2009 Iditarod

[gracelhink]

Mackey probably just won the race on that last leg. Everybody else stopped on the trail between Ophir and Itidarod for a 4 to 5 hour rest - he went right through. He then rested at Iditarod for over 6 hours, and by the time anybody else left, he had a lead of about 3 1/2 hours. I don't think anybody will catch him.

Place..Name....chkpoint departure...net deficit..recent mph...prev net deficit
1..Mackey......Iditarod.11:43 pm....0 h 00 m.......9.06.............1 h 15 m
2..Burmeister..Iditarod.03:10 am....3 h 27 m.......6.01.............0 h 00 m
3..Schnuelle...Iditarod.03:15 am....3 h 32 m.......5.86.............1 h 18 m
4..Seavey, M...Iditarod.03:59 am....4 h 16 m.......6.18.............3 h 11 m
5..Smyth, C....Iditarod.04:23 am....4 h 40 m.......5.24.............4 h 36 m
6..Neff........Iditarod.04:25 am....4 h 42 m.......5.80.............0 h 29 m
7..Gebhardt....Iditarod.04:25 am....4 h 42 m.......4.87.............3 h 36 m
8..King........Iditarod.xx:xx am....x h xx m.......6.17.............1 h 49 m

Incredible that Mackey is in the lead and traveling at an mph so much faster than the field!

 

[BB73]

Incredible that Mackey is in the lead and traveling at an mph so much faster than the field!

That time difference is almost all because he went straight through for the 90 miles, and everybody else stopped at a cabin or campsite on the trail for a few hours.

 

[Piney]

Incredible that Mackey is in the lead and traveling at an mph so much faster than the field!

It isn't like he is traveling faster. He just isn't resting. Cuz the mph numbers are figured by how long it takes you to go to Point A to Point B, not by how fast you are really going.

Example - You drive 75 MPH from Cleveland to Columbus but stop to eat for 30 minutes. Well, your MPH dropped because you were going 0 MPH for 30 minutes.

Mackey probably just won the race on that last leg. Everybody else stopped on the trail between Ophir and Itidarod for a 4 to 5 hour rest - he went right through. He then rested at Iditarod for over 6 hours, and by the time anybody else left, he had a lead of about 3 1/2 hours. I don't think anybody will catch him.

Too lazy to look, how much of the race is left? Cuz Sooner or later Mackey will have to rest to make up for going straight through versus resting on the trail like the other guys. You would think the mushers behind him would eventually not rest on the trail to try to catch up.

 

[BB73]

Too lazy to look, how much of the race is left? Cuz Sooner or later Mackey will have to rest to make up for going straight through versus resting on the trail like the other guys. You would think the mushers behind him would eventually not rest on the trail to try to catch up.

There's still about half the race to go. Mackey just rested over 6 hours at Iditarod, so it's not like the other teams are much fresher. There's an 8-hour stop that everybody must take at one of the next few stops along the Yukon River, and that will help even up how rested/tired everybody and their dogs are.

People will catch him while he's resting, but I'll be surprised if anybody gets a 'real' lead on Mackey from here on out.

 

[gracelhink]

That time difference is almost all because he went straight through for the 90 miles, and everybody else stopped at a cabin or campsite on the trail for a few hours.

the mph numbers are figured by how long it takes you to go from Point A to Point B, not by how fast you are really going.

Thank you guys for explaining to this noob, how "recent MPH" is calculated. I guess my idea that they used a sattelite with a radar gun shooting the field like at Nascar wouldn't really work in the Arctic regions.

 

[BB73]

Mackey just went through the next checkpoint and didn't rest. He's stringing two of them together in another 90-mile run. Unless he and/or his team 'hit the wall', there won't be much suspense in the last couple of days of this race.

 

[LitlBuck]

Mackey just went through the next checkpoint and didn't rest. He's stringing two of them together in another 90-mile run. Unless he and/or his team 'hit the wall', there won't be much suspense in the last couple of days of this race.

