Voices from the Flats – The Iditarod is a Numbers Game
15 03 2010Here’s the second installment of our Voices from the Flats Iditarod Report from LoveMyDogs who is tending the kennel of Iditarod musher Colleen Robertia while she’s busy with other things!
In her piece, she’s referring to Lance Mackey, the current frontrunner and reigning champ; Jeff King, former champ and until recently the frontrunner in this race; and DeeDee Jonrowe, veteran musher and perennial crowd favorite.
It’s getting exciting as the leaders race along the ice of Norton Sound, with Nome getting nearer by the hour…
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NUMBERS
(In honor of yesterday, Pi day 3/14)
by LoveMyDogs
Numbers, numbers, numbers. Following the Iditarod from home is all about watching the numbers. Position number, Bib number, Time In, Time Out, number of dogs coming in, number of dogs going out, rest time, speed. It could be one heck of a math class (and so much more fun than those old word problems that used to drive me bonkers).
How does one know who is really leading? The numbers to watch are speeds travelling from checkpoint to checkpoint. But more than that, how much rest is taken and where? And how many dogs does each musher has.
Of course this does not tell the whole story. It doesn’t tell you if the musher is getting rest. It doesn’t tell you how the dogs are eating. It doesn’t tell you how they are dealing with weather. It doesn’t tell you if a sled is broken. It doesn’t tell you if a musher camped somewhere on the trail to be able to blow through a checkpoint. It doesn’t tell you if a musher is carrying a hurt or tired dog in his sled bag (thus increasing the amount of weight the dogs have to pull without the help of the dog in the bag). Most of all, it doesn’t tell you what kind of head games are being played.
My friend, Lance, is a master of head games. He almost always has a plan. And no one but Lance knows that plan. Best of all, it can change without warning. He always seems to have a Plan A through Z and can adjust easily to changing conditions. Is he messing with Jeff now? Conserving some of his dogs’ energy? Would he rather chase Jeff? Always keeping him in sight? He knows that he might be able to catch him in the hills (after all, he is younger and has longer legs). But what about Jeff? He is wily and has been doing this for a long time (Old age and craftiness beat youth and vigor?). And is it all about Lance and Jeff? Hans Gatt won the Yukon Quest this year. He has talented dogs and has also been at this game for a long time.
Lance has a way of standing and staring at another team and stroking his chin and then making some cocky, one-line quip that could cut a newer musher to the bone and make him second guess himself and his dogs all of the way to the finish line. This is “old-school” mushing and seems brutal at the time, but getting under your opponent’s skin is often times the only weapon you have left in your arsenal.
Then one looks at number of dogs. What information can we glean from this? It is hard to say. DeeDee has been running for hundreds of miles with 8 dogs while the front runners have 12-13. How can she possibly be staying as high in the standings as she is? Well…more math. 8 dogs, 4 feet each, number of booties… 32. 12 dogs, 4 feet each, number of booties…48. The number of food bowls, straw beds, blankets, coats, hours to feed, take care of feet, stretch and massage sore muscles are all increased if you have a bigger team. All of these chores cut into the musher’s rest. So maybe DeeDee is getting more rest.
And remember, you are only as fast as your slowest team member. You can drop dogs, you can’t drop the musher.
There are mushers who like to be in front. There are mushers who like to lie back in wait and reel the front runners in on the last leg. There are mushers like the Smyth brothers who notoriously wear running shoes between Safety and Nome and run the whole way as fast as their dogs can run.
Anything can happen and a lot of it is luck. The weather is a huge factor. Fatigue seems to be the one thing that levels the playing field. I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the less resilience I have when it comes to lack of sleep.
The test of wills continues. Who will win? Keep watching the numbers….
Categories : Alaska, Fun!, Guest Bloggers, Hooray!, Number crunchery






















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