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Running the Iditarod
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4:45 p.m. Monday, March 3, 2008: Current standings for Rocky Point's Liz Parrish: In position 88, logged out of the Skwentna checkpoint at 11:05 a.m. with 16 dogs. Leaderboard updates: Dee Dee Jonrowe is the first musher to leave the Rainy Pass checkpoint. She spent only five minutes in the cabin checkpoint, leaving at 1:21 p.m. today. (More from the Iditarod)
The Willow musher takes the lead from 2004 champion Mitch Seavey, who was the first among the 95 mushers to reach Rainy Pass, 224 miles into the race. Also taking a rest at Rainy Pass are eight other mushers. Defending champ Lance Mackey has fallen back to 11th place.
1 p.m. Monday, March 3, 2008: An update from Liz Parrish's partner, Peggy O'Neal: Liz and the team are now on the Iditarod trail. The race start Sunday was held on this giant open lake. There is a community center building there that sits on top of a hill so you can take in full view and see the start and thousands of people down below. The fans lined along the start trail across the lake as far as the eye can see.
At the truck I could clearly hear the loud sound system from the start line and could see the teams taking off. About three helicopters circled overhead and there was the constant noise of the screaming dogs. Finally, it was time for Liz to hook up the dogs and make her way to the starting line. Everyone from team Parrish worked like clock work on getting the dogs on the line. The dogs where screaming and so excited to get running…banging their harnesses. Man, she and those 16 dogs shot out of there like a bat out of hell!
The team did look good and strong. As I write this to you all this morning we see that Liz has arrived at the second check point of Skwetnna at 1:20 a.m with 16 dogs. It looks like she passed several people along the way. I can say that this is a very good time post especially for a rookie. Tonight will be a very rough trip and extremely difficult to navigate. For updates go to the Iditarod Web site at www.iditarod.com
9 a.m. Monday, March 3, 2008: See what the Anchorage Daily News is saying about Liz Parrish, the "pint-sized innkeeper from Oregon" who is racing with her team in this year's Iditarod.
8:45 a.m. Monday, March 3, 2008: Liz Parrish of Rocky Point, and her dog team was the 51st musher out of the Iditarod checkpoint at Yentna Sunday night. This morning Gerry Willomitzer is in the lead at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
He's jockeying for position with Norway's Kjetil Backen, who was first into Finger Lake at 5:09 a.m. today. While Backen rested, Willomitzer also reached Finger Lake and he departed at 6:04 a.m.
Finger Lake is 131 miles from Willow, the site of the race restart on Sunday.
Gerry Willomitzer also was first out of Skwentna on Sunday night, followed by Jeff King, Ramey Smith and Aliy Zirkle.
There are 95 mushers on the trail.
G. B. Jones dropped out Saturday night before the restart Sunday.
Mushers are competing for part of an $875,000 purse. It will be split among the top 30 finishers to reach Nome.
11:30 p.m. Sunday, March 2, 2008: Rocky Point musher Liz Parrish and her dog team checked out of Yentna at 9 p.m. Sunday. She was the 51st musher out of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race checkpoint. The competitive portion of the race started Sunday in Willow, Alaska. For up-to-the-minute race standings, click here.
7:15 p.m. Saturday, March 1, 2008: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A record field of mushers drove dog teams through Alaska's largest city Saturday in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Well-bundled fans braved wind-chills hovering just above zero to line up along the 11-mile run from downtown's Fourth Avenue. More on the Iditarod.
Many in the crowd traveled to Alaska just to experience part of the race. "I decided if I wanted to see the Iditarod, I better get to doing it," said 91-year-old Roberta Moore, of Sarasota, Fla., who has read about the Iditarod for years.
The actual start of the 1,100-mile race begins Sunday in Willow, about 50 miles to the north. That's when mushers start seriously chasing after this year's $875,000 purse, to be paid out among the top 30 finishers to cross the burled arch in Nome. There are 96 teams, including six past winners, in the race this year.
Mushers were relaxed for Saturday's noncompetitive run, but many of their dogs were wild with eagerness, barking, wagging their tails, jumping in place.
The show is put on for the throngs who come to cheer as their favorite teams lope by on streets packed with trucked-in snow. During the short run, mushers carry passengers, called Idita-Riders, who bid for the privilege in a yearly auction.
