Day 8: Baker pulls into Shaktoolik at midafternoon

Iditarod leader John Baker pulled into Shaktoolik at 2:44 p.m. Sunday afternoon in command of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Just 230 miles of racing down the Seward Peninsula remains until mushers reach the finish line on Nome’s Front Street.

Five other mushers have left Unalakleet giving chase — Hans Gatt of Whitehorse at 12:21 p.m., Ramey Smyth of Willow at 12:54 p.m., Sebastian Schnuelle of Whitehorse at 1:06 p.m., Hugh Neff of Tok at 1:08 p.m. and Ray Redington Jr. of Wasilla at 2 p.m.

Baker averaged 7.6 mph on the 40-mile run from Unalakleet to Shaktoolik, making it unlikely anyone will be able to substantially cut his three-hour lead.

John Baker pulls out of Unalakleet this morning in first place. (Bob Hallinen)

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Ramy Smyth leaves Unalakleet in 3rd, meets Reality TV star on way out

Smyth leaves Unalakleet behind Gatt; meets reality TV star

Ramey Smyth, of Willow, talks with Ariel Tweto, of the Discovery Channel's "Flying Wild Alaska" as Smyth prepares to leave Unalakleet.

From Kyle Hopkins in Unalakleet --

1:10 p.m. Ramey Smyth just left town in third place, now chasing both John Baker and behind Hans Gatt, who left well ahead of him.

Gatt left at 12:21 p.m., followed by Smyth 33 minutes later. Sebastian Schnuelle and Hugh Neff are out too, leaving two minutes apart just after 1 p.m.

Smyth dropped one dog here -- "she was tired," he said -- and now has 11 in harness.

Before leaving he checked his watch and chatted with Ariel Tweto, the former Unalakleet resident whose family now stars in the Discovery Channel show "Flying Wild Alaska."

"I'm either going to bomb out or win, one or the other," he told her.

Gatt, meanwhile, had one of the best-looking teams in Unalakleet this morning, said Iditarod veteran Aaron Burmeister.

Gatt may say there's no way he can catch Baker, but "Hans says that every year," Burmeister said.

He predicts Gatt will have to try and gain on Baker now, while Smyth will challenge the leader after Elim.

"(Gatt) is starting to race from here," Burmeister said.

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11:30 p.m. Second-place Ramey Smyth of Willow is walking casually to the checkpoint building, still in the process of trading his wood and blue-canvas sled for a slightly lighter model.

Bystanders wonder why he's not moving faster to hit the trail and give chase to Baker. One theory from the peanut gallery here in Unalakleet: He's gambling on decent rests to give him the pure speed he needs to overtake Baker, who has been resting shorter.

“So far I haven’t had to cut rest too much, because They (the dogs) have been a little bit faster than John," Smyth told me this morning. "We actually rested more than he did the last couple checkpoints.”

In the late morning sun, Smyth's eyes darted around his camp.

"Where the hell is my parka?" he asked.

A moment later he spied it covering one his dogs, Zeus.

The Iditarod GPS tracker shows Baker already 18 miles up the trail.

But Smyth is known among his fellow mushers for the ability to hit the afterburners.

(Smyth) is super hardworking behind the sled," Schnuelle said. “He never stops kicking or poling.”

Here's a little more from the scene this morning in Kaltag, where it's been warm enough to take notes without my gloves and the checkpoint smells like bacon:

Asked if he thought he had any chance of catching Baker, Neff said, “I’m not going to push it. Put it that way.”

“Basically I’m going to keep tagging along with these guys and see how their teams hold up,” he said.

One thing to keep in mind when listening to the mushers talk about their chances and plans: They can be sneaky.

One competitor told Neff he was leaving Kaltag at a given time, and ducked out an hour earlier, Neff said.

Meantime, John Baker's brother Baker stood among the crowd wearing one of the musher's trademark blue "Team Baker" caps.

“It’s been an interesting race … when Martin Buser started making the push," Andy Baker said. "That was scary because Martin is so tough and on a fast trail, he’s able to go.”

