod might look a little different than some could have imagined at the beginning of the race. Coming off of a Yukon Quest win just a few weeks ago Sebastian Schnuelle is taking some early gambles with how much rest his team will need to get into Nome. If he’s right and can stay at the front of the pack he’ll be sure to place higher than he ever has before - but if he’s wrong and is forced to slow his pace a victory won’t be in the cards. Hugh Neff is right up there with Schnuelle and these two mushers deserve a lot of credit, while Schnuelle won the Quest last month Neff came in a close second and might have won, had it not been for a two hour penalty assessed by race judges.

Its a tight lead right now for those two and keeping it over the next 24 hours could prove to be be very tricky when just a few miles behind you is Lance Mackey the reigning two time Iditarod Champion, two four time champions King & Buser, and Rick Swenson the Iditarod’s only 5 time champion who is looking more competitive than he has in recent years.. not to mention a handful of extremely experienced teams that are all running very strong at this point in the race. Coming into Nikolai signifies a turning point for many as much of the tough challenges that the first 250 miles presents are now checked off the list and behind you. Intimidating sections such as the most recent “Farewell Burn” coming out of Rohn, where frozen tundra isn’t often padded with snow and can tear up sleds, to the previously mentioned Happy River Steps, Alaska Range, and Dalzel Gorge. It will be interesting to hear what the Burn was like this year when other areas of the trail have more snow than normal.

We should see some of these first teams into Nikolai stop and catch up on some rest while others may have rested their dogs somewhere in the middle of the Burn, something Iditarod mushers frequently do. Once rested and back on the trail, the section between Nikolai to McGrath can be considered an often fairly easy, but deceptive stretch that can seem to go on forever. With many seemingly identical lakes and river bends it can be difficult for mushers to keep track of how far they’ve gone. We’ll have more on that and the checkpoint of McGrath later on today.

Thanks again everyone for all your support, the time you take to read these updates and listen to the podcasts are much appreciated. The response this year has been overwhelming with thousands more people visiting the site each day that ever before. We’ll keep going as long as you’re still here!

Going into Nikolai, overnight we see Hugh Neff, Sebastian Schnuelle running a tight lead with Paul Gebhardt just a few miles behind - Seavey & Burmeister follow

The top 15 mushers have all left Rainy Pass and are on their way to Rohn and with most of them having rested similar amounts since the beginning of the race, they are just separated by three hours. Currently Paul Gebhardt and Rick Swenson are leading the pack into Rohn, but Sebastian Schnuelle, Aaron Burmeister, and Hugh Neff are just a mile or two right behind them. Its an interesting top 5 at this point and it’s worth noting that many of the favorites coming into the race aren’t very far behind - and using very different strategies right now. While most mushers have about 8-10 hours of rest up to this point, where and when they are taking the rest will play a big factor over the next day or two. Rick Swenson’s position in the race is notable right now, while the winningest musher in Iditarod history hasn’t ever been counted out, 2001 was the last time the five time champion was able to make it into the top 5.

If you haven’t already read the previous post from earlier today entitled “Mushers Coming into Rainy Pass” go and take a quick look, there is trail description that speaks to the environment that many mushers are facing right now, headed from Rainy Pass to Rohn.

Lance Mackey arrived first at Rainy Pass - 11:34am

Leaving Finger Lake and heading into Rainy Pass is the thing nightmares are made of - regardless of how much experience you have. Multiple drops along Happy River, combined with hairpin turns and tricky switchbacks put veterans and rookies on a level playing field. It was on this section that in 2007 some of the most tested mushers, DeeDee Jonrowe and Doug Swingley (4 time champion) were both forced to scratch, DeeDee broke her hand, and Swingley broke some ribs. Once checked in at Rainy Pass Lodge mushers can look forward to soon reaching the highest point of the Iditarod, they’re in the middle of the great Alaskan Range.

