Iditarod 2018 discussion

[fladogfan]

DUH I didn't even think about that braider. But you are so right.

[Eggs]

Kelly Maixner says he's "retired" because he doesn't actually own any dogs [I will try and find out who's dogs he's running].

Found this: https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/ ... -iditarod/

Kelly Maixner tried to mute the call of the wild, but he couldn't.

"Oh, you know. It's an addiction," he said.

A dentist from Chugiak, Maixner started six Iditarods and finished as high as 13th before selling his dogs to John Baker and Katherine Keith in 2016. Now he's back with a bunch of dogs borrowed from famous mushers.

"Lance, Dallas, Mitch, Cim Smyth, Ray Redington," he said, ticking off the names of mushers who loaned him dogs. (This being Alaska, where Iditarod winners are state treasures, last names are not necessary when talking about famous dog drivers.)

Maixner signed up for this year's race an hour before the registration deadline. "I had no for-sure dogs at the time," he said.

But he picked up a dog here, a dog there, and then one day in January while buying dog food he met four-time champion Lance Mackey for the first time.

Mackey, a cancer survivor, scratched from the 2016 Iditarod and skipped last year's and this year's races for health reasons, but he still runs dogs.

"I got a whole team that's trained," Mackey told Maixner, and at the beginning of February, a dozen Mackey-trained dogs began training with Maixner.

"I wasn't going to be able to run them, and they deserve to go," Mackey said.

[Moose]

Great stuff, everyone! Thank you!

[Eggs]

Interesting read on many fronts. For example:

Sixteen dogs per team is too many, said Fairbanks musher Lance Mackey, the only racer to win four Iditarods in a row. "If I had to change one thing, I would make it more old-school," Mackey said. "You're allowed one sled, start to finish. You're allowed maybe a 12-dog pool and you're only allowed to drop three dogs."

From: Mushers say the Iditarod can be saved. Here’s how.
Author: Kyle Hopkins, Tegan Hanlon - Published 10 hours ago
https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/ ... heres-how/

[braider]

To me, this is looking like a really great race/year ...and what seems to be a really nice Southern trail and so many contenders.

[elsietee]

I'm super-happy that Kelly M is running Lance's dogs - so great that he can still participate without having to suffer his health problems on the trail.

Kelly was always a rabbit in the beginning of the race, but faded somewhat later - it'll be interesting to see what he can do with a good team (although I have no idea how good his own dogs were in past years - they can't have been too shabby if he sold them to John and Kat).

[elsietee]

Jake B evaluates each teams' strengths and weaknesses:

https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/ ... -iditarod/

(note particularly what he says about Ray Redington, who pulled into Rainy Pass in first place:

1 • Jessie Holmes (r) 41 Rainy Pass 3/5 12:12:00 16 3/5 12:28:00 16
2 Ray Redington Jr 17 Rainy Pass 3/5 10:16:00
3 Mitch Seavey 13 Rainy Pass 3/5 10:19:00
4 Nicolas Petit 46 Rainy Pass 3/5 10:55:00
5 Linwood Fiedler 8 Rainy Pass 3/5 11:32:00
6 Ryan Redington 7 Rainy Pass 3/5 11:51:00
7 • Wade Marrs 11 Rainy Pass 3/5 12:04:00
8 • Hugh Neff 68 Rainy Pass 3/5 12:08:00
9 • Peter Kaiser 30 Rainy Pass 3/5 12:15:00
10 • Kelly Maixner 52 Rainy Pass 3/5 12:18:00
11 Joar Leifseth Ulsom 33 Rainy Pass 3/5 12:34:00
12 Cody Strathe 2 Rainy Pass 3/5 12:38:00


Edited to add - although Jessie Holmes went through RP, he's actually currently resting about a mile up the trail from that checkpoint.

[fladogfan]

Visiting the ITC site found some free stuff to read.

http://iditarod.com/lets-clear-the-air- ... reat-race/


In an interesting twist, Alaskans can expect to see non-resident, PETA protesters in Alaska this year. While we respect their right to protest, they are gravely misinformed about how the Iditarod operates, and clearly do not understand how much the canine athletes love to run. So, when you see these folks on the streets, please extend to them our famous Alaska hospitality, but tell them why they’re wrong. You can also thank them for boosting our state’s economy by paying for hotel rooms, rental cars, meals, entertainment, airline tickets, and more. The Iditarod is proud of the economic contribution to Alaska and thanks all Alaskans who support and contribute to the Last Great Race.

Putting a positive spin on an annoying pest.

[JeanieB]

So far it does look like Alaska and the ITC are putting the prettiest foot forward. Even the water cooperated!

[elsietee]

Nice article about Jim Lanier:

On the Iditarod trail, Lanier has broken ankles, ruptured his Achilles tendon, broken his clavicle, cracked his ribs, caught pneumonia and frostbit two fingers and a toe, leading to amputations.

"It's a contact sport. I have contacted a lot of things," he said. "So I'm gradually, slowly but surely, disappearing as I go down the trail."

https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/ ... up-racing/