The first third of the Iditarod trail almost always claims a few teams early in this race. And while that section of this year's trail wasn't easy by any stretch, it wasn't until Nikolai - race mile 263 - that the first musher scratched. Even by the time we hit Unalakleet - race mile 714 - the scratch tally had only reached 6. That's just 12% of the field and well below the average. Funny thing about the law of averages, though. They're considered laws for a reason.
Six additional mushers ultimately scratched in White Mountain, nearly 900 miles into the event, bringing this year's scratch tally to twelve. That's 24.5% of the original field, above both recent and historical averages of 20-22%. I reported on three of those six teams in my prior post. The more recent three included Jeff Deeter, his spouse and Iditarod rookie KattiJo Deeter, and rookie from France Sebastian Dos Santos Borges. Although none of these mushers were injured, they did require search and rescue assistance to get off the ice between White Mountain and Nome. The mushers and their dogs were all collected safely and certainly have a whopper of a tail to tell from their time on the Iditarod trail.
After that chaos out on the ice, I believe the storms and winds subsided somewhat, granting better passage for our final five teams over the day on Saturday March 19th. This year's Red Lantern, or final finisher in the race, was Apayaug Reitan of Kaktovik, Alaska. This is her second Iditarod finish, having seen the burled arch before in 2019. This year, she finished in 13 days, 8 hours, 39:13 minutes. She had the privilege of extinguishing the widow's lantern under the burled arch, symbolizing that all mushers were safely off the trail.
After all, don't you leave a light on until the last of your household is home?
And there you have it. The 50th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race had 49 off the line, 37 finishers, over 975 race miles, in less than 14 days. Of those 37 finishers, 7 were rookies. And you know what that means? They just joined a very elite echelon. Not only of mushers, but humanity overall. By my tally, there are now only 825 separate individuals in history that can claim to have successfully completed the Iditarod. Ever.
Anna and Kristy are two of those 825. And while there are many mushers over the years that completed the race more than once, these two have now done so a combined total of 22 times. Certainly the only sisters, the only identical twins, that can say that.
You're probably ready for me to drop the mic and wrap up this year's blog, but I'm not done quite yet! The twins and the other finishers are at the banquet in Nome this Sunday evening, and the twins won't be settled back into the kennel in Knik until very very late. Their dogs are all confirmed home safe at the kennel, but until the twins join them, why not wax poetic for a couple more posts before I sign off.
Coming up in the next day or two: a recap of my two hour conversation with Kristy and Anna; and a thorough recap on the dogs - how amazing they were out there this year, who finished, and who returned home early and why.
Hope you all had a good weekend and I'll be back!
Six additional mushers ultimately scratched in White Mountain, nearly 900 miles into the event, bringing this year's scratch tally to twelve. That's 24.5% of the original field, above both recent and historical averages of 20-22%. I reported on three of those six teams in my prior post. The more recent three included Jeff Deeter, his spouse and Iditarod rookie KattiJo Deeter, and rookie from France Sebastian Dos Santos Borges. Although none of these mushers were injured, they did require search and rescue assistance to get off the ice between White Mountain and Nome. The mushers and their dogs were all collected safely and certainly have a whopper of a tail to tell from their time on the Iditarod trail.
After that chaos out on the ice, I believe the storms and winds subsided somewhat, granting better passage for our final five teams over the day on Saturday March 19th. This year's Red Lantern, or final finisher in the race, was Apayaug Reitan of Kaktovik, Alaska. This is her second Iditarod finish, having seen the burled arch before in 2019. This year, she finished in 13 days, 8 hours, 39:13 minutes. She had the privilege of extinguishing the widow's lantern under the burled arch, symbolizing that all mushers were safely off the trail.
After all, don't you leave a light on until the last of your household is home?
And there you have it. The 50th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race had 49 off the line, 37 finishers, over 975 race miles, in less than 14 days. Of those 37 finishers, 7 were rookies. And you know what that means? They just joined a very elite echelon. Not only of mushers, but humanity overall. By my tally, there are now only 825 separate individuals in history that can claim to have successfully completed the Iditarod. Ever.
Anna and Kristy are two of those 825. And while there are many mushers over the years that completed the race more than once, these two have now done so a combined total of 22 times. Certainly the only sisters, the only identical twins, that can say that.
You're probably ready for me to drop the mic and wrap up this year's blog, but I'm not done quite yet! The twins and the other finishers are at the banquet in Nome this Sunday evening, and the twins won't be settled back into the kennel in Knik until very very late. Their dogs are all confirmed home safe at the kennel, but until the twins join them, why not wax poetic for a couple more posts before I sign off.
Coming up in the next day or two: a recap of my two hour conversation with Kristy and Anna; and a thorough recap on the dogs - how amazing they were out there this year, who finished, and who returned home early and why.
Hope you all had a good weekend and I'll be back!