Question: is a musher, if he is on a good stretch, is he better to keep on going or stop for a rest. I guess quite a bit of that type of thinking would depend upon how well he knew his dogs but are there good stretches of land and bad stretches However saying that, you would think that all the drivers would know the good stretches.

 

[BB73]

Question: is a musher, if he is on a good stretch, is he better to keep on going or stop for a rest. I guess quite a bit of that type of thinking would depend upon how well he knew his dogs but are there good stretches of land and bad stretches However saying that, you would think that all the drivers would know the good stretches.

The trail can be affected by weather more than anything else. I think they normally go as far as they and their dogs can go without getting over-tired. But they have to plan where to take their rest stops, and figure out how to make long runs between those. They have to take 1 24-hour rest somewhere along the course, 1 8-hour rest at one of the checkpoints on the Yukon River (the leaders are in that stretch right now), and 1 mandatory 8-hour stretch at White Mountain, which is 55 miles from the finish line. The race makes them stop there in order to prevent anybody from over-running their team at the end of the race in a desperate effort to inprove their finish.

 

[BB73]

Mackey is 1 stop ahead of the rest of the field. He's now resting at Anvik, which is 25 miles ahead of Shageluk. His lead looks to be at least 5 hours, but it's hard to tell until the other guys leave Shageluk.

edit - the lead is 8 hours, and it's real

Place..Name....chkpoint departure...net deficit..recent mph...prev net deficit
1..Mackey......Shageluk.07:43 am....0 h 00 m.......8.26 (into Shag).0 h 00 m
2..King........Shageluk.03:55 pm....8 h 12 m.......8.39.............5 h 17 m
3..Schnuelle...Shageluk.04:02 pm....8 h 19 m.......8.32.............3 h 32 m
4..Burmeister..Shageluk.04:03 pm....8 h 20 m.......8.04.............3 h 27 m
5..Seavey, M...Shageluk.xx:xx pm....x h xx m.......8.37.............4 h 16 m
6..Neff........Shageluk.xx:xx pm....x h xx m.......7.43.............4 h 42 m

 

[BB73]

Mackey took his 8-hour stop at Anvik, which allowed King and a couple of other guys to get ahead of him on the trail. When they leave a checkpoint after taking their 8-hour stop, though, they should find themselves at least 5 hours behind Mackey. Seavey took his 8-hour in Shageluk, he's realistically about an hour behind King. Tema travel noticeably faster right after a mandatory rest period.

Place..Name....chkpoint departure...net deficit..recent mph..prev net deficit..8-Hr-Taken?
1..Mackey......Anvik....08:12 pm....0 h 00 m.......5.58...........0 h 00 m.....Yes, Anvik
2..King........Anvik....07:45 pm....5 h 00 m (est).6.73...........5 h 17 m.....No
3..Schnuelle...Anvik....07:47 pm....5 h 02 m (est).6.70...........3 h 32 m.....No
4..Burmeister..Anvik....07:48 pm....5 h 03 m (est).6.70...........3 h 27 m.....No
5..Seavey, M...Shageluk.07:47 pm... 6 h 00 m (est).8.37...........4 h 16 m.....Yes, Shageluk

 

[BB73]

Schnuelle and Burmeister have yet to take their 8-hour stop, so when they do that, they'll lose a couple of hours to the other guys. Neff made up some time, but he'll need a rest on the trail between Grayling and Eagle Island, since he didn't stop in Anvik. It's possible that nobody will see Mackey again until they make it to White Mtn for the last 8-hour stop, shortly before Mackey heads off for the final 55-mile stretch. But that's at least 3 days away.

Place..Name....chkpoint departure...net deficit..recent mph..prev net deficit..8-Hr-Taken?
1..Mackey......Grayling.10:55 pm....0 h 00 m.......6.84...........0 h 00 m.....Yes, Anvik
2..Schnuelle...Grayling.03:05 am....4 h 10 m.......6.35...........5 h 00 (est).No
3..Burmeister..Grayling.03:07 am....4 h 12 m ......6.35...........5 h 02 (est).No
4..Neff........Grayling.03:18 am... 4 h 23 m ......6.35...........6 h 00 (est).Yes, Shageluk
5..Seavey, M...Grayling.05:39 am... 6 h 44 m ......6.59...........6 h 00 (est).Yes, Shageluk
6..King........Grayling.06:35 am....7 h 40 m ......6.67...........5 h 00 (est).Yes, Anvik

 

[Oh8ch]

When Mackey falls asleep on his sled while enroute does he get credit for a stop?

