2007 Iditarod Race Commentary and Analysis
by Ultimate Iditarod's Jim Gallea
|
Ultimate Iditarod's 2007 Iditarod Coverage Sponsored By:
|
While I realize that my esteemed partner in crime in this website is as good an Iditarod strategist as any of those higher paid guys (and I’d have to admit his fastest run in the Iditarod is a bit faster than mine), I can’t let pass an opportunity to post a few rebuttal comments. After all, no great race is complete without dueling pundits—I’m thinking the likes of Sir Charles and Magic Johnson or Boomer and Dion more than Hannity and Colmes. Besides, I’m older and wiser…but only by a few years.
So what do I have to say on the subject? Well, first off, I think the Iditarod winner’s circle is becoming a tougher and tougher nut to crack. There are getting to be a lot of good teams out there. Let’s do a quick survey of this year’s field:
So, without further ado, I’m going to put out my Top 10 predictions, and then I’ll try to justify some of what I’m thinking
1.
Doug Swingley
2. Robert Sorlie
3. Mitch Seavey
4. Jeff King
5. Lance Mackey
6. Paul Gebhardt
7. Ed Iten
8. John Baker
9. Ramy Brooks
10. Dee Dee Jonrowe
11. Martin Buser
Okay, I know I said Top 10, but I wanted to round it out to eleven so I can make a point. As Tyrell points out, there are two words that are consistently being used to describe the Iditarod Trail: cold and rough.
Sure, these words have been used before, but when I was in Willow, Alaska, yesterday, I talked with some of the locals, and the word from the guys who just finished the Iron Dog snowmobile race is that the trail from the Alaska Mountain Range (near Rohn) to Nome is the worst they have ever seen them. Now I’ve never been one to listen to those gearheads a whole lot because I think the exhaust has got their brains a bit inside out, but in this case, I’m inclined to trust their opinions because they are probably pretty “in touch” with their backsides when it comes to taking a snowmachine from Wasilla to Nome to Fairbanks.
In my feeble mind, the last time I can recall such a barren trail over much of the Interior of Alaska was the 2001 Iditarod. In that race, the frozen tussocks on the tundra between Ophir and Iditarod destroyed more than a few sets of high strength aluminum sled runners.
So what can we learn from the 2001 Iditarod?
The rough trail is going to take its toll on teams that are geared for speed. The dogs in these teams tend to be amazing athletes, but in my experience, their muscles and bone structures are not as well equipped to handle rough, uneven trail, and I think injury and fatigue results. Tyrell mentions Martin Buser’s 2002 Iditarod team. That team was the perfect team for the near perfect conditions that the 2002 race offered. It was made-to-order for the fast, athletic dogs that Martin is so good at raising and training. However, does anyone recall what happened to Martin in 2001? He finished BEHIND his ‘B’ team driven by Andy Moderow, who was racing in his first ever Iditarod and had a habit of over-sleeping at all his rest stops.
Andy beat Martin because Andy took it slow and easy in the early parts of the race and maintained a dog team with good speed and energy for the times when the trail conditions were good enough to let the dogs really stretch their legs. Andy won around $12,000 in that race, and some of it went to a very nice crab dinner for yours truly. I tend to remember lessons that are taught using fine food.
Martin Buser has already proven he’s got a great dog team this year, but the question is whether he can be patient enough with them to stand on his brakes and keep his team healthy and strong. Nothin’ personal Martin, but I think you’re too much of a racer for these rough trails, and I think you may be one of those who sees a bit of black smoke coming out from under the hood. Maybe I'm wrong, and if I am, Martin, I like my crow roasted in orange sauce.
Alternatively, I think Doug
Swingley and Robert Sorlie have dogs that may be a bit better suited to these
conditions. Doug won the 2001
Iditarod and has shown over and over again that he has bred and trained a group
of dogs that are incredibly rugged and durable over a huge variety of terrain. This
year may really favor that kind of team. As
for Mr. Sorlie, I’m consistently impressed with the mental and physical
toughness he and his dogs show. Many
thought Sorlie’s 2003 victory was a result of relatively flat terrain on the
altered 2003 race course that began in
As for some of the rest of my predictions, I will try to quickly summarize:
Mitch Seavey has an excellent kennel, and I think he’s getting close to Doug Swingley’s skill in training rugged and durable dogs. Mitch hasn’t run any races except the Tustumena 200, which he was using more as a training run than a race, and he stated so openly to me BEFORE the race began. In the past Mitch has tried to be competitive in a few mid-distance races leading up to the Iditarod. The fact that he didn’t do this this year could make some wonder if he’s worried about depth in his team. But I have a feeling Mitch has something up his sleeve, and I’m betting it’s a pretty good dog team.
Jeff King is coming off a great victory last year. However, the conditions are a bit different this year, and I’m not convinced that the harnesses Jeff has been using since 2003 are going to be the best with the rough trail conditions. The harnesses appear to do a great job at helping the dogs preserve energy and prevent injury. However, there will be times in this race when the rough trails will require the dogs to bear down and pull hard. Jeff’s harnesses don’t allow this so much, and if his dogs have trained in them all year, I worry they may not have the muscle strength. We’ll have to see…
That’s enough ramblings about the top mushers this year. I wonder if Tyrell would like to put a friendly wager on our predictions?
But before I go, I would like to add that I think Tollef Monson deserves your attention. He’s a young, tough and smart musher who has a lot of energy and is always cheerful and easy going. Dogs pick up on those sorts of feelings and tend to reflect the musher’s attitude. I think Tollef has the potential to be a dark horse in this year’s race. I don’t think he’ll crack the Top10 just yet, but he’s got a fair shot at the Top 20, and any more, getting in the Top 20 today is as hard as getting in the top 10 was only a decade ago.
Stay tuned…
Jim Gallea
© 2007
Ultimate Iditarod
Reproduction or distribution in any way or by any means prohibited without
permission.
Ultimate Iditarod http://www.ultimateiditarod.com
email: dogboy@ultimateiditarod.com