Robert Forto

Iditarod 40

Iditarod 40: A race of checkpoints

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Hugh Neff

Ask just about any musher in the Iditarod how they track the race and they will say from checkpoint to checkpoint.

A couple weeks ago I met a 2010 Iditarod rookie and she pulled out a laminated card with a chart listing miles to and from each checkpoint. She said this is how she knew what she was up against. When things got rough she would know its only “X” number of miles to the next checkpoint where she could rest her dogs (and possibly herself), grab a meal, re-evaluate and move on down the trail.

Then you talk to veterans like 2012 Yukon Quest champion Hugh Neff, who is competing in his ninth Iditarod this year, and he will tell you that he knows the trail well enough now that he doesn’t worry about what checkpoint is coming up but who might be staying in one for their mandatory rests.

The following is a chart of distances between checkpoints on the Northern Route which is ran this year and on even years.

CHECKPOINTS

Anchorage to Campbell Airstrip    11 miles

Willow to Yentna Station    42 miles

Yentna to Skwentna    30 miles

Skwentna to Finger Lake    40 miles

Finger Lake to Rainy Pass    30 miles

Rainy Pass to Rohn    35 miles

Rohn to Nikolai    75 miles

Nikolai to McGrath    48 miles

McGrath to Takotna    18 miles

Takotna to Ophir    23 miles

Ophir to Cripple    73 miles

Cripple to Ruby    70 miles

Ruby to Galena    50 miles

Galena to Nulato    37 miles

Nulato to Kaltag    47 miles

Kaltag to Unalakleet    85 miles

Unalakleet to Shaktoolik    40 miles

Shaktoolik to Koyuk    50 miles

Koyuk to Elim    48 miles

Elim to Golovin    28 miles

Golovin to White Mountain    18 miles

White Mountain to Safety    55 miles

Safety to Nome    22 miles

Note: As of 2012 the Northern Route distance is approximately 975 miles. In prior years the distance was always over 1,000 miles. Three things factor into this adjustment:

  • The change in the Ceremonial Start (running from downtown Anchorage to Campbell Airstrip instead of Eagle River);
  • The change of the Restart location from Wasilla to Willow (loss of the Wasilla-Knik-Susitna River and some Yentna River mileage), and;
  • The actual year to year trail conditions can affect trail routing and the actual mileage will vary somewhat from year to year.

    “1,049 miles®” has been a symbolic figure from the inception of the race to signify the 1,000 miles or more of race trail and the number 49 depicts Alaska as the 49th state.

I will be covering the Iditarod everyday on my website and on the radio. Please listen in. Please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and check in with me on Foursquare.

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Iditarod 40: Famous Names

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In every sport there are names that transcend and are easily recognized among the hardcore fans and arm-chair ones alike. The Iditarod is no different. In a competition where more people have climbed Mount Everest than have finished the Iditarod it is pretty select company to become a well recognized musher in this sport.

While these folks are the names that we know, lets not forget the mushers and their teams in what we call back-of-the-packers, the countless handlers, musher’s widows (those waiting for their spouses to come in from the trail), the support staff and of course the dogs.

These are names which are automatically associated with the race:

Joe Redington, Sr. – co-founder and affectionately known as the “Father of the Iditarod”

Rick Swenson – the only five time champion, the only champion to win in three different decades and the only musher to have completed 30 Iditarod’s

Dick Mackey – the 1978 winner in the only photo finish in Iditarod’s history

Col. Norman D Vaughan – finished the race for the fourth time in 1988 at the age of 88 and led an expedition to Antarctica in the winter of 1993-‘94

Susan Butcher – the first woman to ever place in the top ten and the first four-time winner

Libby Riddles – in 1985, the first woman to win the Iditarod

Emmitt Peters – set a race record in 1975 that wasn’t broken until 1980, known as the Yukon River Fox

Rick Mackey – wearing bib #13, the same number his father wore in 1978, crossed the finish line first in 1983, making Dick and Rick the only father and son to have won the Iditarod

Joe Runyan – 1989 champion and the only musher to have won the Alpinrod in Europe, the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod

Terry Adkins – retired from the United States Air Force, the only veterinarian on the first Iditarod in 1973 and now one of only eight mushers to have completed at least 18 Iditarod’s

