Trail snippets

[mira]

Race didn't go exactly as I planned, but I wouldn't change anything, honestly...

not even the little detour in the start? Well, it is something most other mushers haven't done

[JLJ]

Elsietee it is so kind of you to take the time to do these 'snippets' . Both for those who don't subscribe to the videos and for those of us still on dialup who couldn't view them if we wanted to and had time, it really helps us keep up and gives us a fuller picture of the race. Thanks so much!

Minor bit. I noticed that on page 13 both Patrick Beall and Larry Daugherty were mentioned as driving Mitch's puppy teams.

According to Danny Seavey's pre-race post here

https://www.facebook.com/seaveysididari ... 1657014049

Patrick was mentioned as driving Mitch's puppy team.

Of Larry he said 'Larry Daugherty, an oncologist from Anchorage who ran his qualifiers with Jim Lanier last winter, and will be racing Mitch's 'B Team' this year. As a rookie, his main goal is to finish, but his team is very well trained, and perfectly capable of making a run if things go well.'

So they probably hoped for a better run from that team if it hadn't taken the scenic route . . . but then Larry can always say that when *he* ran the Iditarod he wanted to do it properly and be sure that when he said he'd mushed over 1000 miles, he really had. And, re 'greeted by about seventeen of his children', I believe he has about five children, but I wonder if perhaps the ones in the video might have been some of his cancer patients or his Boy Scouts or both -- he did mention both groups in his bio, I believe.

[elsietee]

* Cindy Gallea (70th)

<crying as she hugs Stu Nelson (?) "I got to get my composure back"... "no you don't"...>

<hugging her dogs> "you were good boys"

"Is it true, this is the last time we're going to see you on the trail?"

"It is true, ...I know I've said that for the last three IDs, but ...it's a variety of things - just other things in my life calling my attention. I live in a place that's not easy to train, ...it's hard to let go, but it's time for me to make that move. "

"What was it like coming in today, knowing that?"

"It was very emotional <voice cracks> ... it still is... <crying> it was very emotional. "

"Congratulations it was a great career"

"It's been incredible. ...I've told people I could have spent all that money on therapy and it wouldn't have done me nearly as much good. So now I have to keep working to pay back all my ID debt.

* Kristin Bacon (69th)

<jumping up and down on the sled upon arrival>

"For years I've been envisioning myself finishing under this arch, adn I'm just so excited to be here. So proud of the dogs and it was an amazing journey. We had a great time, it's been really fun and it was comforting to know that someone was close by in case something happened... fun to share it with people - the dogs get to know each other and we were just hanging out in a little train for a while. It was really, really fun. "

* Kim Franklin (68th)

"I'm really really happy to be here... quite overwhelming... amazing dog team, they've just been incredible, they really have"

Talking about her lead dog: "[says his name, can't make it out]...he's ten years old, he's been here lots of times with lots of different mushers... and I really wanted him to lead me into the finish and he has. He's led me the last couple of hundred miles, he's an incredible dog.

To be honest, travelling with Kristin [Bacon] made all the difference, ...it was tough out there and once we decided to travel together, it made a lot of difference to the race"

<Kristin's dogs are in the chute with her>



* Rob Cooke (67th)

"This is Skip (Skitz?) and this is Looney. Looney's done all five 1000 mile races with me"

"How does it feel to be in Nome again?"

"It's good... I've wondered a few times ...certainly over the last 24 hours and maybe over the last week if we were going to make it. It's a real relief to actually be here. It's been a difficult race in lots of ways, ...we ended up staying in WM a bit longer, I broke my sled early on, a lot of open water... a lot of different challenges ...the dogs have done amazingly well."

* Sarah Stokey (66th)

"It was a lot of fun, we had some down moments, but we got here, the dogs... they're sure spunky now, but they weren't feeling too hot at points on the trail, so I definitely learned a lot out there - in the last 200 miles I learned more about dog mushing than I have in the last 5-6 years, it was pretty cool and I look forward to doing it again and doing it a little faster, and I'm just really so proud of my dogs. I've been wanting to run the Iditarod since I was 7, so this has been a 20 year journey for me, so it just means a lot getting here" <starts to cry>

<I think Kristin Knight-Pace giving her a huge hug and saying "I'm SO proud of you!"





* Lisbet Norris (65th)

<mayor of Nome there to greet her "...on behalf of all of us in Nome, congratulations Linda [?!?] and welcome to Nome">

<big hug from Monica Zappa>

"It was a challenging run, I had two veterans adn the rest were rookies and it was the furthest most of them had ever gone in their whole lives , but we're here and they did great, and I'm happy to be in Nome.

9 year old Vinnie learned how to be a lead dog - old dogs can learn new tricks - so he led for maybe half the way and of course Ripp was my main leader. He's so solid..his sister has gone to Nome with me twice and I couldn't bring her this year - I've done one race in my life without Ruby, just to prove to myself that I could do it - but I was bummed not to have her with me, so her brother stepped up and he was my VIP this year. "

Ripp.JPG