ROTY

[mamamia]

I thought I would start this to track Rohn & Bill Kleedehn. When we last left our two intrepid rookies they were out of Galena only a few minutes apart (Rohn out first). Rohn had 7+ hours of rest and Bill had just taken his man 8. Rohn seems to be having dog troubles as he dropped another dog in Galena leaving with only 9. Bill had 12.

They are now showing into Nulato with Bill 33 min ahead. While Rohn posted a reasonable time for this leg (7h 8m & 7.29mph) Bills was very competative, 6h 18m & 8.25mph. The only musher faster than Bill on this leg (so far) was Cym Smyth at 8.60mph.

[deafcat]

I was wondering about Rohn's dogs last night. Are they sick? He doesn't have many left to spare....

[mithious]

Hmmmm Rohn only has 9 dogs left? good thing they are nearing the coast....maybe he can keep going if he can keep the dogs he has left? Sounds like the two are battling it out for ROTY......I love these races within the race

[Di*]

In my opinion Kleedehn has the upper hand, he's a seasoned Quest competitor and this is Rohn's first 1,000 miler!
I was gonna put Kleedehn in my top ten but didn't figure all the stars would align so well for him his first year!
My heart wants Rohn to win ROTY honors though, would be so cool if he could pull it off....maybe this will fuel a desire to return next year!

[deafcat]

Rohn is certainly the sentimental favorite, but Kleedehn seems really consistant. Even if Rohn's remaining dogs aren't sick he can't afford an injury or a miscalculation... even so, it's been an impressive first race!

[mamamia]

Well the rookies have left the checkpoint of Nulato. Bill was out first after 5h18m rest and rohn followed 1h 19m later after 6h 4m rest. At this point with Rohn down to 9 dogs I believe his goal is simply to finish the race. He has run a good race but the dog problems that can strike any musher at random (ask Mitch Seavey) seem to have gotten to him this year. It would be nice if he could get ROTY (I appreciate that even though I picked Bill).

[mamamia]

Both are showing into Kaltag 2 hrs apart (Bill in the lead) Rohn is posting respectable times but Bill is running faster than most of the mushers that have checked into the past two checkpoints... maybe more. He is really showing his racing pedigree. If you get a chance, go to his website and look at his race history. It is pretty impressive.

Here's hoping that Rohn can hold on to those 9 dogs into Nome.

[mamamia]

William Kleedehn's website:

http://www.yukonexplorer.com/

[Deerskin and Anja]

i hate to ask, but what does ROTY mean?

[jonnybegood]

Rookie Of The Year. There is an award for the highest placing rookie. A rookie is someone on their first Irod. JBG