As his turn at the symbolic starting line approached, 2007 champion Lance Mackey hustled to put booties on his dogs' feet. He took frequent breaks to sign autographs and pose for photographs with well-wishers.
"You bet," he said to a fan's thanks.
Mackey, a throat cancer survivor, hopes to repeat last year's historic run. The 37-year-old Fairbanks resident became the first musher ever to win two grueling races back-to-back: the Iditarod and the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. Less than two weeks ago, he won his fourth consecutive Quest and is using many of the same dogs for the trek to Nome, an old gold rush town on Alaska's western coast.
"I feel very excited," Mackey said. "I'm ready to get on the trails for the free muffins and hot dogs out there."
Iditarod veteran Ken Anderson was runner-up in his first Quest, finishing just 15 minutes behind Mackey, his neighbor.
"The same drama? Sure, that would be OK," the 35-year-old musher said of the friendly rivalry with Mackey. "The same finish? Obviously not."
Anderson also is using many of the same dogs that ran the Quest with him.
Another veteran, Ed Iten of Kotzebue, also is eyeing his first Iditarod win. He's been a top-10 finisher since 2003, coming in second in 2005. But being a strong contender is no longer enough.
"I'm hungry," Iten said. "I'm not out here to tour anymore."
Molly Yazwinski, among 33 rookies in the race, is just in it for the adventure of a race that crosses dense forests, remote tundra and two mountain ranges before the route follows treacherous sea ice up the Bering Sea. It's her only chance for the near future to pursue this kind of endeavor.
After the Iditarod comes a move to upstate New York to study at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, said the 26-year-old Fairbanks resident.
Her Iditarod goal is "to get to Nome with some happy dogs."
The Iditarod, begun in 1973, commemorates a run by sled dogs in 1925 to deliver lifesaving diphtheria serum to Nome.
5:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, 2008: An update from Liz Parrish's partner, Peggy O'Neal: Liz is prepared for the elements with giant beaver skin mitts. These are the last layers over the other layers of gloves and should help when she gets to the Bering Sea and its extreme cold weather. Apparently beaver skin is very, very useful.
You see lots of fur added to clothing or part of the clothing up here in Alaska and it really is not as a fashion statement but a way of living with the elements. The mushers’ hood ruffs are extraordinary with the different layers of fur and designs. I believe Liz’s is silver fox closest to the skin followed by wolf and then badger. It was made for her by a native resident of the village Shatooleek. This woman made it by hand for Liz on her year that she volunteered on the trail. I can vouch that the Native culture has deeply set roots her in Alaska and holds great respect. There is a large thriving population. Many still wear traditional clothing. The Anorak-style jacket is widely worn.
2:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, 2008: An update from Liz Parrish's partner, Peggy O’Neal: At the musher’s banquet Thursday the whole floor of the arena was packed with tables and people. After joining everyone at our table … took awhile to find it. I took off on my task to find mushers to sign the musher hat I bought for Liz.
I did pretty darn good too. It is filled with many names. All from fellow rookies to big names. I did manage to get to last years Quest and Iditarod winner Lance Mackey. He had a HUGE crowd of fans and press gathered around him. I did not think I would get it but then I yelled out “I have a hat to sign that is going to one of the rookies.”
He heard it and said “Give me the hat! Rookies are priority”!! the guy is a class act.
For those who do not know the Lance Mackey story … think of Lance Armstrong … a cancer survivor who is lucky to be alive, and then comes and does the INCREDIBLE feat of winning BOTH the Quest and Iditarod back to back. Now this year he went out and won the Quest AGAIN and is hoping to take Iditarod. Will he? If you meet Lance he really is just your basic guy too and not a lot of ego. After signing the hat, he asked which rookie it was and I said her name and then I said she is a fighter just like you, beating cancer. He quipped “A gusto girl”
At the banquet the Mushers drew their number. This is the order of going out the chute. Liz got number 75 so she will be the 75th musher going out.
Noon, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008: About the Iditarod: The race route is alternated every other year, one year going north through Cripple, Ruby and Galena, the next year south through Iditarod, Shageluk, Anvik. (From www.iditarod.com)
10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 29, 2008: Parrish hopes to finish the 1,150-mile wilderness race in about 13 days, if all goes well. The race starts in Anchorage in south central Alaska and ends in Nome on the western Bering Sea coast. Teams of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher complete the course in 10 to 17 days.
