This morning everything is clarified, as much as it's going to be. Since Mitch Seavey was the winner there was no issue with making up starting time differential, as he had left Nome four minutes after Jeff King, who finished 10 minutes after Seavey. Finish times now posted are:
Mitch Seavey - 61 hours 29 minutes 45 seconds (10 dogs)
Jeff King - 61 hours 39 minutes 5 seconds (13 dogs)
Lance Mackey - 63 hours 59 minutes (13 dogs)
Mitch Seavey - 67 hours 19 minutes (13 dogs)
No one else has been posted any closer than Topkok Hill (Jim Lanier and Ed Iten). The winner's average continuous speed for the 408-mile trail was 6.63 mph, considerably bettering the 1910 John Johnson record speed of an average 5.49 mph. The Johnson record finish time was 74 hours, 14 minutes, 37 seconds.
Apparently Seavey was declared winner on the spot without the traditional A.A.S. 24-hour waiting period, although the race judges will "officially certify" the result 24 hours after three teams have finished. Nothing more has been heard of the starting differential issue; fortunately it did not matter.
Some significant points emerge from this centennial running of the Nome Sweepstakes. First is that the supposed superiority of the original Siberia import dogs is now disposed of. In their day, they were superior, and for a long time thereafter. Finally in the new millennium, the intensive breeding and culling plan employed by modern drivers of racing mongrels has established its superiority, not surprisingly. As I said in an earlier post, their system WORKS -- and it is applicable only to racing mongrels. This should put an end to all the talk about there being "no reason why" Seppalas (for example) should not be winners in a race of this kind.
The other point that occurs to me is this: that in a 400-mile race, a well-managed ten-dog team can beat larger teams. More is not necessarily better. A ten-dog team is easy to drive and easy to care for on the trail. Four more dogs, let alone more than that, create a lot more stress for the driver and the entire team; that can, over the long haul, prove counterproductive. I have always held that smaller teams are better, on balance, for everyone. This race demonstrates that proposition.
Posted by ditkoofseppala at March 29, 2008 08:48 AMMr. Bragg, Do you think there may be a race format or distance that Seppala's could be of some competition in? What about the IPSSSDR? Fur Rondy?
Thanks, Chris