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Another Iditarod surprise emergesThe first surprise of the 2011 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was Anchorage Dr. Robert Bundtzen -- a 60-year-old also-ran who not once managed to crack the top 20 in 12 previous races. This year, though, he helped pace the Iditarod lead pack over the Alaska Range and into the Interior. He sat seventh on Tuesday as mushers began taking the 24-hour mandatory rests required somewhere along the trail. Now comes Surprise No. 2 -- Trent Herbst, a 40-year-old teacher from Idaho by way of Michigan with a wildman beard. Herbst has run four previous Iditarods. His best finish was 48th in 2009. He was 49th last year, 73 in 2008, and 65th as a rookie in 2007. Usually, he has been behind dogs owned by Ed Stielstra of Michigan on what might be considered Iditarod training runs. Stielstra runs a sled dog business hauling tourists in the Midwestern state and uses Herbst's Iditarod exploits to help promote it. A friendly, easygoing guy, Herbst has never appeared to be all that competitive, but things are clearly different this year. Idaho surprise could be first to halfway ghost townOn Wednesday morning, as the usual Iditarod big dogs rested on their 24-hour breaks in the old mining community of Takotna just north of the Kuskokwim River, Herbst joined a small group of mushers that sped through on the way to Ophir, a now deserted mining camp about 30 miles farther on. He did not stop there. Instead of taking the 24 in Ophir, as a couple of his traveling companions decided to do, Herbst gave his dogs a rest of about five hours and left for the halfway checkpoint of Iditarod about 15 minutes behind Kelly Griffin from Wasilla. Though Griffin technically had the Iditarod lead at that point, Herbst was behind the faster team, significantly faster. At the start of this race, his dogs were among a comparative handful of teams posting speeds of more than 13 mph on the way up the Yentna River. Herbst was second into the Yentna Station checkpoint behind two-time Iditarod runner-up DeeDee Jonrowe from Willow, who appears to have one of the fastest teams in the race. After Yentna, Herbst flirted with the lead pack, but then backed off as the pace accelerated across the Alaska Range. The race got a little out of control there for some. The pace proved to be too fast. Defending champ Lance Mackey from Fairbanks had to drop four dogs that couldn't hold the speed. Former race runnerup Paul Gebhardt from Kasilof saw his team so run out of gas he ended up scratching from the race. The same for Jessica Hendricks from Two Rivers, a top-20 finisher in 2003 and 2005 and one of several women who have over the years been pegged as the next woman to take over the mantle of the late, four-time champ Susan Butcher. Herbst's decision to play it conservative while others were pushing the pace through the Alaska Range in 20-degree weather -- warm for Alaska huskies -- may have proved wise if his run between Takotna and Ophir is any indication. This is a 35-mile stretch of trail up and over a 900-foot mountain. Mushers don’t stop along the way. They push straight through, which makes the Takotna-to-Ophir stretch of trail a good indicator of team speed. The run took Griffin three hours. Herbst did it in under two and a half. The Iditarod calculated Griffin's speed at under 8.5 mph. Herbst’s team was moving at better than 10 mph in the kind of fast trot it has been showing since the beginning. If Herbsts wants the $3,000 in halfway silver waiting at Iditarod, about 90 miles on from Ophir, he shouldn't have any trouble overtaking Griffin. What happens after that is anybody's guess. The teams in Takotna will be coming off their 24-hour rests tonight and taking up the chase. No matter where Herbst decides to 24 -- in Iditarod or beyond -- he is almost certain to be passed. But when all is said and done he might well end up within striking distance of the lead bunch, which would put two surprises in the front pack: Herbst, a musher who has never finished better than 48th, and Bundzten, whose best previous finish was 27th way back in 1997. Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com I was wondering when someone would take notice of Trent Herbst. He is indeed surprising, but this race is full of surprises: Mackey having problems, Mitch Seavey cutting his hand and having to withdraw, GB Jones's dogs pulling him along unconscious for awhile, but he seems to be surviving. Wonder what will happen next? |
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