|
Iditarod web sites
See related pages:
http://www.adn.com/pf/mushing
http://www.iditarod.com/
http://www.adn.com/iditarod/
WHITE MOUNTAIN - John Baker started snoring almost as soon as he lay on the floor. These were not small, occasional snorts. Baker sent off long, ripping snores that made the Kotzebue musher sound like a sick tuba. After a thousand miles of trail and nine days with little rest, Baker was exhausted - as were the other half-dozen mushers gathered at this riverside village 77 miles from Nome. Almost all had started the 27th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race hoping to be first under the burled arch in Nome. But after battling two storms, slogging through deep snow and getting soaked in overflow, they only wanted the race to end. "I should have been here a day ago," said Willow musher Vern Halter, who arrived just before midnight looking tired and cold, his face covered with frost from the minus-25 temperatures. "I'm looking forward to being on a plane," said Kotzebue musher Ed Iten, resting on a chair inside the city offices that serve as the checkpoint here. Most mushers had pushed their teams to reach this village, knowing they would have a mandatory eight-hour rest before they could head to Nome. They started stumbling into the city offices just after midnight, bleary-eyed and looking for a place to sleep. Some napped a few hours before getting up to eat a breakfast of pancakes and sausage. Even with a few hours rest, they found their minds muddled and their tongues twisting on them. "How many dogs did you milk?" asked a weary Ramey Smyth as he sat eating pancakes and drinking milk at a table with defending champion Jeff King. He meant to ask how many dogs Swingley had going into Nome. "He had 12 coming into White Mountain and he dropped one ... so one," came the answer from a volunteer. A slight pause followed. Then King quipped, "Wow, that must be one hell of a dog." Most mushers had fallen off their sleds several times on the grueling run up the coast. The barren, snow-covered land offers little to look at, and mushers tire on a series of long, rolling hills. Smyth, who celebrated his 24th birthday on the trail Monday, fell off his sled eight times after leaving Unalakleet, he said. Most times he caught himself before falling, but twice he woke up on the ground. "It's kind of funny when you do it," he said. Bill Cotter of Nenana said he got a face full of snow after launching off his sled. "That kept me up for a while," he said. Kasilof musher Paul Gebhardt said he dozed off while going down a hill known as Little McKinley just past Elim. "I was standing on the brake and the vibrations just put to me sleep," he said. Later, he ran into Baker, who had a similar story. The difference was that when Baker woke up, his dogs were on the sea ice, looking back and wondering why Baker was still standing on the brake. Mushers weren't the only ones who were tired. Most dogs curled up immediately after pulling into this checkpoint and were reluctant to get moving when the time to leave arrived. Mushers had to lead their teams to the start of the trail to get them going. Injuries and other problems had reduced most teams to nearly half their original size. Smyth had only seven of his original 16 dogs, and he was worried about having the minimum five he needed to cross the finish line in Nome. "We'll be lucky just to get in there," he said. But while the mushers and their dogs were looking forward to a good, long rest, their battle wasn't over. Several teams were close enough to make it a tight race to Nome. Gebhardt, for example, had come in less than an hour behind Charlie Boulding, who was fifth. "You're not going to chase me, are you Paul?" Boulding asked. "I don't want to race." Gebhardt didn't answer immediately. But later he grabbed a list that showed the prize money for each finishing position. The difference between fifth and sixth place was less than $2,000. "It's not worth it for that," he said. Still, Gebhardt didn't have much of a choice. Even if he wanted to relax, two teams - Baker and King - were close behind. "It's Jeff chasing John chasing me and I'm chasing Charlie," he said. Boulding knew the race wasn't over, too. "There's no relaxing until you get under the burled arch, get the check and get it in the bank," he said. * Reporter S.J. Komarnitsky can be reached at skomarnitsky@adn.com
|