Going from Rainy Pass into Rohn isn’t a walk in the park either, the checkpoint is at 1,800ft elevation and before reaching Rohn (about 40 miles away) they will hit 3,160ft and they highest elevation of the race. After this point they are considered to be in Interior Alaska. After reaching the summit, the trail quickly goes downhill and the nightmare from the run before isn’t over if warmer weather is a factor. There is a steep 200-foot hill drop running into a Gorge and, running along “Dalzell Creek”. The trail jumps from side to side of Dalzell Creek (at a few point the Canyon is just barley wide enough for both the trail and the creek). There is always open water on the creek with snow and ice bridges for the mushers to cross. In colder weather the bridges hold better, but going faster is always better to avoid getting wet!

It’s tough right now to see who is holding the best lead, for a while it was Sebastian Schnuelle, who won the Yukon Quest a few weeks ago - Ed Iten and Paul Gebhardt were traveling at a similar schedule, and Lance Mackey has rocketed to the front of the pack for now. Lance will probably attempt to get through all of this tough trail today, and rest in Rohn.

More updates to come throughout the day, but make sure you are keeping an eye on twitter as well!

Feel free to email us with topics or questions you’d like to hear us discuss on the next episode… the email address is: josh@radioalaska.org.

P.S. There were a few issues with the mics at the beginning of the podcast, but hopefully they are worked out.

OK, so I’m not going up the trail this year. That doesn’t mean I can’t speculate a little and toss out whatever observations I might have. I’ll aim to keep it relevant.

As I type, the first musher is due in any time to Skwentna, which is 67.5 miles from Willow. (Cool. Thanks to the tracker, we now know how far it is between checkpoints for real.)

First off, there’s not much you can tell based on run times through Yentna and into Skwentna. There’s always some hot dog who flies to the front with their foot off the drag. But most of the heavyweight contenders are taking their time. This is a 1,000-mile race (OK, 908 miles according to the tracker), and there’s no point in rushing to Skwentna. I did just that as a rookie in 1999 and promptly dropped four dogs with sore shoulders.

So when you see run times of roughly four hours to Yentna, that’s right in there and normal. Melissa Owens is listed as getting to Yentna in 3 hours and 35 minutes, which is the fastest speed I’ve seen.

Most teams will stop at Skwentna, which is a good 6 to 7 hours from the starting line. Most teams won’t go longer than that before feeding their dogs, putting down straw and letting them sleep for a few hours. It’s a hectic checkpoint, but very hospitable and perfectly placed for the first rest of this long race. Some teams will camp out just short of Skwentna, then blow through. Others will cruise a half hour to an hour past it before taking a break. Those two moves are done simply to stay away from the crowd. It’s easier for dogs and musher to relax outside the checkpoint, especially on a relatively balmy night like this, with temperatures right around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 C).

Buser shaking it up

In a little bit of a surprise move, if the stats are correct, Martin Buser opted to take a two-hour break at Yentna. That is intriguing. Very intriguing. He’s got 11 of his Yukon Quest dogs in the team and certainly was in no need of a rest only 4 hours into the race. My guess is he made sure the dogs got good water and food, and a nap, and will launch into a series of runs that involve skipping Skwentna. If he does, it will be the first time in my memory that Buser has altered his own typically predictable (but aggressive) race schedule. No need to go into too much detail yet. The pit stop could just be a burp in his normal routine.

With a miled-up team that he has in front of him this year, though, look for Buser to jog along slower than you may be used to seeing him, but going longer. Keep an eye on him.

I’ve used the two-hour campout routine myself, as recently as this year’s Yukon Quest, where I ran five hours, rested two, then ran five more to the first checkpoint of Braeburn. A musher can get away with a quick little pit stop early in the race.

What’s up ahead

The trail to this point has been flat and easy, but potentially confusing. They’re on a wide frozen river, the Yentna, and there’s quite a few cabins and lodges, well lit with diesel-generated power. Sometimes a musher can accidentally take a wrong trail leading up to a lodge, which happened to Bjornar Andersen the last time he raced. (That trail had been ‘marked’ with Iditarod-style trail markers if I remember correctly.)

