White Mountain- Safety- NOME SWEET NOME

[elsietee]

Hunter is on the move again at dawn, travelling nicely at 8.3 mph, so staying at that shelter cabin was a good call on his part.

Matt Failor (see interview?) said that the trail was pretty brutal down there and he was walking in front of his dogs for a while - and Matt Hall also had his extensive trail description of how blown in it was - so hunkering down there in the dark was a good option for Hunter - and I was glad he was able to get going again this morning.

I'm guessing it's still blowing out there as Jessie Royer just stopped in that valley where I posted the snapshot of Matt going 2 mph yesterday - she's been there for 20 mins or so. Christian Turner is slowly coming up on her a couple of miles behind, so they can work together if there are any issues.

Dan Kaduce is about to hit the beach, so it'll be interesting to see how he fares.

[elsietee]

I haven't watched the vids from last night's arrivals yet, but watched Eddie and Matt come in - and watch Mille's progress.

Last night, poor Mille missed the turn where the trail goes up behind Cape Nome last night and stayed on the Nome-Council Road for about a mile or two before (thankfully) realizing her mistake and turning around. Where my yellow highlight stops, going north, is where she stopped for a while after that - presumably for a little break. I saw a few trackers stop there, so maybe some shelter out of the wind?

* * *

For Eddie's ROTY arrival, there was a good crowd - Aaron B (who's dogs he was running), Emilia (Eddie's daughter), and his parents and sisters were all there to greet him (along with the KTUU guy). Lots of team/family photos in the chute under the arch. All they talked to him about in the interview was about losing the team - something I'm sure he'd prefer to forget. He said he'd be back, which I'm happy about - a good addition to the Iditarod.

Pete, Richie, and Dallas were all there for Matt Failor's arrival last night, which was good to see. They talked a little about the upcoming baby, and about the trail (he had to walk in front of the team along the shore, and over some of the hills because of the conditions).

[elsietee]

Update:

Dan is travelling at 9.2 mph along the shore - in the area that Matt Failor was having to walk in front of his dogs last night, so conditions have improved considerably by the looks of things.

Jessie Royer and Christian are also making good progress - they are out of the blowhole inland and Jessie is about to drop onto the shore.

[elsietee]

Listening to KattiJo on the live cam in WM - getting ready to go. So FUN to hear.

She's cheerleading the team as she was bootying them and giving them their last snack - and then as they are about leave, she's enthusing "Are you guys READY? Let's get this done! Let's get to Nome!!".

The dogs initially look unenthused, but by the time they left, they were barking and howling with her - and off they went down the river.

[elsietee]

Midday Wednesday Update:

Hunter is past Safety and making good progress over Cape Nome. He's 14 miles from Nome, so ETA ~3 pm ish.

Dan Kaduce is past Safety, but still on the shore.

Jessie Royer, with Christian a mile behind, is on the shore on the way to Safety.

Aaron Peck has stopped for a break at the shelter cabin by the blowhole (which I don't think is blowing as much) - uh, he just started moving again, so is on his way at 7.7 mph.

KattiJo is also taking a break on the way to Topcok Hills.

Nic, Ramey Smyth and Riley are resting in WM.

Deke and Beringtons are through Elim, but not quite to the hills before Golovin yet.

Mike W is resting in Elim.

And then WAY BACK IN SHAK, there's a group - Gerhardt, Bridgett, Joanna, Bailey, Jason, and Jed - waiting out the wind. I'm hoping they will start a convoy across Norton Sound later this afternoon. It's good that there's such a large group of them, preventing race organization from withdrawing them for being too slow.

[Breeze]

This race is " rushing to completion " all too quickly now. Yes, there was a weather hang, but the banquet isn't until SUNDAY, there will be no making a plate for Stephenson to hold for his arrival.

It's been a different race, but I'm enjoying it, a lot.

[elsietee]

The back group have left Shak and are starting over the ice:

Jason is red lantern, not quite to the cabin on the spit
Bridgett and Jed are nearly to the cabin
and Bailey, Joanna, and Gerhartd are ahead on the ice (in a tight group) travelling at ~8+ mph

[Pippiroo]

Dan Kaduce just came in. Jodi Bailey was in the chute with their friends all wearing feather boas

[elsietee]

Eddie's finish yesterday:

Aaron B (who's dogs he's running) and his daughter Emilia there to greet him,

<hugs his daughter tightly> Says his missed her. And she missed him.

<Big hug from Aaron> "we did it!"

Emilia: "Next time don't fall off the sled"
Eddie: "OK, I won't do that. I got tired!"

