Jr Iditarod Wrap-Up

It was an exciting race on the return route yesterday. In the end Kevin Harper crossed the finish line first. He's a veteran of the race, placing third last year behind Conway Seavey and Kevin's older brother Ben. The Harper brothers are not Alaska natives but have taken to the mushing life very well. Residing in Wasilla, they have worked with Ray Redington Jr. (grandson on Joe Redington and entrant in Yukon Quest this year and slated also to run the Iditarod.). He's a serious contended and a good coach for budding mushers. Photo credit of Kevin, shown with his brother, to the Jr Iditarod website.

Just two minutes behind Kevin was Jimmy Lanier who I mentioned in my last post. That's the same distance behind that Aliy Zirkle was when Dallas Seavey beat her into Nome last year. But in races, even seconds can count. This 132 mile race is much faster that the big one, but still a challenge. Kevin and Jimmy's average speed was over 11 mph--that is moving right along, about the pace of a horse at a brisk trot or slow lope or canter! So new champions come and go and perhaps future endurance racers have had their first serious taste or a refresher of the excitement of high-speed mushing. I wish all the kids well and hope some will be competing in the future. We need more new names and faces coming along to pick up behind today's contenders, many of whom are no longer young!

Now it's on to the main event, just a few days away. On the SP Kennel site, the hectic schedule for this week has been posted. It's a small advantage for the Red and Black teams and their drivers to be pretty close to home for the start this time so they can sleep in their own houses and beds the night before the race which will start around 10:00 a.m. in Fairbanks with teams heading out about two minutes apart. Bib numbers--and corresponding start order--won't be known until the musher's banquet the night before the ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday. I'll share as soon as I find out! And also a few of the dogs that will be running in each team. I got my annual race book yesterday and a few extra copies that I ordered which I intend to give to the major donors on my Go Fund Me page as a very small thank you.

I did notice that Martin Buser and Deedee Jonrowe are both slated to run; I think they hold the respective gender records for the most completions of the race, both in the area of 30 times or more! That is incredible!! I met Martin and spoke with Deedee a couple of times by phone and admire them both hugely. I certainly wish them a good race--although I still am rooting for Aliy to win this time! However she will have some very tough competition from some win-hungry racers--several men with four wins each who want to equal the five-win record held only by Rick Swenson to date.  Time will tell!!