NOME - John Barron's most memorable souvenir of the 28th annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was not his $12,500 check for placing 15th but the bump on his head for forgetting to duck. Barron clobbered himself on a tree branch while crossing the Farewell Burn. Mushing through a narrow chute, Barron bent low to pull up a flopping snow hook and slammed his head. "I got a monster lump," he said. The Montana Creek musher came into his 21st Iditarod as the two-time defending John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon champion and notched his 12th Iditarod top-20 finish. However, the accident made the trip hazardous for a while. He had blurred vision in his left eye for a couple of days. Second-guessing himself, Barron said he should have stopped the sled to pull up the snow hook. "It was a rookie mistake," he said. Lee enjoys Iditarod return Bruce Lee, the veteran musher from Denali Park, finished 13th in his return to the Iditarod for the first time since 1996. What most stunned Lee after his run in 10 days, 1 hour, 23 minutes, was the condition of the Iditarod Trail. He was disappointed with the number of ruts and holes that he blames on snowmachines. "Now we have a mogul run," Lee said. "It's incredible. We don't have an Iditarod Trail. We have the Iditarod Mogul. In Ruby, I saw more snowmachines than dog teams." Nonetheless, the nice weather and the whole journey was a good time. "I had the most fun I've had in any long-distance race," said Lee, who is a Yukon Quest champion. Little was dog tired Jon Little of Kasilof improved from 36th place in his 1999 rookie year to 23rd in 2000. Little said he was happy but not satisfied and kept thinking of ways to improve. One thing he might not be able to improve on is looking sharp on limited rest. "People were saying how good I looked," Little said. "I was really tired. I had had one hour of sleep, and they said I was looking normal. I love my sleep. If I'm not running dogs, I get my eight hours." Gatt on his way up A major breakthrough performance was recorded by Hans Gatt of Atlin, British Columbia, who finished 12th in 9 days, 22 hours, 57 minutes Wednesday morning. Gatt's previous high finish was 22nd last year. The recent winner of the International Rocky Mountain Stage Stop Race in Wyoming said that although it may seem that the fast pace of that 12-day, 452-mile event would be good preparation for the Iditarod, they're actually very different. "It's a completely different speed," Gatt said. "You go really hard 50 or 60 miles a day. I really just planned to run the Iditarod this year, but I missed" the stage race.
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