Baker is Inupiaq and one of the few Alaska Native mushers who compete in the Iditarod. A wide fan base follows him in Western Alaska, where he talks to school kids in the northwest and North Slope about having goals and working hard, Andy Baker said.

“That really sums him up. His steadfast focus on pushing forward,” he said.

Schnuelle, Gatt eating breakfast; Smyth ready for wake up

10:10 a.m. update: Ramey Smyth is still sleeping in one of the tiny bedrooms inside the checkpoint building as Schnuelle and Gatt eat bacon and pancakes.

Volunteers were told to wake Smyth about now.

I haven't talked to a musher yet -- besides Smyth -- who is talking about being able to catch Baker.

"I think John's got a pretty legitimate shot at taking the crown," Tok musher Hugh Neff told Ray Redington's mother this morning.

Neff said he's "tagging along" with the frontrunners. "I'm not going to push it. ... see how their teams hold up."

Neff arrived behind Whitehorse musher Sebastian Schnuelle, who said the only way he's been able to stay at the front of the pack is by resting even less than usual.

“I have tons of horsepower, but I don’t have speed. I don’t have a team which has a second gear," Schnuelle said.

As Baker left the checkpoint, third-place Hans Gatt watched silently, one hand on each of his sleds.

He's trading his heavier ride for a lighter sled for the trek up the Norton Sound coast.

Mitch Seavy in Unalakleet

Baker leaves Unalakleet with strong lead

9:15 a.m. update: Race leader John Baker pulled out of Unalakleet a little after 9 a.m.

Both Hans Gatt and Sebastian Schnuelle said this morning that they don't think they can catch him.

More soon.

8:20 a.m. update:
Ramey Smyth was surprised to see Hans Gatt arrive in third place at the checkpoint. He thought it was another Whitehorse musher -- Sebastian Schnuelle -- who had been chasing him into the village.

Smyth said the first 15 miles of trail out of Kaltag had been chewed apart and felt like "square marbles."

Mainly though, he was struggling to stay awake. The musher tied himself to his sled with a neckline in case he fell asleep.

Who is his main competition.

"John and Hans and Sebastian are all awesome," he said. "Hans has an incredibly fast team. Sebastian has an incredibly steady, endurant one. John has got to be one of the toughest drivers out there."

Baker was awake and feeding dogs when Gatt arrived.

ORIGINAL POST:

John Baker arrived here at 5 this morning, eating a breakfast of pancakes and bacon across from a recovering Mitch Seavey as volunteers watched Ramey Smyth approach on the GPS tracker.

Baker, who said his dogs look strong, said he planned to stay five or six hours. There's no wake up time posted for him on the checkpoint wall.

The Kotzebue musher joked he might leave a little earlier to get some breathing room from his buddies -- presumably a nod to Seavey and Iditarod veteran Aaron Burmeister, who are now analyzing the race.

"The trail has been well marked and it's been really nice trail coming over here," Baker said.

He's replaced leaders Summit and Sonar -- who were bumbling and "take any trail they want to" -- with Snickers and Velvet, he said. All four dogs are Iditarod veterans.

Seavey, his finger saved by a surgeon after severely cutting it earlier in the race, watched Baker arrive.

"I don't see how John could be happier with his team," he said, his hand wrapped in a thick bandage.

Baker indicated he wishes his dogs were a little faster, Seavey said.

Mushers all along the trail over the past couple of days have been talking about Smyth's ability to sprint and catch up to you when it counts most.

"(He) is legendary for being able to reel in teams at the end. I've been one of those once or twice," he said.

Meantime, I asked Baker if he's feeling any pressure to deliver a hometown win as an Alaska Native musher from Western Alaska after four years of victories by Lance Mackey of Fairbanks.

He's not thinking about that, he said. "It's tough enough getting a dog team down the trail."

Burmeister, who finished seventh in the 2009 Iditarod, said Baker's move to cut rest in Eagle Island and Kaltag could dampen the speed of competitors like Smyth.

"For a fast team to stay fast, they need rest," he said.
One of John Baker's dog in Kaltag. (Bob Hallinen)