The teams aiming to win the race will rest 4 to 6 hours, then make another moderate (by today’s standards) run past Finger Lake to a little lake known by two names, as Helicopter Lake and Finbear Lake. It’s halfway to Rainy Pass on the increasingly steep and narrow trail leading through the Happy River Steps. From there, they’ll blow through the Rainy Pass checkpoint at Puntilla Lake and make the typically four-hour run over the pass and down the always treacherous Dalzell Gorge to Rohn. Or maybe a little beyond Rohn. Lance Mackey did just that last year.

There may be variations on that schedule, such as running all the way from Skwentna to Rainy Pass and taking a break. But the name of the game these days for the front-runners is go about 7 hours at a time.

The reportedly soft trail conditions will play a factor in all that. If it is painfully slow and soft, they’ll be taking breaks short of their goals and breaking the race into shorter chunks, mileage-wise. It makes the mushers antsy, but it’s not a big deal for the dogs. A slow grind is easier on them physically that a hard, fast trail.

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In what can always be described as a “party atmosphere” on 4th Avenue in Downtown Anchorage, mushers met fans and took a deep breath, enjoying the culmination of months of hard work on the last day before heading into the tough Alaskan Wilderness. Bidders from all over the country took part in an online auction that gave them the opportunity to ride in the sled of their favorite musher, while raising money for the often financially struggling race. An 11 mile course weaves in and through many parts of Alaska’s biggest city - starting downtown, dipping in and out of residential neighborhoods, and even over a highway overpasses. The Ceremonial start is a chance for musher and fan interaction, its a day of laid-back fun and gives the chance for the Iditarod to be celebrated on an international stage. The real race begins tomorrow afternoon about half an hour outside of Anchorage in the small town of Willow Alaska. Teams will once again depart in two minute increments, but this time it will be for real and the tensions at the restart are always much higher than the day before.

more to come later, but for now - here is today’s starting order:

3/28/2008 - Mitch Seavey wins $100,000 in All Alaska Sweepstakes

3/29/2009 - Lance Mackey’s Dog team hit by Snowmachine during All Alaska Sweepstakes

6/3/2008 - Iditarod entry fee up; purse gets cut

6/9/2008 - Iditarod film awarded Emmy for second year

7/19/2008 - No ESPY for Mackey, but maybe a movie?

Summer 2008 - Palin Who?

10/8/2008 - Mackey will be a guest on ‘Conan O’Brien’

10/25/2008 - Judge: Iditarod musher guilty of moose kill in Denali

10/25/2008 - Iditarod restart seeking a permanent home

1/12/2009 - Mackey says he will pull out of 2009 Yukon Quest

2/10/09 - Exxon will give Iditarod $1.25 million sponsorship

2/25/09 - Iditarod 2009 Betting Odds Released by PinnacleSports.com

2/19/09 - Discovery Channel Brings ‘Iditarod’ to Blu-ray this Spring

2/24/09 - Schnuelle wins Yukon Quest

The Ceremonial Start to the Iditarod is tomorrow morning, and many of you have been wondering what the full plans are for Iditablog and our coverage of the race.

We’ve been bringing Iditarod Coverage to the Internet for the last 5 years now, and this will be the biggest year to date at Iditablog.

First off, we’ve got a full series of great Podcasts planned, so make sure you’re subscribed to our iTunes page and all the newest shows will download to your computer automatically. Alternatively you can continue monitoring the front page of Iditablog and new shows will be posted right here as well. Look forward to an engaging new format, great guests, and a breakdown of the current news. Nowhere else can you find in-depth Iditarod news that you take with you wherever you go - listen to reports on your iPod or MP3 player in your car, while you run, or just sitting at home…. This will be the most concentrated and easily consumable Iditarod report on the internet, if you’re a casual fan - this podcast is all you need to follow during the 2009 Iditarod to stay up to date.

