One more A.A.S. musher has made it to Nome; Fred Nopoka completed the race in tenth place with a total time of 97 hours 58 minutes 23 seconds. Carrie Miller, Kirsten Bey, Conner Thomas, and Jeff Darling are still on the return trail from Candle.
The All-Alaska Sweepstakes rolls on to its conclusion, now to be somewhat delayed by a storm front; it looks like nine mushers have made it to Nome, with six still out on the trail.
It has now emerged that the AAS has hosted another snowmobile tragedy! Lance Mackey, winner of the 2008 Yukon Quest AND Iditarod Trail thousand-mile races, was making his way toward Cape Nome, having just left Safety. It was night. Mackey heard a snowmobile approaching at high speed from behind his team; he turned, flashed his lights and yelled, but to no avail. He jumped off the sled at the last minute, as the snowmobile hit and overran the sled, the wheel dogs, and the first swing pair. In the sled bag, sleeping, was Mackey's famous dog "Zorro." The snowmobile driver had been drinking. He was accompanied by a second machine and driver, who helped Mackey get the snow machine off the sled and get the dog out of the bag.
Zorro appeared to be all right at first. Mackey apparently continued to run the race, as he arrived in Nome under his own team's power with all his dogs accounted for. Zorro spent the night in Mackey's hotel room and was checked out again in the morning; vets found broken ribs and other signs of trouble, so Zorro was medivaced to Anchorage to undergo treatment there. Three broken ribs and possible spinal cord injury were found; Zorro is under IV hydration and heavy medication and the prognosis is guarded at this time.
Coming as it does after the Iditarod snowmobile collision in which Jen Freking lost a dog, this underlines the seriousness of the situation in which snowmobiles travel at high speeds at night, their drivers using alcohol freely, on trails that are also used by mushers, cross-country skiers, and pedestrians. We shall assuredly hear more of this issue in the future.
AAS finishers now stand as follows:
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)
Sonny Lindner - 67 hours 19 minutes 8 seconds (13 dogs)
Ed Iten - 72 hours 37 minutes (12 dogs)
Jim Lanier - 72 hours 52 minutes (13 dogs)
Cim Smyth - 75 hours 12 minutes (11 dogs)
Ramy Brooks - 77 hours 9 minutes (12 dogs)
Aaron Burmeister - 81 hours 19 minutes (11 dogs)
Still somewhere out on the trail are mushers Thomas, Nopoka, Miller, Bey and Darling.
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.
It's over, two mushers arrived at Nome ten minutes apart -- Mitch Seavey at 23:29:45 and Jeff King at 23:39:05. Seavey's total elapsed time was 61 hours 7 minutes; King's was 61 hours 21 minutes. The AAS Leader Board still has King posted in first place, though. Who knows why! The start time differential issue has so thoroughly beclouded this finish that it will take a Philadelphia lawyer to sort it all out.
Well, we can all find out who "won" tomorrow. At least we know what the times of the first two mushers into Nome supposedly were. What a freaking mess . . . it will be interesting to hear what is said tomorrow about start times, about the finish, about the trail, about the judge . . . they'll have plenty to argue about. The one thing that seems certain is that the trail record that has stood since 1910 is definitively broken, and by some 13 hours at that.
Mitch Seavey is into Cape Nome at 21:53, 51 minutes after hitting Safety, averaging 10.5 mph for that nine-mile stretch.King checked into Cape Nome five minutes behind him It's starting to look like Seavey might sew it up, but King might still be able to coax some extra speed from his team on the Iditarod home stretch, or any little mishap could cost Seavey precious minutes. There is still the big unresolved question of the time differential; incredible that race authorities played it so close to the vest. (The race's "Leader Board" is listing King in first place with nine minutes SLOWER time than Seavey!) There could be pyrotechnics at the finish line. It ain't over till the fat lady sings . . .
Lance Mackey checked into Solomon at 21:27 Alaska time, twenty minutes after Seavey and King hit Safety. He's still trying to catch up, but it doesn't seem likely that he'll manage it now. Still no word of Lindner.
Mitch Seavey checked into Safety at 21:02 Alaska time. Jeff King was four minutes behind him, checking in at 21:06. As they are now on the final trail portion that is shared with the Iditarod trail, these dogs now know where they are, and the pace has obviously picked up. Mackey checked into Topkok at 19:48, apparently no word yet of Lindner but that could change momentarily.
Jeff King and Mitch Seavey checked into Solomon one minute apart, with elapsed times of 57:16 and 57:17 respectively; Solomon is thirty-three miles from the finish line. This race could be as little as three hours from its conclusion. But it is hard to tell what's going on, the web reporting on it is so fragmentary. The Leader Board is ill-kept, and were it not for the efforts of Joshua Rogers of Iditablog.com, we would know very little indeed about the details of this race. The Alaska newspapers are doing a dismal job, posting online articles that are invariably stale and perfunctory.
