Iditarod News Update March 12, 2012

There’s An Uprising – Seavey Awake, Alarm Bells for Zirkle
By Joe Runyan

8 AM Thursday – Koyuk – Our three top mushers in the checkpoint are dodging each other as Seavey prepares to exit (we think after a very welcome five hour rest) at around 8 AM. Simultaneously, Aaron arranges to have some of his clothes stuck in a dryer, while Aliy gets the wakeup call from COMM’s and just now fluffing herself up to put on gear to go outside. Dallas pulls the hook to exit Koyuk, while chaos is created by arriving teams. Flash Flash—-John Baker, the 2011 Champ, into Koyuk, residing in 4th place. Approx time 7:45 AM.

The Big Questions which can be answered by musher management:

Hydration— a serious musher problem, all the more ironic as this is the main focus by mushers for their dogs. Aliy and Dallas are consciously attempting to keep liquid intake acceptable. Dallas actually has a compartment in his sled bag with handwarmers to store liquid drinks.

Knife Safety—-Dallas’ Dad Mitch severely cut his hand last year, taking him out of the race, and Jake Berkowitz disqualified himself after cutting his hand with a straight blade hunting knife.
To read the rest of Joe’s article, go to Iditarod.com.