Day 1 2009 Iditarod round up!

Okay, the first full day of racing in the 2009 Iditarod is just about over.  The actual trail leaders have landed in Rohn Checkpoint.  A bit earlier than in past years if my memory serves- but I'll have to check- despite heavy snow fall over the past week or two and perhaps a brewing storm in the Alaska range.

As for that storm, we'll have to wait and see how that develops.  It could potentially split the field between those that have reached Rohn River and those that are still in Rainy Pass. Might not be any big deal but if it is, one favorite still in Rainy as of this moment is Martin Buser.

Buser is actually bucking the trend of long slow runs with shortish rest and is, intead, running really fast- a mile or two an hour faster than anyone else in the race- by doing short runs and long rests.

This has not been the popular method lately, ever since Sorlie won 5-6 years ago, but let's not forget Buser owns the fastest time to Nome!  So he knows what he is doing!  But a storm could block the best of his intentions.

Back to the leaders- There are two main groups closing on Rohn right now (or already there) the first all stopped at helicopter lake about 10-15 miles out of Rainy Pass.  In this group are Swenson, Sabastian (not sure if the spelling is correct), Hugh Neff, and Paul Gebhardt- oh and burmister (again, spelling?).

Following them is a group that all rested last in Rainy Pass.  This group has King and Mackey in it but does seem to be an hour or so behind the ones just mentioned.  We'll see!  It is very early in the race- but oh so fun to watch and learn and dream about putting together a team to be out there instead of in here!

One last thing... however these early race run/rest strategies work out, Iditarod can be seen as a math problem that is all about the balance between resting and rate of travel.  In theory the more you rest the faster you travel- check out Buser- but the longer you are moving the the slower you can go and still be the first to the finish!  So whoever finds the right way through the all the vairables that lead to a perfect balance between speed and trail time will be the winner!