Beyond Belief -- This is not right!

[tanglefoot]

just listened to joshs audio report...they dont know either and are saying the most likely winner is mitch by 8 minutes, he would have been docked 4 as he went out after jeff...so still would have been declared the winner....but no one wil make it official until lance is in...so confusing!!!

[StarDancer]

Methinks ya got it backwards - Jeff would have been docked the 4 minutes.

[tanglefoot]

errrrrrrrrrrrrrr ... too confussed!?! yeah probably

[sc-race-fan]

According to the races "posted rules": from INTERPRETATION OF THE RULES SUPPLEMENT

3. The time differential will be made up at a randomly selected checkpoint decided by the lead judge just prior to the race start at 10:00 AM on March 26, 2008. Mushers should not sign in at this checkpoint until the dog count and dog identification is verified by the checker and himself. The differential checkpoint will remain confidential until the first musher’s arrival at that point.

SO, if mushers entering each checkpoint are not notified that the xcheckpoint is the location of the stagger makeup, then they should assume it will occur later. After reaching the next to last checkpoint (Fort Davis), ASSUMING you would call Nome a check point and not the Finish line of the race. The mushers should know the time difference would be made up at the finish line (Nome). The real question is how many mushers after 2 and 1/2 days of racing would be mentally awake to recognize that fact?!! In my opinion they "did not change the rules", they just chose a poor place to makeup the time stagger.

[Breeze]

According to the races "posted rules": from INTERPRETATION OF THE RULES SUPPLEMENT

3. The time differential will be made up at a randomly selected checkpoint decided by the lead judge just prior to the race start at 10:00 AM on March 26, 2008. Mushers should not sign in at this checkpoint until the dog count and dog identification is verified by the checker and himself. The differential checkpoint will remain confidential until the first musher’s arrival at that point.

SO, if mushers entering each checkpoint are not notified that the xcheckpoint is the location of the stagger makeup, then they should assume it will occur later. After reaching the next to last checkpoint (Fort Davis), ASSUMING you would call Nome a check point and not the Finish line of the race. The mushers should know the time difference would be made up at the finish line (Nome). The real question is how many mushers after 2 and 1/2 days of racing would be mentally awake to recognize that fact?!! In my opinion they "did not change the rules", they just chose a poor place to makeup the time stagger.

OMG, we have had RIDDLE BREAKER in our midst all this time and never knew.

SCRF THAT IS PRICELESS! THANK YOU


AROOOOOOOOOOAROOO AROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!


Breeze

[Iditafanatic]

The organizers told the mushers at the closed meeting that the time differential would not be made up at all. In other words, there was a rule change the day before the race began.

The mushers were led to believe that there would be no differentials. All mushers and their support teams were operating with that understanding. The rule change was not posted on the web site, but it was announced and reported to the media. I know at least 5 people who called the official information line and were told unequivocally that the rule was changed at the musher's meeting, and that the first musher to Nome would be declared the winner, and that no differentials were going to be made up.

Once the race was underway, apparently Al Crane decided that differentials would be made up after all -- or maybe that's what he was planning all along. Eventually he announced that the times would be adjusted at the finish line. He was quoted in two articles that appeard in the Anchorage Daily News yesterday (Friday) and just after midnight today.

This is from the first ( http://www.adn.com/sports/story/358945.html)

Perhaps the most interesting twist in this race could unfold when the first musher across the line discovers he has been duped by race organizers. Whoever crosses first underneath the burled arch - the same monument used for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race -- might not be the winner.

"There was a question (at a 3-1/2 hour mushers meeting) about how we were doing the (race) time," race marshal Al Crane said Wednesday morning.

Mushers asked Crane, "How could you add minutes (secretly) at the checkpoints" to offset the two-minute gaps in the staggered start of 16 teams.

Mushers didn't understand how easy it was, Crane said, so he told them the time differential wouldn't be made up at all.

"Nobody is going to screw with the times (on the trail)," Crane said. "I don't understand why they had a problem with the time differential. OK, the first team that comes back wins. I'll explain (adding the time) after the fact. Nobody's going to get hurt by it. (Now) they all have the same strategy - they want to win."

Mushers thus departed Nome with the idea there would be no time differential, meaning each musher technically left at 10 a.m., despite the two-minute staggered start. Considering there are no mandatory rests, race marshal Al Crane said, there was no place to make up the time.

But really, to keep things fair, Crane said, the time will be made up when each musher crosses the finish line. The winner will be based on the best total elapsed time.

"I don't want them to know all the information," Crane said.

And this is from the second article ( http://www.adn.com/mushing/story/359418.html)

Race officials led mushers to believe that despite a start that saw 16 dog teams leave Nome two minutes apart, the winner would be the driver of the first team back to Nome.

After mushers left, however, race marshal Al Crane said the winner would actually be decided by elapsed time as is done in sprint races.

"I don't want them (mushers) to know all the information," Crane said.

[Breeze]

Oh lets just give this a go-over ..

It was fun while it lasted and OH HOW it was blasted that Mitch got his win over all.
Beat King and Mackey and was going home happy.... dog rest him.

Breeze