Secondly, I’m really excited for the addition of “Twitter” to our coverage… this is for the hardcore Iditarod fan who doesn’t have time to hit “refresh” on the latest standings every 10 minutes. With Twitter you can subscribe to receive short “up to the minute” headlines directly from Iditablog that might not normally warrant and entire blog post. As we receive and analyze the current standings, Twitter will be the place where stories are broken. If you’re not interested in subscribing to our Twitter-feed, you can still follow along by looking under “Iditablog on Twitter” on the right-hand side of each page under the Navigation Menu.

Finally, the bulk and meat of our coverage will continue to come from our regular blog posts multiple times a day during the race. It’s here that you’ll find not only updates and commentary on the standings, but also musher spotlights, information on checkpoints, and other great features. I know that it isn’t just the top 20 where all the action and drama is, we try to bring you a holistic look at the race. If you use Bloglines, Google Reader, or another RSS application to subscribe to blogs, make sure you’ve got us down!

The real key to this whole thing is you - its your comments and discussion that make the posts come alive, its your emails that will make the podcasts interactive, and its you telling your friends about the Iditarod that will help this amazing sport grow…

There are more even plans and exciting news on the way for Iditablog in the days to come - make sure you’ll be here!

Its about that time again folks, there are just a few days left until we hit the start of Iditarod 2009 on March 7th.  It’s been a crazy year since we saw Lance Mackey finish in Nome and making history with his second back-to-back Iditarod & Yukon Quest Victory in the same year.  We’ll be taking you up to the start of the race by looking back at significant events of the last 12 months in the dog mushing world…. it will be the backdrop to the race that can give some insight to the teams as they are on the trail.

New this year at Iditablog, we will be using and encouraging you to follow our new twitter account.  If you are new to the Twitter community, you can use this service to recieve up to the minute Iditarod headlines and commentary wherever you are - at your computer or on your mobile phone via text message.  These updates from Iditablog will be much shorter, but much frequent than our normal blogs & podcasts… You can either subscribe to Iditablog on Twitter, or simply follow the updates on the righthand side of the webpage.

Make sure you tune in next week as the race comes to a close and everyone arrives in Nome. We’ll see you next spring!

Iditarod 2008, Episode 5: Unalakleet - Elim

1. Unalakleet: Jeff King first into Unalakleet
2. Unalakleet: Monday Predictions
3. Koyuk: Lance first into Koyuk by minutes!
4. Elim: Into White Mountian & How Lance took the lead again

Here are our “re-blogs” from the section of the trail that was covered in this week’s show.

Iditarod 2008, Episode 4: Cripple - Unalakleet

1. Cripple: Big Day for DeeDee & Details on the Ruby Award
2. Ruby: Mackey Reaches the Yukon River first
3. Ruby: Ruby, Ruby, Ruby
4. Nulato: Mackey holds the Lead….for now.
5. Unalakleet: Jeff King first into Unalakleet

For a short summary of tomorrow’s episode, see below - we’ll also be back tomorrow evening with a re-cap, and a preview of next week’s show.  Make sure you don’t miss this opportunity to catch all the inside action of the Iditarod as over the next 3 weeks we see what it took to become 2008’s champion.

Friday, November 7th
With most teams now in their 24-hour break, Lance Mackey and Jeff King make up for time lost. Mackey is the first to Checkpoint: Ruby, leaving King both confused and frustrated. King devises a plan to win the race: He will let the returning champ lead and thus expend precious energy breaking trail. Rookie Darin Nelson becomes the latest musher to withdraw from the race — a sick dog team breaks his will to continue, and he chooses to scratch. Meanwhile the Buser family separates to allow former champion, Martin, a shot at the gold. It’s now a race to the coast along the mighty Yukon.

Looks like there will be no new episode next Tuesday, I can only assume its because most of us will be watching election coverage.  The next episode premiers on Nov. 11th, make sure you tune in.

Here are our “re-blogs” from the section of the trail that was covered in tonight’s show.

