6:40 p.m. Monday update
The blistering pace of Iditarod’s first 36 hours didn’t cool much as the sun faded behind the Alaska Range Monday night, but the musher leading the race was a surprise.
Robert Bundtzen of Anchorage parked his 16 dogs in Rohn at 5:17 p.m. Monday at the front of the 62-musher field.
How fast is that Bundtzen’s pace to the abandoned cabin about 200 miles into the 1,000-mile marathon to Nome?
In last year’s race, the second fastest Iditarod ever, Sebastian Schnuelle was first into Rohn at 6:52 p.m. And during Martin Buser’s victory in a race record 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes in 2002, he arrived in Rohn at 7:25 p.m. Monday.
Of course, the race has just begun and hundreds of rugged miles with unpredictable weather remain.
He’s not the only one going fast.
Four-time defending champion Lance Mackey came in 18 minutes later — and immediately left, headed towards the Farewell Burn. Paul Gebhardt of Kasilof and Ray Redington of Wasilla arrived in Rohn moments after Mackey.
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4 p.m. Monday update
Five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson is considering his options after a physician's assistant confirmed that he appeared to have broken his collarbone.
Five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson is considering his options after a physician's assistant confirmed that he appeared to have broken his collarbone.
Swenson was injured when he crashed on the Happy Valley River steps leading into Rainy Pass. He's considering a couple options, ADN reporter Kyle Hopkins reports from Rainy Pass.
One possibility is that he'll scratch.
He's also considering dropping four dogs and running with a 12-dog team, Kyle reported. After mushers leave the Rainy Pass checkpoint at Puntilla Lake comes the actual Rainy Pass -- the highest point on the trail. And after the pass comes the Dalzell Gorge, a perilous downhill ride. The thinking is that with less horsepower, Swenson might be able to hang onto his sled despite the bad shoulder.
Swenson also might declare his 24-hour layover in Rainy Pass and decide on Tuesday whether to scratch or keep racing, Kyle reported.
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3 p.m. Monday update
Rick Swenson suspects he broke a collarbone in a crash today on the Happy River Valley steps leading into Rainy Pass and is deciding whether to stay in the race or scratch.
The 60-year-old Swenson, the race's only five-time champion, has limited range of motion in the shoulder, ADN reporter Kyle Hopkins reports from Rainy Pass.
Meanwhile, four-time champion Martin Buser arrived at Rainy Pass with only 11 dogs after five got loose on the trail from Finger Lake. After about 30 minutes, two of the dogs wandered into the checkpoint on their own and the other three hitched a ride with musher Ken Anderson.
"Apparently he got in a tangle with Newton Marshall out there in a real narrow section of the trail and he undid some dogs to get out of the tangle and the whole thing kind of popped loose and the dogs took off,'' race judge John Anderson said.
Officials couldn't officially check Buser into the checkpoint until the missing dogs arrived. When they did, Buser checked and checked out in a hurry.
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Bundtzen bolts from Rainy Pass
1:45 p.m. Monday update
Anchorage musher Robert Bundtzen zipped through Rainy Pass early this afternoon, hitting the trail to Rohn ahead of everyone else.
Bundtzen, 61, checked in at 12:54 p.m. and left three minutes later. Still at the checkpoint was Lance Mackey, who was first to arrive at 8:08 a.m. but is resting his team for several hours.
Bundtzen was the ninth musher to reach Rainy Pass. His team made the 30-mile run from Finger Lake at an average speed of 8.33 mph. Mackey's average speed was 9.33 mph; that's the fastest pace for that stretch by any of the mushers who have reached Rainy Pass.
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Jonrowe returns to Finger Lake checkpoint
12:15 p.m. Monday update
DeeDee Jonrowe logged some extra miles this morning when her team veered off the trail after leaving the checkpoint at Finger Lake, according to Iditarod officials.
Jonrowe, who is running 15 dogs after dropping one in Skwentna, was the 10th musher to leave Finger Lake this morning at 6:29.
But her team left the trail somewhere after Finger Lake, and after getting it back on the trail, Jonrowe decided to return to Finger Lake to rest her team.
She left for a second time at 10:55 a.m., race officials reported. Checkpoint statistics still list her earlier departure time, but don't expect her to reach Rainy Pass till midafternoon.
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Mackey plans to rest at Rainy Pass -- or so he says
11 a.m. Monday update
Iditarod officials report six mushers into the Rainy Pass checkpoint, but don’t expect the leader of that pack — four-time defending champion Lance Mackey — to lead the charge down the Dalzell Gorge anytime soon.
Mackey, who arrived at Rainy Pass with 16 dogs in harness at 8:08 a.m., told the Iditarod Insider that he plans to spend six to eight hours at the checkpoint.
Of course, this being the Iditarod, mushers sometimes indicate they plan to do one thing, only to do another. Remember Mackey's fake nap in Elim back in the 2009 race, when he broke away from Jeff King?
At any rate, a six-hour rest would put Mackey back on the trail shortly after 2 this afternoon, giving him a few hours of daylight to negotiate the treacherous Dalzell Gorge that awaits mushers when they leave Puntilla Lake, the site of the Rainy Pass checkpoint.
On the run from Rainy Pass to Rohn, mushers go over actual Rainy Pass, which at 3,771 feet is the highest point in the race. The 48-mile run to Rohn, which includes a steep drop into the gorge, has busted its share of sleds, bones and dreams over the years.
Ray Redington Jr. reached Rainy Pass at 8:32 a.m, 24 minutes behind Mackey.
Hugh Neff came in at 8:57, followed by Sebastian Schnuelle at 9:23 and Paul Gebhardt at 9:26. An hour later, at 10:28 a.m., Girdwood rookie Nicolas Petit arrived.
It was just above zero when Mackey arrived. Within minutes, his dogs were bedded down on straw in the shining sun, the Insider reported.
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Mackey first into Rainy Pass checkpoint
9 a.m. Monday
Lance Mackey is setting the early pace in the Iditarod, but contrary to GPS tracking of the race, he didn't blow past the trailsweeper on his way into Rainy Pass.
Mackey, the four-time champ, reached Rainy Pass at 8:08 this morning, according to a post by Iditarod officials on the race's Facebook page. But he didn't beat the trailsweep there.
"It appears that the location of the Rainy Pass checkpoint is off by about 9 miles. Lance arrived at Rainy at 0808 and has not left yet," according to race officials.
Mackey took the lead this morning on the 45-mile run from Skwentna to Finger Lake. He left Finger Lake at 4:55 a.m., 15 minutes ahead of Robert Bundtzen of Anchorage.
Bundtzen, a 61-year-old doctor, has fallen off the pace, if the GPS tracking is to be trusted. Ray Redington Jr. is now listed as the second-place musher, followed by a pair of mushers who took on last month's Yukon Quest, which battered teams and drivers with some of the worst weather in race history.
Hugh Neff, the leader of the Quest until his team stalled on Eagle Summit, where his race ended, was third out of Finger Lake and is still tracking as the No. 3 racer, and Sebastian Schnuelle, the runner-up in the Quest, is fourth.
Rainy Pass is 161 miles from Willow, where the race started on Sunday. Rohn, the next checkpoint, is 48 miles away.
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