Former Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Martin Buser is set to lead the pack out of Takotna on a midnight train schedule. Fortified with a slight time buffer, a big string of dogs, and the experience that comes from four Iditarod victories, Buser is setting the rhythm of the race. All others must respond to his move.
As a spectator, I have to admit that this has been the most boring and stuporific 24-hour break in recent Iditarod history. Essentially, the entire lead pack spent the desultory day feeding their dogs, sleeping, belching, and wandering back and forth to the Takotna kitchen for more homemade pie and ice cream, leaving a vacuum of redundant nothingness for the Iditarod fan.
My fellow commentator, the retired four-time champ from Montana, Doug Swingley, and I communicated by phone and agreed that there really were not any side bars of activity to the front of the pack that deserved mention. We thought certainly that a Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race musher, for example, would read the reports of excellent hard trail to Iditarod, and decide, "Well, I might as well get further up the trail while the rest of the pack sleeps in Takotna. I should take advantage of perfect conditions."
After all, it really isn't a huge accomplishment to make it less than 400 miles to Takotna, hardly more than one-third of the race distance. The Yukon Quest, in contrast, has an established midway rest at Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada, almost 500 miles from the start.
Quest mushers have smaller teams, bigger loads, and less opportunity for re-supply, and they make 500 miles on their first leg on a regular basis. So we were confounded why so many in the pack would dead head in Takotna, if for no other reason than because it was assumed that the lead pack had a strategic reason to push there.
Iditarod 2011: Iditarod
Mar 09, 2011
A sign greets mushers to the Iditarod checkpoint.
Jill Burke photo
Iditarod 2011: Iditarod
Mar 09, 2011
The mushers' cabin at the Iditarod checkpoint.
Jill Burke photo
Iditarod 2011: Iditarod
Mar 09, 2011
Phil Meyer, left, and John Cooper sort through the bags of scratched mushers in the Iditarod checkpoint on Wednesday.
Jill Burke photo
Iditarod 2011: Iditarod
Mar 09, 2011
A wall tent, right, joins the Iditarod checkpoint cabin for the race.
Jill Burke photo
Iditarod 2011: Iditarod
Mar 09, 2011
Jim Paulus, head checker for the Iditarod checkpoint, carries supplies on Wednesday.
Ok Joe you got it. 12 hours to Iditarod looking at this data. Martin slowing down seven miles out. Lance keeping his speed. And Neff slowing a little. Seven miles between Lance and Martin. Neff between them. Martin's run could be faster than 12.
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