Thread: Who's the Leader?

[Frozen Chosen]

It didn't take long for Dallas to not only catch up, but to take the lead. His is probably the only team in this race that has both speed and stamina. Travis's team is already wearing and cutting back. Holmes may be Dallas's lone competitor, and who knows how long he will last.

Once Dallas takes the lead, he almost does not concede, especially when arriving the coast. Only Brent Sass could have competed with Dallas. Here's to looking at this Seavey team run steady and fast up the trail and leaving everyone in the dust. I am not a fan of Dallas, nor even Mitch...I was a fan of their father ole' Dan Seavey though...the original dude who, back in '73 inspired the song "Dan Seavey was a Musher"...

His off season training regimen prepares his team like no other. He will leave everyone in the Bering Sea Coastal dust...I will be very surprised, maybe shocked, if his team crashes over the next 200 miles...

[tanglefoot]

I loved Jessie Holmes relieving the first to the coast award, that meant a lot to him. He is going to give Dallas a run for his money though.

[Pippiroo]

I really hope Jessie H can keep up the pace. It would be great to see someone new come down Front Street first this year.

[tanglefoot]

1 Dallas Seavey 7 Unalakleet 3/10 12:50:00 * 12 3/10 12:59:00 12 0h 9m 14h 49m Kaltag 3/9 21:01:00 5.74
*
2 Jessie Holmes 9 Unalakleet 3/10 12:33:00 * 11 13h 46m Kaltag 3/9 21:47:00 6.17

Jessie was hour faster on the run to Unk

[elsietee]

From Seavey FB:

(8 hours ago):

Jessie Holmes takes the lead in #Iditarod2024

Jessie Holmes led the front pack out of Old Woman Cabin at 8:20 am Sunday, followed by Dallas Seavey at 8:42. They were the two fastest teams on the previous run, and this is the point of the race when teams start pushing, and speed is the ultimate sign of strength.

Edit: Travis Beals left third at 9:35
Edit #2: Matt Hall left 4th at 9:47
Edit #3 Paige Drobny left at 10:38

Ryan Redington's GPS is still showing camped at Old Woman, but that's hard to believe. He's either taking a long nap, or his tracker fell off.

It'll be interesting to see what they do from here, there's not an aggressive schedule that makes much sense, they're too far to get to White Mountain in 3 runs, and 4 is really awkward with the checkpoint distances, and 5 is not a competitive schedule, so it'll get interesting. The teams seem content to play it safe, so we may see teams stop in Unalakleet, although I'm sure some will push through if the trail permits.

Followed by 4 hours ago:

Jessie Holmes was first into Unalakleet at 12:35, Dallas arrived about 20 minutes later, stayed just 5 minutes and out at 1pm. Jessie appears to be camping, Dallas is going through, now back in 1st!

This is the part where maths comes into play and I can't even do it at home in front of my cozy computer, let alone as a sleep-deprived, cold, bleary musher. How do they do this part - figure out what to do next? I assume they write it all down weeks before the race, and give themselves various options.

Someone said somewhere that Jessie H set up his schedule to beat Brent - so whatever he does is with that in mind.

Last year, Ryan stayed at Unk for 3 hr 47 m.... but he arrived there about 4.5 hours before the next musher (Pete).

In 2022, Brent did not stop in Unk, but Dallas did (Dallas arrived 1 hr 50 mins behind Brent).

I'd like to hear interviews with both Jessie and Travis, to hear what's going on with them.

[libby the lab]

Elsie $15 for Insider thru the winner's finish!

[elsietee]

I caved and did it. Couldn't stand not to watch the tracker in the final stages of the race.

But just looking at the standings, it looks like Travis and Matt banked some extra rest between Kaltag and Unk - and as a result stayed 3 hr 36 m and 3 hr 5 m respectively. Travis looks to still have good speed when I peeked at the tracker just now (but Dallas is steaming up the shore nearly to Shak 20 miles ahead).

[braider]

Surprisingly to me, great race this year!

[Frozen Chosen]

Dallas checked into Shaktoolik a bit after 9pm, then checked right back out...he will be doing this probably thru Koyuk at least...he is almost set to bring in his 6th win...only a very bad storm, or unfortunate incident will prevent this at this point. Travis tried making a run for it, starting in Ruby, but his run lasted only until just past Kaltag. It is pretty much over for Jessie and Matt...

I plan on getting the GPS special, maybe in the morning as I am hitting the straw here real soon...Good night all fellow Iditabuds!

[elsietee]

Looks like Dallas pulled over at the shelter cabin on the spit before Norton Sound. It's about 50 miles from where he last camped in the Blueberry Hills outside Unk. And squinting at his tracker, he stayed in the Blueberry hills less than 3 hours. But his speed looks substantially faster than Jessie's (Dallas was two hours "slower", but took 2:45 hours rest).

Jessie H and Matt Hall, OTOH, opted to pull over in Shak after only a 40 mile run. Looks like Matt was about 15 mins faster than Jessie on that stretch.

Matt and Travis both rested short in Unk, while Paige and Jeff Deeter rested long (nearly 6 hours in Paige's case). Are they looking to make a move?

I'm off to bed, so will check in the morning to see what they did.