Iditarod 53 - March 13 Discussion
Good evening Iditarod fans!
We are 10 days, 7 hours, and 2 minutes into this year's race. There are 23 teams on the trail. Two teams, Quince Mountain and Sydnie Bahl were withdrawn from the race by race officials for no longer remaining competitive (read: they were too slow on the trail or falling too far behind the main pack). Justin Olnes scratched from the race.
Jessie Holmes currently leads the race, and was first into White Mountain (mile 1057) three hours faster than the next best, Matt Hall. Jessie left WM at 4:54pm (it is currently 7:12pm as I write this), and he is currently at mile 1072. Hall has about 40 minutes until he is allowed to leave WM.
Jessie virtually has this race locked in and won, he just needs to clear the remaining 56 miles, which I suspect he can do in about 6-7 hours. I do not expect him to rest on his run to Nome. It's not unheard of, but given how good and rested he's looked the last few days, I don't see a need for him to risk it. The weather is clear, the air is cold, and from my point of view I don't expect anything to disturb his lead. The three hour lead he had on Hall from WM should be insurmountable, and leading up to WM Holmes was usually running faster it seemed anyway.
I'd expect a finish anywhere beginning around 1am AK time (4am central, 5am eastern). I also would not be surprised if the finish is 1-2 hours later than that as well. Jessie has the privilege of taking his time on his run to Nome.
The leading rookie right now is Samantha Lalonde (mile 882) followed by rookie Emily Ford (mile 868). They've been pretty close to one another the last couple days, so I'd expect one of the two to take rookie of the year (first rookie to finish).
This will likely be Hall's second consecutive year finishing second place, and he's never won. Has to be heartbreaking for him, and it reminds me of retired musher Aliy Zirkle who finished second several times and never ended up winning an Iditarod.
It's been great joining you all on this year's journey! I always appreciate the insightful comments and enthusiasm from everyone. This is always a week I look forward to every year!
I likely will not be posting anymore for this year (but I might post a GPS time lapse of the finish tomorrow). And maybe a post for the winner of our fantasy standings once all mushers have finished :)
Weather in Nome for the next two days
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Stay warm!