• • •
Updates are also available through Parrish's Web site at www.briarspatchsleddogs.com at her "Tails from the Trails" blog and from the official Idiatrod Web site at www.idatrod.com.
The Willow musher takes the lead from 2004 champion Mitch Seavey, who was the first among the 95 mushers to reach Rainy Pass, 224 miles into the race. Also taking a rest at Rainy Pass are eight other mushers. Defending champ Lance Mackey has fallen back to 11th place.
1 p.m. Monday, March 3, 2008: An update from Liz Parrish's partner, Peggy O'Neal: Liz and the team are now on the Iditarod trail. The race start Sunday was held on this giant open lake. There is a community center building there that sits on top of a hill so you can take in full view and see the start and thousands of people down below. The fans lined along the start trail across the lake as far as the eye can see.
At the truck I could clearly hear the loud sound system from the start line and could see the teams taking off. About three helicopters circled overhead and there was the constant noise of the screaming dogs. Finally, it was time for Liz to hook up the dogs and make her way to the starting line. Everyone from team Parrish worked like clock work on getting the dogs on the line. The dogs where screaming and so excited to get running…banging their harnesses. Man, she and those 16 dogs shot out of there like a bat out of hell!
The team did look good and strong. As I write this to you all this morning we see that Liz has arrived at the second check point of Skwetnna at 1:20 a.m with 16 dogs. It looks like she passed several people along the way. I can say that this is a very good time post especially for a rookie. Tonight will be a very rough trip and extremely difficult to navigate. For updates go to the Iditarod Web site at www.iditarod.com
9 a.m. Monday, March 3, 2008: See what the Anchorage Daily News is saying about Liz Parrish, the "pint-sized innkeeper from Oregon" who is racing with her team in this year's Iditarod.
8:45 a.m. Monday, March 3, 2008: Liz Parrish of Rocky Point, and her dog team was the 51st musher out of the Iditarod checkpoint at Yentna Sunday night. This morning Gerry Willomitzer is in the lead at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
He's jockeying for position with Norway's Kjetil Backen, who was first into Finger Lake at 5:09 a.m. today. While Backen rested, Willomitzer also reached Finger Lake and he departed at 6:04 a.m.
Finger Lake is 131 miles from Willow, the site of the race restart on Sunday.
Gerry Willomitzer also was first out of Skwentna on Sunday night, followed by Jeff King, Ramey Smith and Aliy Zirkle.
There are 95 mushers on the trail.
G. B. Jones dropped out Saturday night before the restart Sunday.
Mushers are competing for part of an $875,000 purse. It will be split among the top 30 finishers to reach Nome.
11:30 p.m. Sunday, March 2, 2008: Rocky Point musher Liz Parrish and her dog team checked out of Yentna at 9 p.m. Sunday. She was the 51st musher out of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race checkpoint. The competitive portion of the race started Sunday in Willow, Alaska. For up-to-the-minute race standings, click here.
7:15 p.m. Saturday, March 1, 2008: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A record field of mushers drove dog teams through Alaska's largest city Saturday in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Well-bundled fans braved wind-chills hovering just above zero to line up along the 11-mile run from downtown's Fourth Avenue. More on the Iditarod.
Many in the crowd traveled to Alaska just to experience part of the race. "I decided if I wanted to see the Iditarod, I better get to doing it," said 91-year-old Roberta Moore, of Sarasota, Fla., who has read about the Iditarod for years.
The actual start of the 1,100-mile race begins Sunday in Willow, about 50 miles to the north. That's when mushers start seriously chasing after this year's $875,000 purse, to be paid out among the top 30 finishers to cross the burled arch in Nome. There are 96 teams, including six past winners, in the race this year.
Mushers were relaxed for Saturday's noncompetitive run, but many of their dogs were wild with eagerness, barking, wagging their tails, jumping in place.
The show is put on for the throngs who come to cheer as their favorite teams lope by on streets packed with trucked-in snow. During the short run, mushers carry passengers, called Idita-Riders, who bid for the privilege in a yearly auction.
As his turn at the symbolic starting line approached, 2007 champion Lance Mackey hustled to put booties on his dogs' feet. He took frequent breaks to sign autographs and pose for photographs with well-wishers.
"You bet," he said to a fan's thanks.