Sonny Lindner appears to be making his play now! He has made it into Timber checkpoint only one hour after Mackey, having gradually made up a good deal of time on the lead threesome.
I have been wondering all through this race if that would happen. He has appeared to be underperforming the expectations some had of him. I think he felt that the three front-runners were capable of running their teams into the ground in their three-way battle for the lead. I think he has kept his dogs fresh and rested for this moment.
I am not saying that he WILL win this race, but I will unhesitatingly state that it would not surprise me at all to see him do so. IF he has calculated correctly, he may just be able to sail past King, Seavey and Mackey in the last fifty miles, with a team that still has enough reserve to power ahead and sprint that distance. Already things are looking not good for Mackey.
We'll see!
Less than fifty miles to go (Topkok Hill) with King and Seavey three minutes apart!
Mackey not yet checked into Topkok . . .
As of Friday afternoon, the Sweepstakes remains a puzzling cliff-hanger. At this point the three front-runners have all made it into the Council checkpoint, with times as follows:
Jeff King - 47 hours 15 minutes
Mitch Seavey - 47 hours 35 minutes
Lance Mackey - 48 hours 34 minutes
With some 80 miles to go in the race, it still is anyone's race. Sonny Lindner has made it to Boston with a time there of 48 hours 21 minutes. Jim Lanier is in fifth place at Telephone Creek with a time there of 49 hours 44 minutes. These two might have a chance if the three front-runners were to crash and burn; but that now seems unlikely.
One unresolved issue is the starting-time differentials; various rumours have flown around about this, and for some crazy reason the race authorities have chosen not to resolve the question publicly. It was discussed before the race at the closed mushers' meeting, but nobody will talk about just what was decided. The original plan was that the starting-time differentials would be made up at an undisclosed checkpoint; but nobody is sure whether the original plan still applies! It means something in a close race like this, because Seavey and Mackey started 6 minutes apart, with another 4 minutes between Seavey and King, thus 10 minutes between King and Mackey! Incredible as it may seem, ten minutes could be enough to win this race. By delaying the announcement and being so secretive, the race judge is creating a potential for accusations of favouring some particular musher.
Two teams have now scratched. Hugh Neff scratched at Haven and mushed back to Council to await instructions; it now appears that he will mush back to Nome on his own time. Mike Santos scratched at Telephone and his dogs were apparently airlifted back to Nome. As far as is known, both mushers and all their dogs are in satisfactory shape.
Cari Miller, Kristen Bey, Conner Thomas and Jeff Darling have yet to reach the turnaround point at Candle at last report. Ramy Brooks was last reported at First Chance, along with Aaron Burmeister. Ed Iten was last reported at Telephone. Fred Nopoka at Candle.
Just in (at 4:37 pm CST) is the news that Jeff King checked into Timber on the return leg at 13:03 Alaska time, with an accumulated runtime of 50 hours 45 minutes. With 60 miles to go, that gives King an average continuous speed of 6.86 mph -- starting to slow a bit. It is anyone's guess whether the race will continue at the pace it has been run thus far.
It seems obvious that we are looking at a new record for the A.A.S. trail, and that it will probably be something on the order of 60 to 65 hours. If I had to guess, I would say 62 hours. The John Johnson record was over 74 hours; the 1983 time of winner Rick Swenson was around 80 hours.
I'm very glad there are no romanticist SH teams on that trail. If anyone thought about it, perhaps some local-area dog drivers talked turkey to them in private and discouraged any such participation. It should now be obvious that the dogs that run in the teams of King, Mackey, Seavey, and other top mid-distance/long-distance drivers are totally another breed of pup from anything historic. The present-day system of highly-outbred matings and severe culling to the speed curve WORKS; it does what it is supposed to do, it produces dogs that run faster than dogs have ever before run on winter trails. It does a few other things as well, but we'll talk about all that some other time, after the race fever has died away.
If those checkpoint mileages are anything like correct, then as of the Boston checkpoint (now his last reported arrival) with an accumulated time of some 44 hours, King has maintained an incredible average speed of 7.1 mph. He now has just 95.6 miles left in his race to Nome.
Here are the All-Alaska Sweepstakes checkpoint mileages as reported by the Nome Kennel Club in their "Check Point History 1908 - 1917":
Nome - Start and finish
Fort Davis - (3.5 miles) also know as Nome River in 1912 & 1914. Galvin’s in 1911.
Hastings - (9.1 miles) Check points in 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1913.
