ITC Board input via the Internet Highway.

[Breeze]

This will get long, so be prepared~

Musher Eric Rogers is a new member here ( WELCOME ERIC!!!)

Some of us lurk/participate in other forums than the BSSD.

I read a posting on Idita-support ( the Yahoo forum owned by June Price/ Sunhusky) from Iditarod musher Eric Rogers about his attendance at an ITC Board meeting, soliciting input.

Privately I e-mailed Eric, asking if he knew of the BSSD forum, would he be interested in more input, was he up to another "forum" and he graciously replied that he wasn't sure he could handle more talk time, but he would give it a go. He registered last evening, and has given me explicit permission to crosspost a couple of his posts here.

This could get crazy for Eric to be monitoring multiple fora, and he has expressed that worry outright, to me..... but he is upfront about a necessary "envisioning" process and the need for voices/involvement.

Eric's initial post to Iditasupport that I have permisssion to post
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

' Donna, Helen and I attended the ITC board of directors meeting today and
there were a couple of things I thought you might be interested in.

First the board raised the entry fee to $4,000 for the 2009 race, just
like they talked about doing last year. My feeling is that they still
intend to raise it to $5,000 for the 2010 race (also recommended last year).

Second there is a strong feeling that they need to limit the number of
entrants in the race. This has come up before, but I think they are
serious about it this time. Suggested numbers were 100 (the limit on
the BLM permit) and 80 (kind of pulled out of the sky). There was some
discussion about how to select the entrants, but the staff said they had
invested 16 hours discussing it and not been able to find a good answer.

A committee was created to investigate the issue and make a
recommendation to the rules committee which will make recommendations to
the board at the May 30th meeting. All of the board members agreed that
whatever the new rule is, it must allow rookies to enter because they
are the future of the race.

That raised the issue in my mind; what do we want the race to look like
10 years from now? If we don't know where we want to go we are certain
to wind up somewhere else. This group makes up a good sampling of the
fans of the race and I am curious. What you would like the race to look
like.

Take Care

Eric
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The second piece that I've been given permission to crosspost is in response to someone else, but clearly shows that there are issues ancillary to the race that are pressing in several different directions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eric's words

" Adding one more musher never hurts, but going from 50 mushers to 100 has
had a major impact on all aspects of the race.

Being on the outside looking in I don't have all the reasons, but I can
list some of the concerns, in no particular order.

The permit BLM issues to use the trail on BLM land is only for 100 teams.

The Iditarod Air Force has been stretched getting the supplies to the
checkpoints. Each additional musher add 20 bales of straw and about
1600 pounds of drop bags to be moved. The Air Force has become a big
enough entity that FAA is looking at whether the general regulations we
have been flying under are adequate or should we be operating under
small commercial (bush plane) regulations.

The garbage left behind in the villages is swamping the local landfills.
The race has had to start hauling garbage back off the trail to help.

The checkpoints, particularly the early ones, are swamped by the number
of teams. Rohn has limited space and there just isn't room for more
teams. And it isn't the only one.

Some of the villages have been objecting to the amount of dog poop left
behind. Unalakleet parks the dogs on the slough behind the village
because they don't want the poop in the village. The volunteers clean
up the straw and poop at the checkpoint itself, but the dogs relieve
themselves as they hit the trail and it can be pretty brown for the
first stretch of trail after 1500 dogs go by.

The vets are being stretched by the number of dogs and Stu is having to
add more vets to accommodate them. There is an article in the latest
electronic runner about just that - Stu had a staff of 45 vets this year
to treat 1515 dogs at the start. It is hard to get good vets to
volunteer time for this race and the more you need the harder it gets.

Every musher can take 24 dogs through blood work (donated by Providence
Hospital) and EKG's. At nearly 100 mushers (2400 dogs) we are pushing
the limits of donated services.

It is getting harder and harder to find host housing in Nome for the
mushers (or even places to rent). As the field increases this just gets
worse.

The gnarly sections of the trail get worse with each passing team. The
front runners had a nice smooth trail going down the happy river steps.
By the time I got there the brakes of the teams ahead of me had worn a
trench that was about 7 feet deep in the second step. Snow bridges over
open water in the Dalzell wear out with passing teams. This can be a
safety issue. And I sure wouldn't want to take a snowmachine over the
steps after the race. Seeing the the difference in wear on the trail
from the back of the Quest (30 mushers) when I ran the 300 to the back
of the Iditarod this year was a real education.

