Iditarod update and a picture of our favorite musher

[Blue_In_AK]

Four-time chamption Martin Buser is currently in first place, followed by Sebastian Schnuelle. Lance Mackey has dropped some dogs because they didn't seem to be feeling well and is currently traveling with a 12-dog team. He says he doesn't feel confident, but he's been in this position before and pulled it out, so we'll see. 60-year-old Rick Swenson, who has won five times, crashed at the "Happy River Steps" and broke his collarbone, but is continuing on, and at last report he had successfully navigated the tricky Dalzell Gorge. Zoya DeNure and Melissa Owens have scratched.

The Anchorage Daily News has good continuing coverage for any of you who are interested.
http://www.adn.com/ Here's a headline you don't see everyday -- "Moose Kicks Woman Who Came Too Close in Town Square." :rofl: (I can laugh because she's okay. What a dummy...she tried to pet it.) The comments are very funny.


Now here's a picture of our very favorite musher, Trent Herbst. Trent is a fourth-grade teacher from Ketchum, Idaho, and this is his fifth Iditarod. His best finish was 48th in 2009, so he's not going to get rich running the race, but he's such a good-natured, laid-back guy that you can't help but like him. I think we're going to sponsor him next year just because we like him so much. These back-of-the-pack guys obviously don't get the big sponsorships that the more competitive racers do, but they still love the race.

[Celebration]

1. Wow, good luck to Trent!

And all the rest of them.

Thank you for reminding me not to try to pet a moose!

[Callalily]

2. That so nice of you to consider

sponsoring Trent next year. Love of the sport is a great motivator.

And oh gosh, Rick Swenson racing with a broken collarbone? He's got to be in so much pain.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Trent's not leading time-wise

since the leaders have taken their mandatory 24-hour break (which the mushers can take wherever and whenever at their discretion), but he did make it into the ghost town of Iditarod first to win a prize of $4,000. Woo-hoo!

Here's a nice piece from The Mudflats on the history of the race. http://www.themudflats.net/2011/03/09/voices-from-the-flats-iditarod-2011/

With this week’s kickoff of the Last Great Race, and my well known passion for it, a number of folks have asked about the origins of the event. Here’s the story:

AN EPIDEMIC OF DIPHTHERIA IS ALMOST INEVITABLE HERE STOP I AM IN URGENT NEED OF ONE MILLION UNITS OF DIPTHERIA ANTITOXIN STOP MAIL IS ONLY FORM OF TRANSPORTATION STOP …

Those lines were part of a message sent by Curtis Welch, MD, on January 22nd, 1925 via radio telegram from Nome to all towns in the Alaskan Territory.

That desperate message was intended for the Territorial Governor in Juneau, and the public health service in Washington D.C. and it sounded an emergency of almost unimaginable horror. Dr. Welch was facing a disaster the likes of which are rarely seen outside of fiction.

At the turn of the century, during the boom town glory days of the Klondike gold rush, more than 20,000 people lived in Nome – in January of 1925, long after the gold and gold miners had run out, Nome boasted a population of around 1400, about 975 white settlers and 450 Alaskan Natives. The last ship of the season, the steamship Alameda, had left Nome harbor two months before, tracking south ahead of the encroaching winter ice. The sun had followed the steamship, disappearing below the southern horizon and leaving Nome locked in the grip of –50F temperatures and the endless Arctic night.

<snip>

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. That article about the woman who pulled out of the race, was very moving.

Her feelings and dedication for her dogs. We need more like her in this world.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. I know. It almost brought tears to my eyes.