 

[BB73]

OK, these standings are apples and apples. All of the leaders have taken their location-optional rest stops, and they all stopped for between 4 and 8 hours in Eagle Island, the most recent checkpoint, so nobody has much of an advantage with a significantly fresher team. The next two legs are fairly long ones to Kaltag and to Unalakleet, from which point they loop around the corner of Norton Sound to head for Nome.

It's too bad that Mackey is so dominating. The next 5 guys are trading spots, and are all within 80 minutes of each other, but they're all 4 to 5 hours behind Mackey.

Place..Name....chkpoint departure...net deficit..recent mph..prev net deficit..last good rest
1..Mackey......EagleIsl.03:48 pm....0 h 00 m.......6.23...........0 h 00 m.....7 hrs, Eagle Island
2..Neff........EagleIsl.07:27 pm... 3 h 39 m ......5.95...........4 h 23 m.....6 hrs, Eagle Island
3..Seavey, M...EagleIsl.07:32 pm... 3 h 44 m ......6.63...........6 h 44 m.....5 hrs, Eagle Island
4..King........EagleIsl.07:59 pm....4 h 11 m ......6.41...........7 h 40 m.....4 hrs, Eagle Island
5..Schnuelle...EagleIsl.08:32 pm....4 h 44 m.......6.35...........4 h 10 m.....8 hrs, Eagle Island
6..Burmeister..EagleIsl.08:47 pm....4 h 59 m ......6.21...........4 h 12 m.....8 hrs, Eagle Island

 

[Oh8ch]

If I am reading the standings correctly Schnuelle has closed the gap to an honest two hours.


(And BTW, for any baseball fans, this is a thread about dog sled racing. The steroids thread you are you are looking for is titled "IdiotARod".)

 

[BB73]

If I am reading the standings correctly Schnuelle has closed the gap to an honest two hours.


(And BTW, for any baseball fans, this is a thread about dog sled racing. The steroids thread you are you are looking for is titled "IdiotARod".)

He's going to have to stop before reaching the next checkpoint, and I don't believe Mackey will. He was over 5 hours behind getting into Kaltag, he just didn't take a rest there. That'll catchup to him, so I think that Mackey still has a 'real' lead of 4 hours.

It gets a little tricky to know the real gap at this point. Many guys rest just before they get to Unalakleet, and then blow right through there. Based on what I've seen in past years, the 'real' time difference will show up in the departure time from Unalakleet, and not the arrival time there.

For those of you wondering about Oh8ch's sleeping on the sled comment about Mackey:

adn.com

On the short, 25-mile jump from the tiny village of Shageluk over to this community on the banks of the Yukon River, Mackey fell asleep on the runners of his dog sled. The result was that his team got lost. He figured it out when he woke up and had to make them turn around to retrace their steps.

"Not cool,'' said the 38-year-old musher from Fairbanks. "I broke their spirit.''

What should have been a 2 1/2-hour jaunt between the villages to meet a welcoming crowd in Anvik became a 4 1/2-hour march. The only good part for Mackey, who has won the race the last two years, and his team was that they still arrived here first.

...

"Those boys are going to be coming through here soon,'' Mackey said. "I don't know if I've busted away from the pack at all. I'm sitting here by myself, but that don't mean squat."

By supper time, word had spread that the 53-year-old King was close to the village. Mackey waited for him outside the checkpoint, holding a cup of coffee heated in a microwave. The time was 7:36 p.m. Mackey had about 36 minutes to serve on that mandatory eight-hour stop.

"I can't just stand here and pass coffee to (King),'' he said, handing the cup off to another. "Just tell him it's from me, and that I didn't put laxatives in it. But I wanted to.''

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