I'm sure I haven't listed all the issues, and maybe not even the biggest
ones. I don't think anyone really wants to limit the number of mushers,
but the race is bursting at the seems in several key support areas and
cannot continue to grow without limit.

I don't know that I've really helped, but maybe I've provided some food
for thought.

Take Care

Eric

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I don't know that Eric has the hours in a day to spend online to respond to everyone who has an opinion, but he certainly has been gracious to sign up here and allow me to float his experience ( communicate on the Info Highway)

His permission given to me in this post

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sue

I was unaware of the BSSD. I'm not sure if I can handle another forum -
for now I'll sign up and lurk for a while to get a feel. Feel free to
cross post my two board posts and we will see where it goes from there.

BTW I've been nominated for the IOFC (Iditarod Official Finishers Club)
position on the ITC Board of Directors. I'm running against Dan Seavey.
If any of the group are members of the ITC they will see my name on
the ballot.

Eric

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breeze

[boo]

Thanks, Breeze....and Eric. And welcome (quiet, encouraging applause ). THIS is the most wonderful forum...IMHO. Anyway, interesting the fees went up (as discussed). The fact that the big jump in fees last year didn't seem to drop the numbers (and serve as a deterrent) was also interesting. The thing is, regardless of how many sign up, chaos usually happens and about 10-20 percent don't make the start line. But with 96 starting this year, I can certainly understand the huge impact to those early checkpoints. Rachael, going out dead last, also got the extra texture and dangers created by all those teams. I'm sure hoping we can get that ironed out next year....but I digress....or divert....or di-something.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what comes of talk of limiting the entry field. Very interesting.....and I really hope Eric takes a liking to this forum more than that 'other' one.....I lurk there some now, but have pretty much given it over to the weird element there. The REAL fans seem to be here.

[eorogers]

Thank you for the welcome - We will have to see if I have time to contribute much.

At the BOD meeting Rick Swenson pointed out that 2009 is the last year that rookies can enter the race without being pre-qualified - that is qualified before they sign up (it has been in the rules for 2 years now). That and next years likely increase in entry fee will probably encourage many considering the race to enter now rather than wait. I wouldn't surprise me if that was a factor in the numbers we saw this year.

Eric

[Breeze]

Eric, thank you for your follow-up!

I'm sure that there is NOT a perfect recipe for limiting the field, but where necessity strikes, there has to be an effort. Pre-qualifying before entry is NECESSARY in my mind. When space gets tight, and if wait-listing and lottery-selection for late entrants were to become usual, all contested spots should have a fully pre-qualified entrant in the chute. This does NOT exclude "rookies" ( those who have not finished the Iditarod before), just raises the bar on first time entrants to have their mushing resume up to snuff before they GET a spot in the field.

Breeze/ Sue

[Moose]

Would you guys bring the rest of us who don't visit the other site up to speed? Is there a general concensus among the ITC board members regarding limiting or not limiting the field? Are the fee increases intended to discourage registration, to cover heightened expenses, to increase profit margins, to fatten the pot? Any or all of the above? Is growth encouraged and inevitable? Is less really better than more?

Thanks, Eric, for dropping in. Life is hectic. There are many forums and only so many hours in the day. But we all sure do love this race. It's nice to have an opportunity to look into what's happening behind the scenes today and what we might expect to see tomorrow.

[eorogers]

Here is part of the message Joanne Potts sent to all of the mushers and asked us to forward to anyone who might be thinking of running the race, but is not on her list.
---------------------
"Attention: Mushers who plan to run the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

The entry fee for the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will be $4,000. The Board of Directors made the decision Friday to raise the entry fee because of financial information showing that costs of putting on the Race this year was $231,525 more than last year. Most of you will remember that there was discussion last year of raising the entry to $4,000 for 2009 and possibly $5,000 the following year.

More information, regarding entry in the 2009 Iditarod will be available after the May 30, 2008 board meeting.

I would ask that if you know of those who might be considering running the 2009 Iditarod and who will not be getting this e-mail, you would share this information. Please feel free to contact me at any time.

