As the racers left Anchorage, everything looked to be going well for all the racers. Then, within the first day of actual racing, Mackey had to drop a bunch of dogs. Without the power of a full team, he fell in the standings. It was a crazy race, with unknown mushers coming out of nowhere to claim the lead and then fall back. Beautiful weather all along the route led to fast times between checkpoints. It was clear that this was going to be a race to keep an eye on.
As racer approached Elim, John Baker was in the lead, with Ramey Smyth right on his heels. Baker is an Inupiat Eskimo from the village on Kotzebue, on the north side of the Seward Peninsula. No one really saw him coming. He took his time for the majority of the race, but when he hit the Yukon River and then the coast, he took off. I had been watching the Iditarod website all weekend and knew that he was getting close. An announcement was made Monday morning at 8:35 that he was three miles out. So, we rounded up whatever kids we could find and headed down to cheer him in.
He stopped long enough to snack his dogs and let the vets check them out. He didn't even park his team.
He was passing out what looked to be frozen pieces of fish, but the bag said turkey, so I'm assuming that's what it was.
Yummy. The dogs loved it. They ate while the vets did their work, and then he was off again. Ramey Smyth was close behind, coming through less than an hour later.
I went down to the checkpoint after school. It was a beautiful day - clear blue skies, bright sun that actually felt warm on my face in spite of the frigid wind. There were a couple of teams there, resting in the warmth.
Hugh Neff's team.
I was keeping an eye on the website for the rest of the afternoon. I knew DeeDee Jonrowe was coming fast, and I wanted to see her come in. Right around 6:30, I headed down to the checkpoint, and was just in time to see her come in.
Her team came in pulling strong and looking healthy. She quickly got them bedded down while the vets went about their business quickly and efficiently.
Note the bright pink harnesses. Jonrowe is a breast cancer survivor. She started running dogs 30 years ago, fought and beat breast cancer about 5 years ago (running the Iditarod 4 weeks after her last chemo treatment), and came back to doing what she loves. It didn't even slow her down. She has run the Iditarod something like 27 times, finishing in the top 10 half of those times. That is what I call an inspirational woman!
I continued to watch the race closely, knowing that the two mushers in the lead were less than an hour apart. Mackey was way back; it was looking doubtful that he was even going to place in the top 20. He only had 8 dogs left and was moving pretty slowly.
As Tuesday dawned, Nome was ready to crown a new Iditarod champion. John Baker crossed the finish line early that morning, shattering the previously held record for fastest Iditarod time ever. As disappointing as it was to the old champion fall, the new champion couldn't be more worthy. He is the first native Eskimo to win the Iditarod since the 1970's. He is the first Inupiat Eskimo to win the Iditarod ever. Native drummers were on hand at the finish line to welcome him in. Ray Redington started the Iditarod so many years ago to bring attention to the fact that dog-sledding was becoming lost in the native villages. It was losing status as a vital part of life, and Mr. Redington wanted to preserve it. Having an Eskimo from a native village come from behind and take top honors - well, Mr. Redington would have been proud. The Iditarod was coming back to its roots, in a way. It's a proud moment for Kotzebue, and for Eskimos everywhere, really.
