Day 6: Neff hits the Yukon; nap attacks cost Buser

The ADN's Kyle Hopkins and Bob Hallinen are in Anvik, where Hugh Neff just hit the Yukon River and mushers seem to be talking about two things: the unexpectedly good trail from Iditarod to the Yukon River, and Martin Buser's nap attacks.

Buser said he kept nodding off during the 25-mile run from Shageluk to Anvik.

"He looked like a bobblehead," Mackey told Kyle. Mackey said he shouted to Buser as he passed him, yelling at him to wake up.

The naps proved costly. While most made the run from Shageluk to Anvik in 2.5 to 3.5 hours, Buser needed four.

Once in the lead by 90 minutes, he now trails by that much. Mackey said Buser's shot at victory is "done."

Mackey sounds like he's getting his gameface on, even though he's down to nine dogs.

He was the third driver to reach Anvik, 47 minutes behind Hugh Neff, who got there first. Kyle heard Mackey ask Neff to let him know when he plans to leave.

"I want to know so I can track you down," Mackey said.

Neff said the "funky yuppy food" dinner and cash he won as the first musher to arrive in the village is the first award he's ever won. In any sport.

"That's the funny part about being Hugh Neff," he said. "Everybody knows me. Everybody knows that I'm mister has-to-race-more-than-anybody-else every year. But I've never won anything."

Too bad the mandatory layover isn't 13 hours long instead of eight, he said. It would have been nice to burn some more daylight before returning to the trail.

Among the frontrunners, only Sebastian Schnuelle and Hans Gatt kept moving after reaching Anvik. Schnuelle reached Grayling, 18 miles away, at 10:48 this morning and Gatt arrived at 11:07. Both are still there, so it's likely they'll settle in for an eight-hour layover.

Gatt, who rested his team longer than most in Shageluk, the checkpoint before Anvik, made the run to Grayling much faster than Schnuelle. Gatt did it in 2 hours, 20 minutes and Schnuelle needed 2:52.

Meanwhile, Kyle reports that every musher he's talked to says the 90 miles of trail between Iditarod and Anvik were surprisingly good. Reports of deep snow left racers expecting much worse.

Friday, 11:30 a.m. update

Most of the iditarod's front-runners are taking eight-hour layovers in Anvik, including Hugh Neff, who used part of the time to savor a seven-course meal prepared for him by chefs of the Millennium Alaskan Hotel.

As the first musher to reach the Yukon River early this morning, Neff won the meal and $3,500 in one-dollar bills, served to him on a goldpan.

While eating, the Tok musher told the Iditarod Insider his motto for the race.

"My whole key for this race, I wrote it right here," he said, removing his ballcap and showing the bottom of the cap's bill, where the word "focus" was written in big black letters. "Focus, just focus. You know how scatterbrained and goofy I am, always just wanting to have fun. I just gotta focus."

Sebastian Schnuelle, seventh to arrive in Anvik, more than two hours behind Neff, was among those who didn't stick around in Anvik. He left after just four minutes at the checkpoint, telling the Iditarod Insider the only reason he didn't stay longer is he's low on food and booties. He didn't say, but he probably has a food drop awaiting him 18 miles away in Grayling.

Hans Gatt, eighth to arrive in Anvik and second to leave, had the fastest time on the 25-mile trip from Shageluk to Anvik. He did it in 2 hours, 20 minutes, more than 30 minutes faster than anyone else. He told the Iditarod Insider that his dogs enjoyed a long rest in Shageluk, a break Gatt was compelled to take to nurse some tired and sore feet on his team.

Eighth-place Ramey Smyth did the run from Shageluk in 3:22 and looked impressive coming in, driving an eager team of 15 dogs that didn't look ready to stop.

"Ramey Smyth has probably the most powerful-looking team coming in here," Iditarod Insider analyst Bruce Lee said in a video taped in Anvik. "It took two or three people just to get 'em parked. Ramey's never been here with a team this fresh."

