Iditarod Race Updates and Coverage--Ultimate Iditarod

Martin Buser crossed under the burled arch this morning at 8:46, and became the third person to have won the Iditarod a total of four times. Martin held his position without missing a step, and finished with 10 very strong, very snappy dogs in the team. We passed him about 15 miles outside White Mountain last night, on our way into Nome, and his team was moving briskly up the big, steep hills between the picturesque village, and the final stretch of coastline along the Bering Sea. He was met at the finish line by hundreds of Nomeites, and dozens of visitors to this gold mining town on the Seward Peninsula. His family was there, of course: wife, Kathy Chapoton, and sons, Nikolai and Rohn. The boys were named after checkpoints on the Iditarod Trail which have always been favorites of Martin's.

Martin's win takes a nice story and makes it into a modern day fairy tale. He is a Swiss-born musher, who has made Alaska his home since 1979. After the tragedy of September 11, he decided to act on a growing desire to become an American citizen. The plan was that this would become final during Martin's time in Nome after he finished the race.

Furthermore, Martin and his family had decided before the race that they would as a group snowmobile backward over the entire trail to return home. That is still the plan, but now Martin is guaranteed to enter each village to a hero's welcome, having brought the Iditarod championship back inside Alaska.

At the finish line this morning, Martin's wife, Kathy, was asked how she felt about the way all these events have unfolded, and she responded by saying, somewhat breathlessly, that she felt like she was living a fairy tale. But tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, even though it WILL feel like a fairy tale, when she pinches herself, she'll be reminded she's not dreaming!

Ramy finished in second place at 10:49 this morning. Both he and Martin beat Doug Swingley's previous course record of 9 days, 58 minutes. Even though he had hoped to win, Ramy was very satisfied with the outcome of his effort. Most folks thought that he took a calculated risk when he left Elim without resting, and was only seven minutes behind Martin. They figured he had abandoned his race plan in order to have a chance of winning. Then people assumed that the fact that his time to White Mountain was way slower than Martin's indicated that his strategy had failed, and that his dogs had slowed their pace. It turns out this isn't what happened at all.

Ramy told me that his plan all along was to go through Elim without rest, but then camp on the trail a short distance toward Golovin-a village between Elim and White Mountain which is not an official checkpoint. He actually stuck to his plan, and his trail speed didn't fall off. And he says he accepted his second place finish long before he even reached the coast. He is indeed a very competitive person, and his desire to win is as strong as any of the front runners, but he's a savvy dog driver, and he knows that if he's got a second place team, and yet tries to drive them like a first place teams, he may well end up not even finishing.

Dee Dee
Unfortunately, that is exactly what appears to have happened with Dee Dee Jonrowe and her team. Tyrell and I passed Dee Dee last night on the way into White Mountain. She was on the frozen sea a few miles before the village of Golovin. But she was not moving. Her team was stopped on the ice, and she was walking around them, not snacking them, or appearing to be doing anything in particular, but they didn't look interested in moving. And her time into White Mountain tells all: 16 hours, 6 minutes. She has fallen 9 positions and now occupies 13th place. It wouldn't be surprising if she had to spend even more than the required 8 hours in White Mountain in order to rejuvenate her team. That is what happens one when goes even just a bit over the "red line"

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