On Wednesday, he was in eighth place. "He's no rookie," three-time champion Jeff King said in Nikolai. "He could win this thing - and wouldn't that turn this race on its ear?"

Since 1977, only two Iditarod rookies have placed in the top-10. Both Stan Zuray (1982) and Doug Swingley (1992) finished ninth.

But since Swingley's first race, the average finish for the top rookie is 21st.

"(Tunheim) seems to be holding his team together nicely," said DeeDee Jonrowe, who finished second last year.

While tending his dogs in Takotna, Tunheim said his plan was to watch the top mushers and learn a few things. But he hasn't seen much of them on the trail or in the checkpoints. "They don't want to talk to me," he said. "Maybe the competition is so tough they have to concentrate on themselves."

Tunheim said the Iditarod Trail was what he expected. The surprise has been all the work to be done at each checkpoint - and the absence of sleep. "In Europe, you get more help to dry clothes and fill up your coffee. But here you have to do everything, so it takes more time before you can go to sleep," he said.

In his first four days, Tunheim said he averaged an hour of sleep a day. "You can't sleep much if you want to stay in front," he said.

Saturday
March 13, 1999