Iditarod Coverage

ravis Beals is down to 10 dogs in harness, having dropped 2 in Kaltag.
Dallas dropped 3 dogs in Kaltag, leaving him with 12 dogs in harness.

Most of the teams all have 11-13 dogs with a few having more.

All teams began the race with 16 dogs, the maximum number allowed. The minimum number to start is 12 dogs. Mushers must have at least 5 dogs in harness at the finish of the race.

THE REALLY COOL THING...no one has "scratched",the "rookies" r hangin' in....GOOD ON THEM

t is about 10 below in Unalakleet right now.

Standings as of ~1:15pm AKDT

Mushing towards Shaktoolik
1 Dallas Seavey MILE 715

IN UNALAKLEET
2 Jessie Holmes

Mushing towards Unalakleet (Mile 714)
3 Travis Beals MILE 703
4 Matt Hall MILE 701
5 Paige Drobny MILE 694
6 Ryan Redington MILE 688
7 Jason Mackey MILE 684
8 Jeff Deeter MILE 681
9 Mille Porsild MILE 680
10 Jessie Royer MILE 678
11 Wally Robinson MILE 676
12 Hunter Keefe MILE 676
13 Matthew Failor MILE 676
14 Peter Kaiser MILE 676
15 Amanda Otto MILE 669
16 Aaron Burmeister MILE 664

Coldest i HAVE EXPERIENCED (in Fairbanks....negative 54)

Looks like Jessie is going to stay for a little while in Unalakleet.
Dallas, however, arrived and left. The next checkpoint is Shaktoolik, mile 754, only 40 miles away.

FIRST scratch..(this AM)..."best interest of the dogs"...(a GOOD race.,but being on sea ice:changes all

Shaktoolik
Population 199 -- One look down the street at the snowdrifts will tell you this is one of the windiest stretches of the trail. From here the trail continues overland for a short distance, then leads the mushers out onto the ice of Norton Bay, one of the most treacherous segments of trail that the musher may have to contend with.

Makes all other races seem easy, even an ultra marathon.

UNFORTUNATELY ....celebrated too soon



ADN.com wrote:
The Iditarod has now recorded its first (and so far only) dog death of the 2024 race.

Details are still emerging, but the Iditarod Trail Committee said that a 2-year-old dog named Bog, on rookie Isaac Teaford's team, collapsed about 200 feet from the checkpoint in Nulato on the Yukon River. A veterinarian approached the team and CPR was administered, according to race officials, but the dog died. A necropsy will be performed.

Teaford scratched as a result of the dog's death. Under the Iditarod's Rule 42, in the event of a dog death, a musher may voluntarily scratch; they could be withdrawn from competition by race officials; or, if the race marshal determines the dog died due to an "unpreventable hazard," the musher could still be eligible to compete.

Teaford, who was running a team of sled dogs from Dallas Seavey's kennel, is one of three mushers to scratch Sunday, after a week without a single scratch. The two others are also rookies: Erin Altemus and Connor McMahon. Both decided to scratch in the best interest of their teams, according to the Iditarod Trail Committee.

We'll continue to report on the dog's death as more information becomes available.

THE TRULY important thing to REMEMBER....this was a real event in 1925,it saved LIVES in the village of Nome....this race is to honor and celebrate the incredible courage,stamina,and STRONG WILL of the dogs and men.....the race back then, was just the dogs. the men and THE ELEMENTS, there were no rules or organizations overseeing the event....REMEMBERING THIS "test" against man and nature is
what the ANNUAL EVENT IS ABOUT.....HONORING.

Here's this morning's top 10 as of ~5:40 AKDT


Mushing across Norton Sound to Koyuk (MILE 804)
1 Dallas Seavey MILE 786
2 Jessie Holmes MILE 768
3 Matt Hall MILE 768
4 Travis Beals MILE 758
5 Jeff Deeter MILE 756
6 Paige Drobny MILE 756

Mushing towards Shaktoolik (MILE 754)
7 Jessie Royer MILE 753
8 Mille Porsild MILE 743
9 Peter Kaiser MILE 736
10 Amanda Otto MILE 733

Iditarod Press Release wrote:
March 10, 2024 - At approximately 10:00 a.m. today, George, a four-year-old male from the race team of Hunter Keefe (bib# 10), collapsed on the trail roughly 35 outside of Kaltag en route to Unalakleet. Attempts to revive George were unsuccessful.
A necropsy will be conducted by a board-certified pathologist to make every attempt to
determine the cause of death.


Hunter Keefe was running dogs from the Remmington Kennel.
Hunter subsequently scratched from the race.

Also Deke Naaktgeboren scratched last night at the Nulato checkpoint "in the best interest of his team".

