John Baker of Kotzebue leads the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race pack on the Yukon River. In a strategic move that left his competition with little room to counter, he hit the trail after precisely four hours of rest in Eagle Island, thus forcing the competition to race on his terms
Baker and his Arctic coast-trained dogs are known to his competition to be easy moving, indestructible, and -- significantly -- well adapted, with heavy coats for the punishing weather of the Bering Sea coast. A few molecules of salt air are already wafting inland from that ocean, and his dogs know they are approaching home. As soon as Baker makes the corner at Kaltag, and turns off the river in a westerly direction, his team will be in the familiar environs of limitless landscapes, penetrating wind and cold.
As background, the interplay through Friday night and into Saturday morning set the stage for the Baker lead. Hugh Neff from Tok and defending champ Lance Mackey from Fairbanks, still making good time with a diminished nine dog team, tagged Baker through the night to Eagle Island. But they could never generate enough speed to close the gap Baker opened leaving Anvik.
Later, pursuing another strategy, Canadians Sebastian Schnuelle and Hans Gatt from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, left Grayling -- one checkpoint beyond Anvik -- in pursuit of Baker, but they couldn't catch the Kotzebue musher either. Baker and most of the leaders did the one, 8-hour mandatory stop required somewhere on the Yukon at Anvik, while the Canadians went about 20 miles on to the next checkpoint. Baker passed them as they rested there.
It was thought by my educated network of race pundits that Gatt and Schnuelle might later try to blow through Eagle to put pressure on Baker. Instead, they stopped in Eagle for another rest then took up the chase in a pack that had grown to include Ray Redington Jr. from Wasilla.
In another article, I talked about their move and noted that they have actually stopped three times now in contrast to Baker's two stops. Baker has the more efficient race plan up the Yukon. The Canadians, however, remain in good position to gobble up Baker's lead, but they need to demonstrate strength to catch Baker's well adapted outfit.
Night on the Yukon also saw one big change. Ramey Smyth from Willow suddenly emerged from the anonymity of the pack. He has been driving 16 dogs, the biggest team in the front bunch for days, and keeping marginal contact with the leaders. To his credit, the strategy has no obvious flaws. He resisted the impulse to race with the pack in the first days of the race, and has been steadily and predictably following his own rhythmic plan.
Over time, the steady approach has produced results, slowly closing the gap to the front. His strategy somewhat resembles Baker's. Friday morning, recognizing the strength of his big team, Smyth matched Baker and rested for just four hours in Eagle Island. Based on his fast checkpoint times, it is conceivable that he will pass Schnuelle and Neff and be in second position, about two hours behind Baker, by Kaltag on Friday afternoon.
A footnote on Smyth. All mushers dread his pursuit because he likes to shed down to a bare minimum of clothes to run behind his team. He is lithe, light weight, and athletic. Often he is seen in the checkpoints wearing a thin pair of yellow work gloves, baseball cap, t-shirt and wool shirt, looking like the guy who drives around in a heated pick-up at 30 below zero to inspect traffic signs. The only thing is, Smyth is driving a dog team.
Really, if Smyth has a team and is in your rear-view mirror, you basically have two choices: Quietly and politely give up and let him pass, or put up a valiant fight by running behind the sled and kicking as much as possible. And then when you finally reach the point of a perspired exhaustion and your thighs are burning, you can let Smyth pass. That's basically the choice. He is a machine behind a dog team. Gatt, who competes in triathalons, is about the only one who comes to mind who could go "mano a mano" with Smyth on a hill-climb. I think Smyth will rest in Kaltag and then evaluate the odds to catch Baker.
Baker's plan is plainly visible for all to see. He has trained his dogs and positioned himself in the race to run with four rest stops to the finish. He will rest in Kaltag, Unalakleet, Koyuk and White Mountain, the last the required 8-hour stop before the finish in Nome.
This means only four more changes of booties for the team, and four more opportunities to grab a musher nap. In checkpoints, Baker will be hustling to attend to every need of the dogs. While he works, they sleep. An ability to stay focused with a minimum of sleep now becomes a premium for the musher at the front.
One last note: The team of DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow is now the fastest on the trail. She is presently about three hours behind the leaders. Theoretically, she could preserve team speed and gradually catch them if she stays on a rhythmic run/rest schedule. In the past, she has been guilty of impulsively turning the team loose to try close big time gaps. This has sometimes resulted in the dogs running out of gas before the leaders are caught. So my experts are interested to note whether she can remain patient. Her team success is based on speed, so she has to stay true to her schedule and make sure the dogs get enough rest.
Schnuelle's situation is the opposite. He appears to have the team that keep on going and going and going with minimal rest. He is actually positioned to make a surprise move out of Kaltag. Will he rest there or bolt to the Tripod Flat Cabin three hours along the portage trail to Unalakleet and the coast?
It could be a game changer. But at the moment, Baker in the lead controls the race.
Joe Runyan, champion of the 1985 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and 1989 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, worked with former Iditarod champion Jeff King on his book, "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" as well as with defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey on his autobiography, "The Lance Mackey Story", and will be providing commentary and analysis of Iditarod 39 for Alaska Dispatch.