Iditarod 2008, Episode 3: McGrath - Cripple

1. Takotna: 24-hours of Confusion - The pack thins out
2. Ophir: 24-hour Check-up
3. Ophir: The 24-hour Choice
4. Cripple: Big Day for DeeDee & Details on the Ruby Award

I’m working on a big blog entry to post after this show finishes up to quickly catch everyone up on what has transpired since last march in Iditarod news… and what we know about Iditarod 2009!

This week we’ve got more “re-post” coverage of the 2008 Iditarod, allowing you to follow along reading our coverage from the period of the race that was shown in tonight’s second episode on the Discovery Channel.

Iditarod 2008, Episode 2: Rainy Pass - Nikolai

1. Rainy Pass: Into Rainy Pass & The GPS Impact

2. Rohn: Backen is Back!

3. Nikolai: The lead pack will change into Nikolai

4. Nikolai: Mackey out of Nikolai, Garnie out of the race

Over the next few weeks as the show airs, I’ll be going back providing links to the posts that I wrote during the period of the race that happened during each episode.  For those of you who didn’t follow along last March, you’ll get to re-live how we saw the race unfold… you’re seeing it on TV, but now you’ll get one more perspective as if it was happening all over again.

Iditarod 2008: Ceremonial Start - Rainy Pass

1. Anchorage: The Race is on!

2. Willow: The 2008 Breakdown

3. Yentna: Goodbye Willow - Hello Alaskan Wilderness

4. Rainy Pass: Into Rainy Pass & The GPS Impact

Let us know what you thought of the Iditarod show on Discovery this week…. post your comment below!

I’ll be back next week with more thoughts and a repost of the next series of blogs! (of course you can always read ahead too!).

I did want to remind everyone one last time though that this evening will be the premier of “Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod” on the Discovery Channel. It will be the most comprehensive look at the Iditarod to date as it seeks to follow not just the leaders of the race (as most coverage has done in the past) but those all through the entire pack of mushers. There were nearly 30 teams that were outfitted with cameras during last years race. The production company that has been working on this show for the last 8 months is the same group that has done the very high quality, and very entertaining “Deadlest Catch” and “Ice Road Truckers”.

The video below is 2-time consecutive Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey appearing recently on Conan O’Brian to promo the Discovery show.

UPDATE 10/18 - I just updated the post to include the actual video of Lance on Conan….

TOUGHEST RACE ON EARTH: IDITAROD

World Premiere Series Begins Tuesday, October 14 at 10PM ET/PT

Discovery Channel continues its exploration into and chronicling of the fascinating world around us with the groundbreaking six-part series TOUGHEST RACE ON EARTH: IDITAROD.  Defining adventure programming, the world premiere series provides a rare look into one of the harshest races in one of the most beautiful and challenging places on the planet – The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.  Across frozen rivers, barren tundra, mountains and thick forest in freezing temperatures, this grueling 1,150 mile race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska puts mushers and their dog teams through the ultimate test of human and animal teamwork and endurance.  Filmed in March 2008, this series tells stories through the eyes of the men and women who dared to take on the ultimate test of human and animal teamwork and endurance.  The intense preparation and training of race veterans and rookies alike show what it takes to compete not only against each other, but also Mother Nature.

The day after the accident Lance went on local Nome radio station KNOM and talked about his story.

We know things have improved quite a bit since then, but its still chilling to hear Lance tell this story.

Burmeister was welcomed by a healthy crowd in Nome, and when asked how the trail was Burmeister replied “Well…it was there!”. All of the mushers arriving into town have been greeted by All Alaska Sweepstakes Queen, Janice Doherty and the members of the queen’s court. In total over $40,000 was raised by the queen’s contest and will be distributed among the top 9 finishers.

The big story of today was the news of Lance Mackey’s collision last night outside of Safety and Cape Nome. We’ve received an update on his dog Zorro who was in the sled bag, and was taken to Anchorage to be treated.

This is the latest coming out of the crew in Anchorage:

The big injuries are 3 broken ribs, and possible damage to Zorro’s spinal cord. At this point Zorro can’t feel his back legs, but can feel his front paws. Doctors aren’t sure if this is due to a spinal injury which could be permanent, or feeling could come back if it was due to spinal swelling. As horrific as these injuries are, they don’t appear to be life threatening… he is being hydrated with IVs at this time.

