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By Gwen Holdman
I am in White Mountain, after flying over here as a last minute decision when a spot opened up on a Bering Air flight. I had originally hoped to rent a snowmachine and come out here, but I am having some trouble getting one this year. So when the opportunity came up to fly out here, I threw all my things in a bag and headed straight to the airport.
It’s nice being closer to the action, and the snow crab we had tonight which were fresh out of a crab pot in Elim was not a bad perk, either.
I was a little concerned when Ken did not materialize in Koyuk after the 7 hours it took Lance Mackey and Jeff King to get there. When he didn’t come in after 8 and 9 hours, I was really concerned. When Martin, Ramey and Hans arrived with no sign of Ken, I finally asked the checkers here to call Koyuk and ask those mushers if they had seen him on the trail. The response was that Ken had just arrived and everything seemed OK.
Obviously, he had decided to camp enroute. I thought he might continue on, given that he had taken some rest on the trail, but he and the others elected to camp. It seems like the going was pretty tough.
I finally sent a message to Koyuk and asked him to call me in White Mountain, which he did, right after he woke up so he was pretty groggy. He said he pulled over for about 2-1/2 hours at a shelter cabin just before he crossed Norton Sound. The going was tough and it was hot.
His sled was dragging hard and he felt he needed to change his runner plastic. He also mentioned that while all 15 of his dogs lead, none of them wanted to set a decent pace and he spent a lot of time trying different leaders combinations. He said he felt he had that problem solved as he has settled on Okayo and Jango as his go-to leaders at this stage in the game. He said all the dogs were still healthy and eating well and he didn’t anticipate dropping anyone, although he hadn’t gone back outside to check on them. Our conversation was brief, and it sounded like he was planning to leave relatively soon.
At the front of the race, Lance and Jeff just pulled into Elim three minutes apart and look like they are staying for awhile. It is great being right in the middle of things here in White Mountain, sitting right across the table from the com guy Mike. At least there is no delay in knowing what is going on.
Jeff really likes to bring a healthy, happy string of dogs to Nome and I know this is why he won’t sometimes engage in really long, energy-sapping runs on the coast. An example is last year, where he basically just let Lance and Paul Gebhardt walk away, refusing to engage in a battle of attrition. However, he is allowing Lance to catch up on rest, and it seems Lance may also be regaining some speed as well.
I would be nervous about letting Lance and his team get too rested – he is still dangerous and most definitely still in contention. At this point, we don’t expect to see them here in White Mountain until about 9 a.m. That’s a little later than I originally thought. You can bet they will be racing hard coming in here.
With the mandatory 8-hour layover, if either one is able to gain a significant advantage on this next leg, it will translate to a head start on the last push into Nome.
As far as Ken and the race for 3rd place, he has given up his slight advantage and is now in the thick of a very competitive pack. It’s going to be a battle for 3rd place.
I am really surprised to see no one else out of Elim yet – it really must be a tough slog out there for no one to try and grab the lead. Ken and co. have been resting there for over four hours now. Tomorrow will certainly be an interesting day.
Thank to Dick Benoit and his company Sustainable Solutions based in Reno, NV, for sponsoring Okayo for the second year in a row in the 2008 Iditarod. Dick has been to Alaska many times and is an avid outdoorman, and a good friend and mentor of mine. Okayo has really proven herslef this year as a top leader. Not only will she be leading Ken’s team out of Koyuk this morning (along with her sister Jango) but this duo was also the main leaders in Ken’s 2nd place Yukon Quest team just 3 short weeks ago.
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