2009 Iditarod

[BB73]

Who wins the dogsled race to Nome?

The race starts on Saturday, but the bet will remain open until Monday afternoon.

For those wondering, these odds are mine.

 

[BUCKYLE]

I still get emails from signing up to Iditarod News two years ago to track my bets.

 

[BB73]

Here's a link to the current standings. The race will take another week, but the vBet is open for a couple more hours.

The order of the standings can be deceiving.

Current Standings

 

[LitlBuck]

Just exactly who would be the favorite to win this race since my Huskies were overfed the past couple months.

 

[BB73]

Mackey and King have finished 1-2 the last two years. King has won it 4 times, as has Buser. Swenson has won it 5 times, but not since '91.

Seavey won it once, in 2004.

 

[OSUsushichic]

The Globe has some fantastic pics:

Dog sledding - The Big Picture - Boston.com

 

[jwinslow]

Beards dominating the top-5

and not to be outdone:

 

[BB73]

The Globe has some fantastic pics:

Dog sledding - The Big Picture - Boston.com

That first one belongs in the All about the Eyes" thread.

OK, that makes me sound like I have a thing for dogs. But really, there's no truth to the rumor that before my first trip to Alaska I was thin, but came back a husky fucker.

I wasn't very thin before I went.

 

[Oh8ch]

Don't let the standings fool you. Mackey and King are the rabbit and the tortoise.

 

[Piney]

I just wish I didn't tie up all of my Vcash in the Final 4 bet. While King or Mackey will most likely win, gotta put the little cash I have on the longer odds.

Plus Sebastian's beard just rocks!

 

[LitlBuck]

I just wish I didn't tie up all of my Vcash in the Final 4 bet. While King or Mackey will most likely win, gotta put the little cash I have on the longer odds.

Plus Sebastian's beard just rocks!

Now you tell me about Mackey after I mirrored some of your bets because I thought you knew what you were doing:(

 

[BB73]

Sebastian has the de facto lead leaving the last checkpoint. He left 5 minutes after Gebhardt, but he'll make up 38 minutes on him when they take their 24-hour rests at one of the stops on the Yukon River.

They stagger the start 2 minutes apart for each musher, in order of their bib numbers, so until they've taken their 24-hour rests, the guy farthest along the course may not be the actual leader in elapsed time. when they take the '24-hour' rest, only the last musher to start the race (bib #67) waits only 24 hours. Everybody else waits 24 hours + (2 minutes times (67 - bib number), in order to offset the staggered start.

They also need to take an 8-hour stop at a checkpoint of their choosing, so whether or not they've taken the rest stops also factors in to who's actually leading the race over the next 3 or 4 days.

 

[BB73]

Schnuele was first in to Nokolai, but Neff showed up 1 minute later, and will make up 42 minutes when the '24-hour' rests are taken (see previous post). But Schnuele apparently rested for 4 or 5 hours en route, and Neff didn't, so Schnuele should depart a couple hours before Neff.

Gebhardt is 34 minutes behind Schnuele (and he'll lose another 38 minutes at the 24-hour rest), so he's over an hour behind, and also rested en route.

 

[BB73]

Time for another update. It looks to me like it's shaping up as a 6-man race at this point.

There are currently 9 mushers in Takotna. The first 3 haven't won the race before, and the next 3 guys have won it a total of 8 times, and had a faster time over the last 2 legs of the race. The last 3 into Takotna are already at least 3 hours behind the leaders and aren't moving fast enough.

They all went without resting for 9 or 10 hours before reaching Takotna, so they should all rest between 4 and 6 hours before leaving. I don't think anybody will stop at Ophir, the next checkpoint (only a 25 mile leg), but almost all of them will rest on the trail (cabin or campsite) before they reach the town of Iditarod, which is 90 miles past Ophir.

Place..Name....arrival at chkpoint..bib#-diff...net deficit..recent mph...prev net deficit
1..Burmeister..Takotna..02:44 am.....56...00....0 h 00 m.......5.97.............n/a
2..Neff........Takotna..03:03 am.....55...02....0 h 21 m.......5.84.............n/a
3..Schnuelle...Takotna..03:14 am.....34...44....1 h 18 m.......6.07.............n/a
4..Mackey......Takotna..04:00 am.....47...18....1 h 34 m.......6.71.............n/a
5..King........Takotna..04:21 am.....41...30....2 h 07 m.......6.63.............n/a
6..Seavey, M...Takotna..04:45 am.....21...70....3 h 11 m.......6.97.............n/a
7..Gebhardt....Takotna..04:58 am.....15...82....3 h 36 m.......5.32.............n/a
8..Andersen,B..Takotna..05:21 am.....18...76....3 h 53 m.......7.01.............n/a
9..Baker.......Takotna..06:31 am.....44...24....4 h 11 m.......5.78.............n/a


edit - It appears that all of the top guys are currently taking their '24-hour' rest in Takotna. Buser has now left Takotna, but he arrived over 11 hours after the leader, so he should be a non-factor in the race, and I won't track of anybody else going ahead of the leaders unless I see that somebody's within 4 hours of the leaders after he takes his own '24-hour' rest. After somebody takes his '24-hour' rest, the 'diff' column behind the bib# will go to zero, and will no longer affect the net deficit.

 

[Oh8ch]

Of those listed Mackey is the only one with 16 dogs.