Iditarod mushers master strategy, tricks
AP2:04 p.m. EST March 4, 2013
Topic:
Mushers, Training/Preparation
Citation:
Associated
Press, . "Iditarod mushers master strategy, tricks." USA
Today. USA Today, 04 Mar 2014. Web. 31 Dec 2013.
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2013/03/04/iditarod-past-champions-start-alaska-race/1961957/>.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Here's one proven way to win the
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race: Let others take the early lead in the 1,000-mile
trek to Alaska's wind-scoured western coast.
That approach might seem
counterintuitive to the novice fan of the famous sled dog race. Running the
Iditarod is as simple and straightforward as hitching 16 dogs in front of a sled
and bolting off into the snowy horizon, right?
Uh, no. Just ask some top mushers.
Lagging behind to let dogs conserve their energy is among strategies employed by
top mushers. But holding back can also backfire for various reasons, if the
timing is miscalculated, for example, or a fierce blizzard strikes at the wrong
time.
Four-time champion Martin Buser had
the early lead Monday, pulling into the scenic Rainy Pass checkpoint at 5:38
a.m., spending just two minutes there before getting back on the trail.
He was followed by another musher
with impressive Iditarod credentials — four-time champion Lance Mackey. He
pulled into the Finger Lake checkpoint on Sunday night, also spending just a
couple minutes resting before heading out again.
For defending
champion Dallas Seavey, patience and an unwavering trust in the capability of
his team paid off last year, when he became the Iditarod's youngest winner ever
at age 25. He didn't charge to the front until later in the race, but still
reached the finish line in Nome an hour before his closest competitor. To rest
some of his older veteran dogs more, Seavey sometimes carried them in his sled
for long stretches.
"It takes an
uncommon amount of confidence in your dog team to watch those front-runners get
away from you," said Seavey, who turned 26 Monday.
Rushing on,
however, can exhaust a team to the point of losing. Two Rivers musher Allen
Moore, who is running the Iditarod, just won the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest
International Sled Dog Race in February by choosing to rest his dogs. His main
rival, last year's Quest winner Hugh Neff, chose to run.
"He gambled
that he could go," Moore said. "I was gambling that this rest would help me to
be faster. It's like this in the Iditarod, too. We're just gambling on things we
think will work."
And then
there's the winning strategy of deception, as employed in 2008 by Mackey.
Mackey and
four-time Iditarod Jeff King were running neck and neck, prompting Mackey to
pull off a stunt at the Elim checkpoint — 123 miles from the Nome finish line.
Mackey had arrived at the checkpoint three minutes ahead King and made a big
show of settling in for a nap. King's team settled in, too.
But Mackey
had told checkpoint volunteers to wake him in an hour. He sneaked out of the
checkpoint 70 minutes ahead King and won the race.