Doug Swingley – the first Iditarod winner living outside Alaska and the second four time winner
Martin Buser – a four-time winner who holds the record winning time and was the first musher to break the nine-day barrier
Herbie Nayokpuk – the Eskimo from Shishmaref, the “Shishmaref Cannonball” who raced in eleven Iditarod’s

DeeDee Jonrowe, Charlie Boulding, and Lance Mackey – all came back to race again after life threatening bouts with cancer

Robert Sørlie – first musher from out of the United States (Norway) to win the Iditarod

Lance Mackey – won the 2007 Iditarod after winning the Yukon Quest only 10 days earlier – first musher to have won both races in the same year and made Dick Mackey the only father to have won the Iditarod and to have two sons also win the Iditarod, all wearing bib #13. Lance Mackey repeated his feat of winning both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod in 2008. Lance is the first musher to ever win four consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Races in a row (2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010)

John Baker – first Eskimo to win the Iditarod and also set fastest winning time of 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes and 39 seconds in 2011.

Who is your favorite musher?

I will be covering the Iditarod everyday on my website and on the radio. Please listen in. Please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and check in with me on Foursquare.

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Iditarod 40: Mushing’s Golden Girls

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In a race that is usually filled with grizzled veterans, middle age men, frost-bitten faces and scraggly beards it is refreshing to see women compete in the race as well.

Women in this sport have always been a power-house with several well-known females winning the race or coming close. Names like fan favorite 4-time champ Susan Butcher–who can be credited as one of the greatest this sport has ever seen, and 28 time participant DeeDee Jonrowe, and the first woman to win the the race–Libby Riddles.

Then we have the twins.

Kristy and Ana Berington are competing for the first time together in the 2012 Iditarod. Growing up in a remote area near Lake Superior in the early 1980s the twins spent plenty of time outdoors on their parents hobby farm. They soon caught the mushing bug watching the John Beargrease Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota and they thought they would give the sport a try hooking up their Great Pyrenees to a set of skis and a milk crate.

Fast forward to the summer of 2007 when Kristy headed to the great white north and met Iditarod legend Dean Osmar. Very quickly the twins moved north and started training for races. Kristy competed in the Knik 200, the Tustumena 100 and the Klondike 300 and Taiga 300. All of this was done before break-up (what we call the snow melt in Alaska) in 2008.

Later that year Kristy began training with another Iditarod legend, Paul Gebhardt and ran her first Iditraod in 2011 finishing a respectable 29th.

This year Anna is running as a rookie in the race and has sights on racing with her sister and doing well on the 1,049 mile trek to Nome.

Their plan this year is not to sleep the first three days of the race and frequently jump off the sled and run beside to lighten the load and give the dogs a bit of a rest.

There have been a lot of firsts in the Last Great Race on Earth but I don’t think that a set of twins have ran all the way to Nome. Where sleep deprivation is a given on the trail the mushers better look twice because they just might be seeing double…

Vist Kirsty and Anna’s website

I will be covering the Iditarod everyday on my website and on the radio. Please listen in. Please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and check in with me on Foursquare.

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Iditarod 40: Mushing Radio premiere episode

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Last night we aired the premiere episode of Mushing Radio from the studios of KVRF 89.5 in Palmer, Alaska. With a few hiccups it went well and I am pleased with the results. The only drawback that I have is that we did not record this episode as a podcast so that folks can listen at a later date. I was assured that all future shows will be recorded starting with Saturday’s show where we will cover the ceremonial start in Anchorage

Our first guest was Greg Sellentin, the editor and publisher of Mushing Magazine. We spoke about the “state of mushing”. During our conversation we discussed how fans could best follow the sport: subscribe to Mushing Magazine of course! But also ask a lot of questions. New fans and novice musher’s alike will find that this sport has a great group of people that are willing to share their knowledge to anyone who asks.

This is an exciting time for the sport of mushing. With the influx of socail media and just about every team having a blog, website, and Facebook pages, it makes it very easy for fans and mushers to give updates, share pictures and stories and give advice.

We also spoke about the Iditarod and all of the festivities that surround the Iditarod circus, as I like to call it, leading up to the re-start in Willow on Sunday, March 4 at 2:00 pm.

Greg brought up some great points about not jumping into this sport too quickly and to take your time. We encouraged new mushers to find a veteran to work with for a time before they venture out on their own. During the show it was equal parts education and an overview of the sport.