Lee said that in recent years, the race has been a two- or three-man affair by the time leaders hit the Yukon. This year, all nine of those into Anvik could bid for the victory.

"This is the best front-end of the race I've ever seen," Lee said.

Among those still solidly in the front end of things is Lance Mackey, who is down to nine dogs but was the third driver to reach Anvik.

"Making the most of what you've got, right?" someone asked Mackey in video shot by the Iditarod Insider.

"I've been doing that all my life," Mackey replied. "This is nothing new."

Ellen Halverson rubs pink ointment onto her sled dog's feet at the Takotna checkpoint

Now it's Schnuelle in the lead

Friday, 8:30 a.m. update --

The Iditarod has a new leader.

Though he's running at a slower pace than several others who beat him to the first checkpoint on the Yukon River, Sebastian Schnuelle grabbed the lead by hitting the trail four minutes after he arrived in Anvik this morning.

Schnuelle reached Anvik at 7:52 -- more than two hours after Hugh Neff claimed the prize for being the first musher to reach the Yukon -- and took off at 7:56.

The next checkpoint is 18 miles ahead in Grayling.

Schnuelle's run time from Shageluk to Anvik, a 25-mile stretch, was 3 hours, 44 minutes. Neff made the trip in 3:21.

Buser slips to 5th

Friday, 8 a.m. update --
Martin Buser's speedy pace in the Iditarod has slowed.

The Big Lake musher and four-time champion was the fifth to reach Anvik this morning, arriving at 6:51 with 14 dogs.

The race leader on Wednesday and for much of Thursday, Buser trails current leader Hugh Neff of Tok by 85 minutes.

That's almost a 3-hour turnaround over the 180 miles of trail since Ophir. Buser was the first into Ophir on Wednesday, getting there 90 minutes ahead of Neff, who was the second to reach that checkpoint.

This morning, Buser hit Anvik 34 minutes after fourth-place Ray Redington Jr. Of the five mushers who have reached the checkpoint that begins a 148-mile stretch on the Yukon River, Buser had the slowest run from Shageluk by more than 30 minutes.

Of course, it's possible Buser stopped along the trail for a bit to rest his dogs.

Neff had the fastest time on the 25-mile run -- 3 hours, 21 minutes. Lance Mackey (third place) was next fastest at 3:25. Redington made it in 3:28, John Baker (second place) in 3:30 and Buser in 4:02.

Sonny Lindner, the 61-year-old whose best finish came 30 years ago when he claimed second place in the 1981, arrived at 7:30 a.m. in sixth place.

Neff hits the Yukon with Baker close behind

Day 6: Friday, 6 a.m. update --

Hugh Neff and a team of 12 sled dogs reached the Yukon River village of Anvik at 5:26 this morning, claiming $3,500, a seven-course gourmet meal and the lead of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

John Baker arrived in second place at 5:43.

The pair hail from opposite ends of Alaska. Neff is from Tok, near the Canadian border, and Baker is from Kotzebue on the coast of northwestern Alaska.

Pulling in with nine dogs, at 6:13 a.m., was Lance Mackey.

Neff led the race out of Shageluk, 25 miles before the river. He left there at 2:05, seven minutes ahead of Baker.

He expanded his lead over Baker to 17 minutes on the 25-mile run to Anvik.

For being the first musher to reach the Yukon, Neff wins a seven-course meal that will be prepared on campstoves by chefs from the Millennium Alaskan Hotel, which sponsors the checkpoint prize. The $3,500 is considered the after-dinner mint to the meal, presented on a goldpan.

A pair of mushers vying for a record-tying fifth championship left Shageluk in third and fourth place, separated by just two minutes. Mackey left at 2:46 and Martin Buser followed at 2:48.

Mushers spend the next 148 miles on the Yukon. The finish line in Nome is 507 miles away.