Current Top 10:
- Dallas Seavey (Mile 677)
- Aaron Burmeister (Rohn, Mile 676)
- Brent Sass (Rohn)
- Ryan Redington (Mile 673)
- Wade Marrs (Mile 670)
- Mille Porsild (Mile 656)
- Richie Diehl (Mile 655)
- Michelle Phillips (Mile 653)
- Joar Leifseth Ulsom (Mile 642)
- Jessie Royer (Mile 636)
- Nic Petit (Mile 632)
As of this evening, Aaron Burmeister and Brent Sass were both camped in Rohn, and Dallas was charging ahead towards the Dalzell Gorge and Rainey Pass. On the run over to Rohn, Dallas passed Ryan Redington, nearly caught up to Brent Sass, and looked to be gaining ground on Aaron Burmeister as well. (It’ll be easier to tell once the standings update for the teams in Rohn.) But it’s safe to say that Dallas has the fastest or close to the fastest team among those leaders.
Surprisingly, Ryan Redington made the run from Nikolai to Rohn without stopping. It’s hard to say what Ryan is going to do from here. He’s due a good long rest in Rohn, especially in light of the challenging terrain ahead, but then from Rohn to Skwenta is a good 100 miles. He almost will have to break up that run into two shorter runs. Maybe he’s planning to do two 50ish mile runs with a shorter rest in between to try to cut into Dallas’s lead a little bit before Skwentna?
If you’ve been following the videos on Dallas Seavey’s facebook page, it’s eerie how accurately they’ve predicted how the race has unfolded. (Seriously. Is this man a wizard?) Watching today’s video (https://fb.watch/4df2PO37iq/), it’s likely Dallas will push through to Rainy Pass for one more 3-4 hour rest before making a long final push into Skwentna for his mandatory 8. So for anyone behind him, the only way they can beat him to Skwentna is by simply not stopping from this point on. Easier said than done.
Martin Buser’s facebook page has some good insight to what it’s like to be chasing a team at this stage in the race:
“At this point in the race it's not easy to make any "moves". Not impossible but very difficult. Only the BOLD will go for it. Most mushers out there are trying to maintain their position AND their dog teams in order to get to the finish with a healthy team.”
So who’s got a shot?
Joar Leifseth Ulsom camped out on the trail between Nikolai and Rohn, in a spot roughly 150 miles from Skwentna. Could he be setting up to put together 2x75 mile runs to get him to there? It would be a pretty bold plan, even if Joar is known for having a team that has the strength to do those long runs. But to get past Nikolai took a massive 13-hour effort, and another two 10+ hour runs back to back seems like it would be pushing it.
Brent and Aaron will likely leap frog past Dallas when he stops to rest in Rainy Pass. That will put them in the position of being able to see Dallas coming--and potentially cut their own rest short in an attempt to chase him into Skwentna.
Ryan Redington as mentioned before has potentially set himself up to give chase to Dallas. But watching his tracker speeds into Rohn, he has by far the slowest team right now, which does not bode well for either cutting rest or attempting a long, arduous run at this stage in the race.
It’s never boring on the Iditarod trail! Wade Marrs is right behind this top four and could very possibly chase down any stragglers who fall off the pace. And then there’s the chase pack of five, all bunched up within 30 miles, led by Mille Porsild and with Nicolas Petit bringing up the rear.
Nic Petit’s team is CHARGING after a conservative middle part of the race. I have a feeling he’s going to be chasing teams down all the way to the finish line. It would be great to see him have a strong finish after his mishaps on the coast these past couple of years.
In other news on the trail:
- -Former champion Pete Kaiser scratched in McGrath today. His team has been dealing with a stomach bug for the last several hundred miles of the race, and that combined with the tough trail ahead made him pull the plug on the 2021 Iditarod. (https://kaiserracing.com/2021/03/in-the ... o-scratch/)
-It sounds like Joar’s team, along with several others, have been dealing with that same bug. Travis Beals, in particular, left Nikolai and then returned to the checkpoint after not liking how his dogs were moving. From an update from Sivo Racing Kennel:
“Some of the unpredictable rest and moves are coming from the fact that several of the teams have developed diarrhea. Joar reports that he thinks they got it in McGrath on the way out. He says - Kaiser, Royer and Beal’s teams have it. Joar thinks his team may have some of the worst. The vet in McGrath on the way back has given him some medication to try. As long as they keep eating they should be ok to continue.”
From Bruce Lee and Greg Heister: It sounds like a couple of the teams have been saving their speedy leaders for this late stage in the race. It’ll be interesting to see which teams are able to pour on the speed once they’re up and over Rainy Pace.
- -On a related note: the last 150 miles of this race are going to have a very different feel than a normal year. For all the challenge of traversing back through the Alaska Range, once teams reach the top of Rainy Pass, it essentially is a downhill run to the finish line.
Quote of the Day:
“I'm calling the next section ( Nikolai to Skwentna ) Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!!!!! Hold on folks, this is going to be EXciting.” -Martin Buser’s Happy Trails facebook page
“Only get to hit the NO2 once.” -Mitch Seavey, in a facebook comment referencing Aaron Burmeister’s speedy run over to Nikolai.
“Kind of funny I had a conversation with my friends before the race started saying snowshoes aren’t worth much because you never use them. But that’s the first time I’ve been able to use mine, so it was nice to have them.” - Victoria Hardwick referencing a Mcguyver-esque fix she made to her sled after her front end broke from slamming into a tree. (https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2021/ ... duct-tape/)
“I got stuck waist-deep in the snow as I was trying to set up for this picture, and as they passed I could feel Richie Diehl's lead dogs judging me.” -Iditarod reporter, Zachariah Hughes (https://twitter.com/ZachHughesNews/stat ... 5915381765)
Odds and Ends:
- -Interesting thoughts from mushers on the positive COVID test and challenges to cold and the sparse accommodations at checkpoints: https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/ ... rod-trail/
-Someone made a Dallas Seavey’s Sweater twitter account: https://twitter.com/DallasSSweater
-If you haven’t caught the most recent post to Aaron Burmeister’s facebook page, and the hilarious nicknames given to some of the top teams in this race, please do so now: https://www.facebook.com/AaronBurmeiste ... tyleRacing
Dallas should be into Rainey Pass around 10:30pm AKST. A 3-4 hour rest and then a 9-ish hour run over to Skwentna puts him into Skwentna sometime tomorrow around noon. He can rest during the heat of the day and then hit the trail for the finish line tomorrow evening, putting the finish of this race as happening sometime in the early hours of Monday morning. Maybe. Math is hard. Don’t quote me on any of this.