Cape Nome - (13 miles) Check point for all of the years.
Safety - (22 miles) also known as Port Safety. Check point for all of the years.
Solomon - (33 miles) Check point for all of the years.
Topkok - (47.2 miles) A check point from 1908-1913.
Timber - (59.7 and 67 miles, depending upon report)
Council - (75-85 miles depending upon report) Check point for all of the years.
Baker’s - (89 miles) Check point for 1912, only.
Boston - (95.6 miles) Check point 1910 through 1917.
Fish River - (121 miles) Check point in 1916 only.
Telephone - (110 – 125 miles depending upon report) Check point 1908-1915.
Haven - (124-143 miles depending upon report) Check point for all years.
First Chance - (165 miles) Check point for 1908, 1909, 1910 and 1911.
Gold Run - (176 miles) Check point for 1912-1917
Candle - (204 miles) Check point and halfway point for all years of the race.
Woops! Looks like I clicked "preview" and not "save"; previous entry was written last night but didn't get posted until this morning. Meanwhile, things have developed dramatically. Jeff King and Mitch Seavey have made it to Telephone Creek. When are they resting their dogs? When are they sleeping? Six mushers haven't even made it to Candle, the turnaround point, yet! And Lance Mackey has dropped to third place. Sonny Lindner has dropped to seventh.
Given the way this has developed, it is difficult to tell whether Lindner, thought to be a strong contender for this race, has done a smart thing by giving his team a good rest, or is just burning out. He was last reported in Candle, five hours behind second-place runner Mitch Seavey.
Can King possibly keep this pace to the finish? If so, the 1910 trail record is going to be blown sky-high. Mackey, at least, can't be counted out of the running yet; he may have rested his dogs just enough to pass Jeff King in the latter phase of this crazy race.
Remember, the winner gets one hundred grand; the runner-up gets nothing. It's a winner-take-all game. I think we can probably expect some excitement right through to the end, given the way King has chosen to set such a blistering pace. His accumulated runtime at Telephone Creek is 42 hours 33 minutes.
These guys are freakin' nuts! They are running this 408-mile race as a sprint, to all appearances. I don't know where, if or how much they are resting their dogs; it looks like damn little if at all. It took King 4 hours 39 minutes to get from Gold Run to Candle; looks like he turned right around and started back, and it took him 4 hours 15 minutes to be back in Gold Run. It took Mackey 3 hours 20 from Gold Run to Candle, and 3 hours 52 minutes to get back to Gold Run. Maybe some brief snack stops in either or both drivers' times, but nothing by way of a sustained rest for the dogs. As I write this, Mackey has already pushed on to First Chance.
Mitch Seavey and Jim Lanier are already posted as having arrived at Candle; but not Sonny Lindner. Will any (or all) of these guys crash and burn, do you suppose? I'd say all bets are OFF at this point!
One day and four hours into the centennial commemorative running of the All-Alaska Sweepstakes (the 408-mile classic from Nome to Candle and back), 51-year-old musher Jeff King has made it to Candle! Lance Mackey and Sonny Lindner can hardly be very far behind him; the times of all three were quite close at the previous checkpoint of Gold Run.
The original race rules (which still govern the event) provide that the winning driver must return to Nome with all the dogs with which he started, and no others. This means that NO DOGS CAN BE DROPPED. Race veterinarians can insist that a dog be dropped, but in that case the driver is out of the running. This rule is highly controversial. The drivers insist that it mandates the utmost in dog care. Others are less sure of that.
I don't have the old race records handy to compare the times into Candle for Leonhard Seppala, Scotty Allen, John Johnson and the rest. The record set by Johnson in 1910 was some 74 hours -- around 3.5 mph average, because there are no obligatory rest stops on this race; time run is continuous, and all mushers are deemed to have started at the same time, though actually teams start at two minute intervals. (The late starters have to make up that time deficit.)
Jeff King's average to Candle is around 7.5 mph. Whether he can keep that up on the return journey remains to be seen.
Today a March prairie snowstorm is in full swing -- so it's as good a day as any to get back to blogging again. After ten years of using my old 1998 Macintosh G3 300MHz pre-USB computer, I'm finally retiring it to word-processing and database work. A new silver Dual-Processor 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon Mac Pro now sits on the desk. My frustrations with an antiquated browser no longer supported by too many websites are now pretty much over; Safari goes everywhere! So now I'm not wasting so much time waiting, I can get back to productivity in areas I had to drop temporarily -- like SledDogBlog and Wikipedia. I celebrated by creating a brand-new Wikipedia article for the East Siberian Laika breed, adding it to both Wikipedia and SeppalaWiki. And this post is "my hat in the door" to my long-unvisited blog!