Idita-rest

0Josh • 10th Mar 2005 • blog entries, Iditarod, nome.

The leaders are halfway there

As of Mar 10 – 2:00pm
Today Iditarod speculation is very difficult because its come to the point in the race when many mushers are planning their 24 hour layovers or have already taken them. The Iditarod trail committee mandates that each musher take 24 hours off in one checkpoint. Where or when they do it is up to each individual team. Many mushers took theirs yesterday and are now free to continue going without much hesitation, however no one in the top 10 have completed their layover yet and many of them are working on it right now . The highest position musher that has completed a layover is Aliy Zirkle who is in the number 11 spot. Over the next few hours the top ten field will be changing dramatically with top mushers being forced to sit back and watch others wiz in and out of checkpoints with renewed energy.

Sorlie will be leaving around 2:50am on Friday, so will Martin Buser. Ramey Brooks will leave at 4:00am, and DeeDee Jonrow around 6:00am. Mitch Seavey, Jeff King, Ed Iten, Paul Gebhardt, and John Baker are all taking their 24 hour layovers at the ghost town of Iditarod as well. Approaching the checkpoint with their 24 under their belt is Aliy Zirkle, Lance Mackey, Bjonar Andersen, and Doug Swingly.

Its going to be pretty interesting to see if anyone is able to get ahead of Sorlie, Buser, and Brooks and how the competitive landscape changes over the next few hours.

Late Tuesday night Sorlie checked into McGrath as the first musher, receiving the PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award. Robert then continued leading the trail, and early Thursday morning was the first musher to check into the ghost town of Iditarod, on the banks of Iditarod Creek. The checkpoint is about 564 miles into the race and signifies the halfway point in the southern route. Being the first musher in gave him the GCI Dorthy Page Halfway Award, as well as $4,000 in gold nuggets.

Robert may be experiencing some dejivu, last time he ran the Iditarod in 2003, he won the PenAir award, and won the Halfway Award, he also went on to win the race.

I’ve got some more audio for you, here are my reports on:

1. Report and interview with Team Norway (click here)
2. Report and interview with Robert Sorlie (click here)
3. Layover speculation (click here)
4. Press Release of 5 time winner Rick Swenson scratching from the race (click here)

ALSO,

Yesterday I posted photos of my Anchorage trip last week. There are some great pictures in there of the start, restart, musher interviews, and around town. (go take a look)