The half-hour show went very quickly and we invited Greg back on any time. It was a great conversation.

Starting Saturday March 3, at 9:30 am we will cover the ceremonial start in Anchorage then on Sunday the re-start in Willow at 1:30 pm and our daily coverage at 6:30 pm up until the awards banquet, some ten days (or so) later. It should be a fun time and we look forward to your comments and questions.

I will be covering the Iditarod everyday on my website and on the radio. Please listen in. Please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and check in with me on Foursquare.

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Iditarod 40: Parking in Willow

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At yesterday’s media briefing for the Iditarod they urged us to get the word out about the potential parking problem at the Iditarod re-start in Willow.

Living in Willow I know what to expect. Not only do we have tons of snow here but in this small village of just 2,500 people, parking is at a premium.

The re-start takes place on Willow Lake at the Community Center at about Mile Marker 70 on the Parks Highway. It is approximately an hour and a half drive from Anchorage without too much traffic.

The community center has very little parking and there will be a parking lot across the highway. This is a paid lot so be prepared with cash. It is several hundred yards to the lake from this parking lot so wear warm clothing and be prepared to walk.

Get there as early as possible. The race starts at 2 pm with the first musher going out and continues on every two minutes. The last dog team will leave Willow sometime after 4 pm. I would suggest arriving well before noon as the parking lots will likely be full by 12:30 at the latest.

The Alaska State Troopers have said that they will not allow anyone to park along the highway under any circumstances.

There are very few choices for food in the Willow area. We have a convenience store, Townsite Food Market, the Willow Trading Post and I am sure there will be vendors at the community center that sell fast food items like hot dogs and coffee. The closest sit down restaurant besides the Willow Trading Post (which is rather small) is the Houston Lodge about 12 miles to the south.

If you do drive to Willow, be prepared to spend a long time heading to and from the race start. In some years traffic has been backed up all the way to Houston and you could potentially miss the race if you don’t plan accordingly.

After the race start is over it is the same. Last year traffic was diverted for over four miles in order to increase flow. It took me two hours to drive from the Community Center to my house which is just about five miles away.

There will be shuttle service to Willow and I highly recommend that.

Here is the schedule:

2012 WILLOW RESTART SHUTTLE BUS SCHEDULE

This year with a close to record snowfall amount, we strongly encourage Willow Restart press, media, volunteers, and spectators to take one of the Willow Restart shuttle buses (see schedule below).   In Willow snow depths are reaching 10’+ and the narrow roads are even narrower, and the parking less than before.  So, we are encouraging Restart attendees to take a shuttle or at least car pool to help ease the parking issue as well as help to ease the congestion of traffic on the road and getting into and out of parking lots.

We hope everyone can help us spread this very important message. 

Anchorage Millennium Hotel:  Volunteer tickets $10 roundtrip, Spectator tickets $20 roundtrip, both can be purchased at Volunteer Registration Desk in the Millennium Hotel

Buses Depart Millennium Hotel:  8:00 AM – volunteer bus, 9:30 AM – volunteers and spectators, 11:00 AM – spectators

Buses Depart Willow for Millennium Hotel:  4:00 PM, 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM

Wasilla:   Adults $2.00 roundtrip and children under 12 free.

Buses Depart Wasilla High School: 11:00 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:00 PM, 12:15 PM, 12:30 PM, 12:45 PM, and 1:00 PM

Buses Depart Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center:  11:00 AM, 11:30 AM, and 12:00 P

Volunteers can catch a bus leaving the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center at 9:00 AM

Houston:  Adults $2.00 roundtrip and children under 12 free.

 Buses Depart Houston High School: 11:00 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:00 PM and 12:30 PM

Buses Depart from Willow to Houston – Curtis D. Menard Sports Center – Wasilla High School:

4:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 6:00 PM

ALL return shuttles will make stops at Houston – Curtis D. Menard Sports Center – Wasilla High School

Talkeetna:  Adults $2.00 roundtrip and children under 12 free.

Buses Depart Talkeetna Sunshine Restaurant: 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM

Buses Depart from Willow for Talkeetna Sunshine Restaurant: 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM

I will be covering the Iditarod everyday on my website and on the radio. Please listen in. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and check in with me on Foursquare.

 

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