IditaProject Forum

https://turningheadskennel.com/a-special-focus-on-the-iditarod-vet-book/

This states what I believed, that you have to have the vet book to be allowed to continue down the trail. But I'm not able to find anything about that in the rules. The rules also states "Time penalties will not be levied past White Mountain"

I found this part interesting:

We generally tie our vet books to our sleds so that we cannot lose them. It allows us to access them quickly and prevents the volunteer vets from accidently walking away with them.

I think that's very common, and especial the last part "accidently walk away"

Also note the sequence of events - both mushers were in the chute, snacking the dogs, chatting with friends, before the mandatory equipment was checked. So by the time the check was done, the vet book was back where it belonged.

I posted this in reply to a thread on facebook.

I have been race judge and race marshal at many races over the years, i also race myself. my take on it is that yes, it is mandatory gear, so must be carried and presented when requested and at the finish line. dallas didnt have that gear at the finish, BUT Nic arrived with it, help between mushers is allowed, and passed it to Dallas when he arrived and dallas got officially signed off before Nic by the finish checker and RM.

now, if nic wasnt such a good guy he could have not handed it over and could have asked to be checked in first and as he had all his mandatory gear, and he could be given 2nd place, however, theres is honour between mushers and friendship especially after a shared experience of a 1000 miles.

DSQ is the most severe penalty that can be given and can be a life changing desicion to a competitor, it is only given in cases where there is no other option to give a lesser penalty, for example such as dog abuse, dsq is the only option etc. (Personally i think it was wrong last year with brent to issue a dsq, but thats another subject).

monetary or time penalty could be issued, as can a verbal warning, but in this instance yes dallas got lucky that nic is a good sport and handed that book over to him prior to nic getting checked in.

That said, normally (not always) that the finish checker askes and announces the mandatory gear over the mic and then declares them off the trail and their time. Sometimes that happens straight away, sometimes minutes later after the dogs have been snacked and rewarded by their musher but in either case, the time the lead dogs nose crosses under the arch is the recorded and official finish time and the time that dallas got as his finish time was recorded as that when his leaders crossed, then once the check was completed with the handing of the book from nic to dallas, that then confirmed the time dallas's leaders crossed was then the official finish time and placement that stood.

So, technically dallas did come second and nic third.

If it was announced that all the gear was present and correct before the vet book was there, then that was wrong and the checker should be admonished for that mistake.
I need to go back and re watch the video again but thinks its been edited already.

Edit: reading rule 16 on mandatory gear, that rule should be also read with the rule (whatever it is) regarding the finish rules together with it.

tanglefoot wrote:If it was announced that all the gear was present and correct before the vet book was there, then that was wrong and the checker should be admonished for that mistake.
I need to go back and re watch the video again but thinks its been edited already.

I was watching - and both mushers were in the chute for several minutes before anyone got around to checking mandatory gear. So by then, the book was where it belonged.

Agreed

Tangles wrote:

I have been race judge and race marshal at many races over the years, i also race myself. my take on it is that yes, it is mandatory gear, so must be carried and presented when requested and at the finish line. dallas didnt have that gear at the finish, BUT Nic arrived with it, help between mushers is allowed, and passed it to Dallas when he arrived and dallas got officially signed off before Nic by the finish checker and RM.

Thanks for this answer Tangles. It was what I have been looking for since I posted the point of order question above. I guess my dilemma is If Dallas was in the process of being checked in and didn't have his book at that time, wouldn't the rules have demanded that Dallas NOT be declared 2nd place finisher and Nic would, even if he then handed book to Dallas at that point?

I watched the video of Nic's finish, while welcoming Nic to Nome & shaking his hand Mark Nordman can clearly be heard thanking Nic for bringing Dallas's vet book saying "they put it in the wrong place."
This was BEFORE anyone checked their mandatory gear, so this tells me Nordman was clearly aware of the situation even before Dallas was.

Makes me think someone at Safety let him know it had been left behind, maybe the "they" that put it in the wrong place? As in the vets that were supposed to put it in his sled.
(Saw on the Insider video commentaries that earlier in the race when Dallas was switching out his sleds he forgot an item, can't remember for sure was either his axe or snowshoes? He realized this once he'd gotten 20 minutes or so out of the checkpoint & turned around to go back and get it.)

Iditarod Trail Committee46 mins · Iditarod Trail Committee update:
Iditarod Trail Committee Race Marshal Mark Nordman became aware of Dallas Seavey’s misplaced vet book shortly after Seavey left the Safety checkpoint and Nic Petit’s willingness to bring the vet book to the finish line for him. The race marshal, due to this show of sportsmanship between competitors and the circumstances surrounding the misplaced vet book, made the decision that there would be no infraction and stated that the race is run on merit, not on technicalities.

From Sab on FB :
Another Iditarod Armchair post. There are a lot of races within the race going on. Pretty much all day, teams have been arriving in close succession into Nome. Aliy Zirkle has managed to edge out Pete Kaiser. Paul Gebhardt had to look over at his shoulder with Jeff King closing in. So much for Jeff’s predicted worst finished, he almost made the Top 10 again. Ramey Smyth put on the afterburners to pass a lot of teams this Huslia, finishing 12th ahead of Michelle Phillips with a career best of 13th. Ryan Redington and Hans Gatt round out the Top 15. This is Ryans best finish to date, after his last finish in 2009. He must be super happy to be in Nome and pretty soon the third Redington will show up. Robert Redington seems to be edging out Sebastien Vergnaud for Rookie of the year. Robert ran a patient race and was able to reel Sebastien in enroute to Safety, likely to finish 22nd and 23 rd, which is a pretty good finish in this depth of field.
With this being my first armchair mushing experience of the Iditarod, I have to admit I am surprised of the amount of negativity out there. When writing a post about Jessie finishing with 16 dogs, there are people finding a bad thing in that, instead of acknowledging her great accomplishment. Others yet again criticize Nicolas Petit, despite him finishing with 13 dogs on some of the fastest runtimes toward the end of the race. The insider guys and my friend Joe Runyan is being critized despite him being up all hours of the day and posting at 2 a.m.. The vidoes are not good enough, the camera at the finish neither. Geez is all I can say. The icing on the cake is fans raising an issue with Dallas Seavey finishing 2nd and that he should be DQ, penalized or what ever else people can come up with for Nicolas Petit bringing in his vet book. Bottom line. Mushers can help mushers. Dallas got very lucky for Nicolas to bring his vet book, and got even more lucky for Nicolas to handing over the vet book to Dallas, before checking in himself. That was his choice. A very sportsman like choice. Yet certain fans seem to take an issue with that. I personally have never understood rivaling gangs of soccer or other sports teams. I guess the same exists in mushing. Race rules are there in case of a dispute. Despite Nicolas and Dallas agreeing on the vet book situation, fans take it in their hand to judge the actions. I tried making the comparison to a friend on the phone. Its like 2 people having an accident, both agreeing how to deal with and shaking hands about it….yet a bystander who witnesses the accident on a video camera, demanding that more action be taken, yet whereas both protagonists agree on the outcome. Crazy.
I have to admit, as much as I missed following the race on the snowmachine, I am starting to have a harder and harder time with some of the fanatism.
Fans, enjoy the many teams still out there.

The race marshal asked nic if he could carry dallas's vet book in w him. I'm thinking that the race marshal had checker wait a bit before checking in dallas at the finish line, enough time for the "passing of the Book"...

Thanks for giving us Sab's letter. Makes sense and now that I know Nic was a willing participant I'm ok.

Love that so many races in the race are happening this year.