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2003 Copper Basin 300 |
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In order to run the Iditarod, rookie mushers (mushers who have not yet completed the Iditarod) must qualify. Under the Iditarod's rules, a rookie must complete two approved qualifying races totaling at least 500 miles before he or she may compete in the Iditarod. Because of it's challenging terrain and trail conditions, the Copper Basin 300 is one of the best qualifiers. The race has been nicknamed "The Toughest 300 Miles in Alaska." By successfully completing the Copper Basin 300, Tyrell has now finished two 300-mile races (the 2002 Klondike 300 was the other), and he is officially qualified to run his rookie Iditarod this March. Another hurdle on the way to Nome has been cleared! Below
are articles posted about the Copper Basin by Ultimate Iditarod's Jim
Gallea. In
addition, check the official Copper
Basin 300 web site for the more race statistics and information. (scroll down for
previous updates) Palmer, Alaska, musher Zack Steer crossed the finish line at 3:01 yesterday afternoon to win the 2003 Copper Basin 300. Just 11 minutes later, Kasilof, Alaska, musher Lance Mackey crossed the finish line to claim second place. Mackey and Steer played cat-and-mouse since leaving Sourdough checkpoint just seven minutes apart, and both mushers showed a great deal of talent with their teams in the final 110 miles from Sourdough to the finish line in Glenallen. Only half an our after Mackey's finish, third place musher William Kleedehn arrived in Glenallen, followed an hour and a half later by Montana musher Harmony Baron, the 2002 Race to the Sky Champion. John Schandelmeier and Bill Steyer finished fifth and sixth, respectively, and Tyrell Seavey narrowly beat Jason Mackey for seventh place. Tyrell phoned late last night after caring for his dogs, and he was extremely happy with the performance of his team. One of the best surprises was the strong showing made by the four two-year-olds in his team. These dogs had never raced before and are a part of the team being training by him for the Iditarod. He also made threats that he doesn't want to share any of his prize money, but those of us who have been caring for the kennel in his absence know that we will get our percentage :-) Tyrell will post a few more stories from the race after he returns to the kennel. At present, 26 teams have finished the race, and eight remain on the trail. All eight of these mushers are into Wolverine checkpoint 51 miles from the finish, and five of those teams have already departed Wolverine and are mushing to Glenallen. Ten mushers scratched (dropped out) during the course of the race. Thanks for following the Copper Basin with Ultimate Iditarod. We'll continue with training updates as we make our way to the starting line in the 31st running of the Iditarod. For Ultimate Iditarod, Jim Gallea
Update 2: Top Teams Making Big Push to Finish--Monday, January
13, 2003 The Copper Basin 300 rules stipulate 3 mandatory rest stops. The first required rest is a four hour layover at Chistochina as mentioned in the first update. Of the remaining two rests, one must be six hours long and the other eight hours long. These rests can be taken at any of the remaining race checkpoints (Water's Edge, Meier's Lake, Sourdough, Wolverine, or Tolsona), and they can be taken in any order, meaning it doesn't matter whether the six is taken before or after the eight.
The alternate strategy was to rest only six at Water's Edge and then run straight to Sourdough for their eight hour rest. Current race leader Zack Steer along with William Kleedehn, Harmony Baron, Bill Steyer, Jim Lanier, and Ultimate Iditarod's Tyrell Seavey all followed this plan. The potential advantage to this strategy is that a longer rest at Sourdough may enable teams to push the last 110 miles to the finish on very little rest. As teams begin to arrive in Wolverine and Tolsona, we are seeing that none of the top five teams (Steer, L. Mackey, Kleedehn, Baron, and Schandelmeier) stopped in Wolverine some 60 miles down the trail from Sourdough and 51 miles from the finish at Glenallen. The question now is whether the teams who rested eight hours at Sourdough will enjoy any advantage over those that rested only six before beginning this push to the finish.
Another important point to bear in mind is that not all resting happens in the checkpoints. Just as many teams rested for an hour or more between Chistochina and Water's Edge, many teams may rest on the trail in the vicinity of the Wolverine checkpoint, but not at the checkpoint itself. The advantage to this is a psychological one. First, the dogs likely do not expect a full six hour rest if they stop on the trail whereas a checkpoint means food and a warm straw bed. Secondly, "blowing through" a checkpoint has a huge impact on what other mushers may or may not decide to do. Tyrell was good enough to make a quick phone call from the Wolverine checkpoint to let us know that things are going very well for him. He decided to rest for some time at Wolverine before continuing on to the finish line. This stop was part of his original race strategy, and he feels that taking the extra rest will be the best thing for his team. As he wrote in his training update before leaving for the Copper Basin, Tyrell's plan is to read his team when deciding how much rest to take at the end of the race. Tyrell also is aware of his competitors, and he has noted that his team tends to hold a little faster pace than some of the teams in the places just ahead of him. Tyrell hopes that this fact will hold true in the last leg of the race and allow him to catch at least one of the teams leaving Wolverine ahead of him. He sent lightweight boots to Wolverine in his supply bags so that he could run and help the team in this last 51 miles. Further back in the field, many mushers are running very conservative schedules. As discussed in the first update, this may be due in part to the potentially slow and difficult trail conditions expected in the race. However, many mushers are likely to be following slower strategies as part of a plan to utilize the Copper Basin 300 as a training run more than an actual race. An important thing for Iditarod mushers to keep in mind is that the finish line is in Nome, and that racing hard in earlier races can have an impact on a team's performance in the Iditarod. The first and second place teams (Zack Steer and Lance Mackey) should be arriving at the finish line in Glenallen sometime about when this update is posted to the web. We'll have more as Tyrell finishes the race and has a chance to report in to us back here at the kennel.
Update
1: The Race is On--Saturday, January 11, 2003 After spending Friday making final preparations for the race, 44 mushers started the 14th running of the Copper Basin 300 at 10 AM this morning. Ultimate Iditarod's Tyrell Seavey was the ninth musher out of the starting line. The first leg of the race takes mushers from the starting line at Glenallen, Alaska, northeast to the village of Chistochina. At "Chisto," mushers are required to rest four hours plus their start time differential. Many mushers will likely rest up to six hours at Chisto before making the long and difficult run to Summit Lake, about 70 miles north. This run includes a very tough series of hills over relatively primitive trails and is one of the most challenging of the entire race. Four and a half feet of snow cover much of the race course, promising to make the race slow and difficult for many of the teams. The deep snows will be especially challenging for teams that have experienced poor snow conditions thus far in this season's training. For these teams, longer and more frequent rest stops may be necessary to keep the dogs' energy levels up. This may include an extended rest on the trail between Chisto and Summit Lake. For the moment, teams are arriving in Chisto and getting the clock started on their mandatory rests. We'll have more as the race progresses.
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Ultimate
Iditarod's 
The
teams running in the top ten places seemed to follow two different
strategies concerning these mandatory rests. Some teams opted to
take their eight hour mandatory rest at the Water's Edge (Summit Lake)
checkpoint. This decision was likely influenced by the challenging
70-mile run from Chistochina to Water's Edge as well as the desire to
take longer rests earlier in the race so as to maintain a high energy
level in the team as far into the race as possible. Lance Mackey,
Jason Mackey, David Dalton, and Paul Gebhardt all followed this
plan. These mushers all ran directly from Water's Edge to
Sourdough (about 70 miles) and took their six hour rest there.