THIS is very unusual....BOTH dogs r from very GOOD lineage...they LOVE TO RACE...that is their nature,
just like HEALERS love,to "herd".

alaskapublic.org/2024/03/10/seavey-takes...he-bering-sea-coast/

Over sea ice. winds chill negative 45.......THIS is where it gets REAL.

Dallas has had a rough race, a rough couple of months actually. Starting back in November when one of his dog teams was plowed down by a snowmachine at very fast speed, killing 2 dogs and seriously injuring several more. (Rumor is that Dallas spent ove $30K in vet bills after that incident). Then the moose incident and Faloo being seriously injured, the 2 hour penalty and then yesterday his dog Bog died (who Isaac Teaford was running with Dallas's puppy team).

Dallas is hungry for a 6th win. It will be the most Iditarod wins of any musher in history. Right now Dallas Seavey and Rick Swenson hold the title of most wins at 5 each.

DALLAS is heading the pack.....even after a massive and miserable scenario.

Iditarod: Eye on the Trail wrote:
Think about the history of this stretch of the trail. In the 1925 Serum Run to save the children of Nome, everything went right on the frozen ice between Shaktoolik and Koyuk. Having run all the way from Nome, Leonard Seppala thought he was going to meet a Serum Runner somewhere on the Yukon River then take the antitoxin and head back to Nome. But a new plan developed after he left Nome. He didn’t know that the serum was traveling by means of a relay toward him faster than anticipated. Henry Ivanoff, carrying the serum from Shaktoolik to Koyuk stopped Seppala just off the shore of Shaktoolik. It was only by chance that the two teams met on the sea ice. Had Leonhard Seppala decided to take a shore route rather than cross on the tenuous sea ice, he would have missed the serum. Ivanoff handed the serum off to Seppala who immediately turned to begin the run back toward Nome.



Iditarod: Eye on the Trail wrote:
Somewhere along the cold Yukon River Jessie Royer shared the challenges of cold on the trail. Musher needs to wear more clothing to keep warm – more layers create more cumbersome movement. Mushers use hand and toe-warmers inside mitts and boots. The cold makes working with the dogs a little more difficult – bare hands compared to gloved hands. To ensure the safety of the dogs, dog chores take on a new dimension with coats, belly wraps, and fox tails for the male groin area. Everything is doable, it just takes more time to do everything.


DALLAS at mile 820 of 1,000 miles.....place your body in the above circumstances, the WHOLE of the race is a testimony to tenaciousness AND COURAGE.

Yes, Dallas has a substantial lead over Matt (~3hrs!). However, it's never over until it is over The trail from White Mt to Nome is some of the most unpredictable and treacherous trail in the race. A lot can happen and many races have been lost in these last 77 miles to Nome. The area is notorious for what are called "blow holes". These are sections where the wind comes out of the hills onto the coast at alarming rates. Enough to barrel roll an entire team off the trail and into a ravine!

The race drama in this section can be off the charts and life threatening at times. There is a safety cabin near the coast between White Mt and the Safety Checkpoint (Mile 953) that provides some shelter if needed. But that's if you can get there.

Several people have scratched in these last 77 miles by pressing the distress beacon requesting help to get themselves and their dogs out of harms wayg out of White Mt. And she had more than an hour lead on Dallas Seavey. It was clear that Jeff would win that year (which would have been his 5th win!). But Jeff got caught in a blow hole and trapped out on the trail for a couple of hours. Eventually a snowmobile spotted him and stopped to offer assistance and Jeff accepted it. This assistance meant he had to scratch.
Aliy had lots of trouble on the trail too but was able to make it to the Safety checkpoint. When she noticed that Jeff was not there and did not notice that she had past him on the trail, she and others began to worry. As she learned about Jeff's troubles, she decided the trail was not safe and decided to stay in Safety until the weather calmed down.

Other than some minor frostbite, Jeff and his dogs were physically okay. Mentally however, it was traumatizing.

Meanwhile, Dallas managed to mush through the wind storm. He checked in and out of Safety in a matter of minutes and headed on to Nome. When he got to Nome he had no idea he had won. He couldn't believe it and kept asking, "But where are Jeff and Aliy?" This was Dallas Seavey's second Iditarod win!

Top 10 Update as of ~6:30am AKDT

IN WHITE MOUNTAIN (MILE 898)
1 Dallas Seavey
2 Matt Hall
3 Jessie Holmes

Mushing towards White Mountain
4 Travis Beals MILE 881, SPEED 7.8 mph
5 Jeff Deeter MILE 873, SPEED 8.3 mph
6 Paige Drobny MILE 872, SPEED 8.1 mph
7 Mille Porsild MILE 867, SPEED 4.3 mph

IN ELIM (MILE 852)
8 Jessie Royer
9 Peter Kaiser
10 Amanda Otto

NOME ....1,000 miles.....ARCHES early AM ENTRANCE