Finally, many of you are probably reading this on alaskasweepstakesblog.com, and may have never stumbled upon my blog before. I do this same thing during each Iditarod over on my permanent site iditablog.com. If you haven’t done so already, please add me as a bookmark for next year. As I’ve told a few friends, if I’m going to devote so much of my time during these races to writing about and covering them, I might as well have people read it! I appreciate all the new readers who have found me over the last few days.

I’ll be in Nome for a few more days, and will try and keep the information flowing on this historic race as the final mushers make their way to the finish line.

(Aaron Burmeister poses at the finish line with first his trail support team, then the AAS Queen, and Katie Schobert the queen contestant who raised Aaron’s purse, and finally a young fan greets one of Aaron’s dogs in his sled bag)

Last night on his way into the finish line, just minutes after leaving Safety.. 2008 Iditarod & Yukon Quest Champion, Lance Mackey was hit by a snow machine. The machine was traveling at a high rate of speed behind Lance. He flashed his lights and yelled at the driver, but says it didn’t seem to matter. Mackey jumped off the sled just before the snowmachine hit the sled from the rear and ran it over. The machine was lodged into the sled and in his sled bag was his dog Zorro who was sleeping. The first four dogs in his team were sucked under the sled as it flew forward 30 feet and they were scurring and trying to get out, the dog in his bag was trying to figure out what was going on. The snowmachine driver appeared to have been drinking, and was with another driver who assisted Lance in getting the machine off his sled and to get to the dog out. Lance said that Zorro, who was in the bag appeared at the time to ok, and the other four were “scared to death”.

After spending the night in Mackey’s bedroom, vets were called in to check Zorro again. They found broken ribs and are unsure about other injuries. Zorro has been flown to Anchorage for medical attention, and should be there now. His vet bills are already over $1000 just for the medivac to Anchorage. Zorro has also been on IVs, along with some pretty heavy medication since this morning. At this time Mackey says it does not look good. Other dogs may also have some injuries, but none appear life threatening. Lance does not hold the race responsible and has not filed any complaints, nor does he have hard feelings toward the snowmachine driver. Mackey has however, asked for the driver to step forward and publicly apologize. Lance also wants the public to know about this new issue in dog mushing. He isn’t anti-snowmachine (he admits to having a few of his own), but thinks that something has to be done, and it needs to be known that this is happening more and more. In this year’s mushing season alone atleast 3 incidents have been reported, and assuming that Zorro makes it, 2 of those have been deadly.

Zorro was one of Lance’s most famous dogs, and wanted to bring him on the All Alaska Sweepstakes as one final hurah, a historic dog participating in an historic race.

We’ll keep following this story as it develops..

There is a tradgic story coming out about Mackey’s team being hit by a snowmachine outside of Cape Nome…. details are sketchy right now and I’ll try and get a complete story to post as soon as possible, we should be talking to Lance very soon.

Also, King was able to get a few minutes with the media early this morning after coming into Nome and made some fun comments on the All Alaska Sweepstakes, and I’m working on getting some of those typed up.

Here is the current list of mushers into Nome so far:

1. Seavey - 3/28/08 - 23:29
2. King - 3/28/08 - 23:39
3. Mackey - 3/29/08 - 1:59
4. Lindner - 3/29/08 - 5:19
5. Iten - 3/29/08 - 10:37
6. Lanier - 3/29/08 - 10:52
7. Smyth - 3/39/08 - 13:12
8. Brooks - 3/29/08 - around 15:15 (official time not posted yet)

Mitch arrived at 23:29, King arrived at 23:39

Keep looking for more fun things posted over the next few hours.

It does a good job of giving you a real feel of the craziness that was happening.

(click here) to download

It was craziness out there….

Madness.

Audio, video, and pictures coming soon…

The good news is: Its being recorded….and the first 10 of you can listen online @ kicy.org.