Mackey, a throat cancer survivor, hopes to repeat last year's historic run. The 37-year-old Fairbanks resident became the first musher ever to win two grueling races back-to-back: the Iditarod and the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. Less than two weeks ago, he won his fourth consecutive Quest and is using many of the same dogs for the trek to Nome, an old gold rush town on Alaska's western coast.
"I feel very excited," Mackey said. "I'm ready to get on the trails for the free muffins and hot dogs out there."
Iditarod veteran Ken Anderson was runner-up in his first Quest, finishing just 15 minutes behind Mackey, his neighbor.
"The same drama? Sure, that would be OK," the 35-year-old musher said of the friendly rivalry with Mackey. "The same finish? Obviously not."
Anderson also is using many of the same dogs that ran the Quest with him.
Another veteran, Ed Iten of Kotzebue, also is eyeing his first Iditarod win. He's been a top-10 finisher since 2003, coming in second in 2005. But being a strong contender is no longer enough.
"I'm hungry," Iten said. "I'm not out here to tour anymore."
Molly Yazwinski, among 33 rookies in the race, is just in it for the adventure of a race that crosses dense forests, remote tundra and two mountain ranges before the route follows treacherous sea ice up the Bering Sea. It's her only chance for the near future to pursue this kind of endeavor.
After the Iditarod comes a move to upstate New York to study at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, said the 26-year-old Fairbanks resident.
Her Iditarod goal is "to get to Nome with some happy dogs."
The Iditarod, begun in 1973, commemorates a run by sled dogs in 1925 to deliver lifesaving diphtheria serum to Nome.
5:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, 2008: An update from Liz Parrish's partner, Peggy O'Neal: Liz is prepared for the elements with giant beaver skin mitts. These are the last layers over the other layers of gloves and should help when she gets to the Bering Sea and its extreme cold weather. Apparently beaver skin is very, very useful.
You see lots of fur added to clothing or part of the clothing up here in Alaska and it really is not as a fashion statement but a way of living with the elements. The mushers’ hood ruffs are extraordinary with the different layers of fur and designs. I believe Liz’s is silver fox closest to the skin followed by wolf and then badger. It was made for her by a native resident of the village Shatooleek. This woman made it by hand for Liz on her year that she volunteered on the trail. I can vouch that the Native culture has deeply set roots her in Alaska and holds great respect. There is a large thriving population. Many still wear traditional clothing. The Anorak-style jacket is widely worn.
2:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, 2008: An update from Liz Parrish's partner, Peggy O’Neal: At the musher’s banquet Thursday the whole floor of the arena was packed with tables and people. After joining everyone at our table … took awhile to find it. I took off on my task to find mushers to sign the musher hat I bought for Liz.
I did pretty darn good too. It is filled with many names. All from fellow rookies to big names. I did manage to get to last years Quest and Iditarod winner Lance Mackey. He had a HUGE crowd of fans and press gathered around him. I did not think I would get it but then I yelled out “I have a hat to sign that is going to one of the rookies.”
He heard it and said “Give me the hat! Rookies are priority”!! the guy is a class act.
For those who do not know the Lance Mackey story … think of Lance Armstrong … a cancer survivor who is lucky to be alive, and then comes and does the INCREDIBLE feat of winning BOTH the Quest and Iditarod back to back. Now this year he went out and won the Quest AGAIN and is hoping to take Iditarod. Will he? If you meet Lance he really is just your basic guy too and not a lot of ego. After signing the hat, he asked which rookie it was and I said her name and then I said she is a fighter just like you, beating cancer. He quipped “A gusto girl”
At the banquet the Mushers drew their number. This is the order of going out the chute. Liz got number 75 so she will be the 75th musher going out.
Noon, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008: About the Iditarod: The race route is alternated every other year, one year going north through Cripple, Ruby and Galena, the next year south through Iditarod, Shageluk, Anvik. (From www.iditarod.com)
10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 29, 2008: Parrish hopes to finish the 1,150-mile wilderness race in about 13 days, if all goes well. The race starts in Anchorage in south central Alaska and ends in Nome on the western Bering Sea coast. Teams of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher complete the course in 10 to 17 days.
• • •
Updates are also available through Parrish's Web site at www.briarspatchsleddogs.com at her "Tails from the Trails" blog and from the official Idiatrod Web site at www.idatrod.com.
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