Eddie: "It started as me and some buddies gambling on Iditarod, showing up to the mushers banquet, one thing led to another and I started running dogs and fell in love with it. Met Aaron B and Tony Browning through that process, and they gave me the opportunity to come aboard and be part of the program and represent, and that's what I've been doing for the past three years."

Interviewer: "Was there a lesson about holding on to sled handles?"

Eddie, smiles "Yuh, I got a little sleepy on the Yukon .. . <embarrassed chuckle>

Q: "What's the first thing that goes through your mind when you realize your team is out of reach?"

E: "Uh, I'll try to keep it PG, but it's an ...'oh ... crap' moment.

Q: "Talk a little about that experience - you're in the middle of nowhere, 15-20 miles from the checkpoint. Are you waiting for a headlight? Are you putting one foot in front of the other and hope you get there? "

E: "Yeah... it was just time to walk. Finally about an hour later, Christian showed up and he said he'd give me a ride, but we shortly realised two guys on a sled - esp he's a big guy - that didn't work out. Then I started walking again and I met up with Hunter. Hunter didn't care, so he was more than happy to give me a ride until the snowmachine met up and got me back to my team.

Q: When you got back to the team, everyone looked pretty happy?

E: I'd say they were pretty confused. But they were all healthy and OK.

Asked about building a bond with dogs you didn't raise from puppies?

E: "Time. And building that trust over time. It's something I think I've done a good job with - I have an incredible bond with all these guys... Dudley here at the end [lead dog] , through all that wind and blown snow, he was an incredible leader for me, and worked his butt off.

Q: ROTY? Is this the start of many?

E: "That's the plan."

<crowd whistles and cheers>

New interviewer - asks about him and Hunter as competition.

E: Him and I were both having a good time, but of course, I know he wants ROTY just as much as I do. And it was fun battling it out. And I got to know the guy pretty well through all the experience, so that was cool as well.

Q: Was he singing?

E: Oh yes, he's always whistling or singing, he's a pretty cheery guy. <laughs>

Q: team's success earlier in the season at the Knik 200 and the Kusko [note, I think he beat Brent!] - did that set you up for a strong run this year?

E: For sure - it starts in Sept when we start training. Races build confidence adn set up the team for success.

"Wasn't expecting that wind. Had heard there was going to be a 'little bit', but I wasn't expecting that. It got pretty wicked out there. But it was fun, to say the least, and made things a little more challenging. We enjoyed it and the dogs handled it really well. "

"This race is one of a kind. Mid-distance races don't compare to this - it's a whole nother animal. A tough dog race for sure, challenging in many way, plus being able to travel across, through all the villages, is incredible. "

Lessons learned? (other than holding onto your sled)

E: Tying myself off while I'm sleeping is the number one thing - that was a big lesson.

"Special to see all the support. People in the villages coming out, musher grants (?), friends and family flying up here"

Aaron comes up and tells Eddie he'll take the dogs to the yard and he and Hunter (A's son) will put them up - for Eddie to take his time in the chute.

[elsietee]

Matt Failor:

Q: You've had rookie races, you've had finish races, you've had races where you didn't make it here, and now you've made it - with your goal [8th place] complete"

Matt: If you don't succeed on the first 11 tries...try and try again.

<top ten was his goal>

Hoping that as soon as their (unborn) son can walk, they'll have a new poop scooper.

"Come down to the shelter cabin and the wind was pushing the leaders off the trail, so I walked in front of them to keep them on the trail. And I was this close to turning back to the shelter cabin because you couldn't stick to the trail. It was really challenging. I don't have a big string - tiny females - so not a lot of power to pull the sled, so really challenging.

Walked the whole lagoon, then over a couple of the mtns because the hills were just as windy.

[When it was hard] I called my wife, becuase we're allowed to this year, and she kept me going.

Was proud that Liz was out there working, doing it.

New interviewer: What was the highlight?

M: Having you skate-ski behind me, trying to do an interview and having you wipe out <laughs>... no... so many, but coming across Golovin Bay - the northern lights - was able to get a few pictures and the dogs cruised along and they caught both Eddie and Mille.

Asked about the dogs:

That old man - Led Zeppelin - he's 8 yrs old, he has never led in a race ever. He has only led maybe 5-6 time in training just for fun. He's not that good at it. But he's great in the hills, he pulls hard. So leaving Elim, going up Little McKinley, I put him in lead and I wish I would have done that a long time ago because he pulled so hard up that hill. Did really well until it started getting wind - he didn't like that. So that was pretty cool with an 8 yr old. This is his last ID - he'll become a house pet now.

Good year for training - lots of snow.