Joanne"
-----------------------
The cost of everything is going up - Aviation gas is forecast to be $10 / gal in McGrath this summer. They estimated it cost $2.3 million dollars to put on the 2008 race once in sponsorship contributions were included. For 100 mushers that works out to $23,000 per musher. I'm not sure that is the proper way to do the accounting (Much of that is spent to put on the race, the incremental cost to add the last musher is much less), but that is the simple math that was laid out before the board.

I feel free to share this because Joanne asked that all mushers considering the 2009 race be notified.

Eric

[Johncn]

Hey Eric,

Welcome....good discussion, and thanks for participating.

Regards,

JTC

[Breeze]

Would you guys bring the rest of us who don't visit the other site up to speed? Is there a general concensus among the ITC board members regarding limiting or not limiting the field? Are the fee increases intended to discourage registration, to cover heightened expenses, to increase profit margins, to fatten the pot? Any or all of the above? Is growth encouraged and inevitable? Is less really better than more?

Thanks, Eric, for dropping in. Life is hectic. There are many forums and only so many hours in the day. But we all sure do love this race. It's nice to have an opportunity to look into what's happening behind the scenes today and what we might expect to see tomorrow.

Moose, my initial post on this thread contains Eric's first and second post on the subject to Idita-support, so there is not any more background I can supply from that source that is relevant. I'm not shining anyone on with this, there isn't anything being held back.

IMHO, I think the increased fee and the move to having all entrants fully pre-qualified ( with respect to their race experience) before they place their entry fee are both moves to control the size of the field, and to some extent.... raise the bar for rookie entrance without discouraging truly committed and prepared newcomers.

I think additional costs assessed to mushers through the Iditarod AF MIGHT be a possibility, if not ONLY because of increased costs ( yeah, there will be increased costs) then because of increased regulation of the planes and pilots who fly. How that is going to shake out is anyone's best guess, and I don't think ITC has a handle on the FAA-speak in that regard.

Weather and Trail conditions will continue to be a factor for every entrant, every race, and aren't something the ITC has under i's control. It is a LOT about the weather, after all, and how the musher's deal with the cards as dealt. If there were only 50 teams this year, ( not 96) wouldn't the last team out have had a Miserable Experience on the Steps compared to the first team out? If the first 15 went out in warm Rain, a cold front arrived and locked it up to ICE, the later teams could have had a bonanza. Its all Weather Permitting, and there is no lottery to provide for weather.

We only have one trail, and everyone has to take what they get. I don't think the BLM or the ITC is about to station Bombardier or Piston Bully or Prinoth groomers out there to GROOM the Steps. Nor should they. The experience should be kept to some historical resemblance of it's root ( and the devil is in the details, FOR SURE)

Other issues-- garbage/waste/dog poop/vet care will each have their own direct relationship to the increasing numbers of participants.

When does the size of the field become unmanageable? Was that March 2008?

May 30th is our late date to sound off. Think a little bit.. we have this forum to talk and we have some hugely qualified forum members who actually run this race to talk with. Sharing thoughts is what we do best.

None of us may have the perfect solution and there are no wrong answers. Different opinions create dialog, but the BSSD forum is known for being civil and building community.

Don't be afraid to chime in here, thoughts are being solicited by an ITC board member toward current and future events, not the past.

Breeze




Breeze

[Moose]

Thought I'd bump this up, hoping for some more input. While the outcome of these matters will directly affect teams on the trail, they'll indirectly affect us fans sitting on our butts at our TV and computer screens. There's a similar, and only somewhat more lively, conversation going on over at SDC.

Does anyone have any thoughts about fees, qualifying, number of teams generally...hey, here's a thought: There's a growing number of puppy and "B" teams in the race each year. Should there be a limit on teams a kennel can field? Should dogs have to "qualify" as well as drivers?

To this fan on the far side of the continent, it does seem in more recent years the race has become somewhat unwieldy. Should steps be taken to make it a true race among "equals" on some level (whatever that level might be) or should the ITC continue to let it be an introductory run for some teams and to register some drivers whose only goal is to simply experience The Iditarod?

I've got majorly mixed feelings about growing the race vs. reigning it in. I imagine most of us feel the same way.