For those who might not be aware, it is not possible to drive to Nome. There are no roads between Anchorage and Nome. In fact from Nome there are only three roads out of town and all eventually finish in a dead end.
Our flight to Nome was via a 30 minute stopover in Kotzebue, which is inside the Arctic Circle. So if you count flying inside the Antarctic Circle enroute from Buenos Aires last May, Laura and I have been inside both in the last 12 months.
We arrived in Nome on time at 8:30pm and while waiting for our luggage to be unloaded, Brenda - in whose home we will be lodging for the next three days - picked us out in the crowd (The Nome "arrivals hall" is very small). This was a pleasant surprise as we had been expecting a possibly lengthy wait for a taxi to reach our accommodation. After we were all loaded up in her car Brenda took us for a quick tour around the key points of Nome including, of course, the race finish point in Front Street (not easy to miss in any case!) and various other places of interest along Front Street, out as far as the old gold mining dredge on the eastern outskirts of town.
After the guided tour Brenda took us back to her house in Icy View, a sub division about a mile from "downtown" Nome. There we met Brenda's other two house guests - another Brenda (from Pittsburgh) and her son Jake (currently working in Juneau). Meanwhile Sam and Keira had been keeping in touch with the Iditarod race progress online which showed Jeff King (a four time winner) currently in the lead, closely followed by our sentimental favourite Aliy Zirkle. On current position data they were both approaching Safety Roadhouse, the last checkpoint about 22 miles from Nome, so it was clear that there would be a winner tonight. Brenda (our hostess) kindly suggested that we use her car so that the four of us plus Brenda (the other guest) and Jake could drive in and wait at the Iditarod Control Centre for the finish.
The race control centre was set up in the local community hall about 100 metres from the finish line. As well as being somewhere to sit and wait in the warm (it was close to zero Fahrenheit outside, or about -17°C, without factoring in the wind chill), there was hot food, drinks and snacks available. This was courtesy of the local High School Cheerleaders Squad, who were fund raising for a trip to the State Championships.
Most importantly the race centre was the prime location for the latest news about race standings, including a large poster on the wall where each musher's time of arrival and departure for every checkpoint was recorded.
It also showed if anyone had scratched (quit the race) or been withdrawn (ruled out by race officials on the basis that it would be unsafe for them and/or their dogs to continue). When we arrived at about 11:00pm the exciting news was that the GPS trackers showed that Jeff King had stalled before reaching Safety whilst Aliy was a mile past Safety - but also stopped.
Speculation as to why both mushers had stopped so close to the finish was rife, although it was clear the strong winds blowing outside had something to do with it. Then, just after midnight, the sensational news came through that Jeff King had scratched, still short of the Safety checkpoint. This meant that Aliy, runner-up for the last two years, was now in the lead! We started to get excited about the prospect of witnessing history - she would be the first woman to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. The only dampener on our optimism was the news that Dallas Seavey, the 2012 winner, was now in second place and quickly closing the distance between his and Aliy's team. Our hopes were further dimmed when officials announced that Aliy had stopped at the Safety checkpoint, not a mile past it. This meant Aliy was not sorting out a temporary problem with her dogs on the trail, but was holed up inside dealing with more serious problems. (We later learned of the brutal weather conditions she and Jeff King had endured between the White Mountain and Safety checkpoints - hear Jeff speak about it here).
Meanwhile, the GPS trackers showed Dallas Seavey was very close to Safety. As he continued to close the gap we anxiously awaited news that Aliy had left Safety for the final leg of the race and wondered what might be delaying her so close to the finish. Was Aliy not aware that Dallas had made up so much ground?
Finally the word came in that Dallas had reached Safety at 1:11am and left at 1:14am - he was now in the lead and still no word that Aliy had left. Soon another update came through that Aliy had left Safety at 1:33am - 19 minutes behind. Was this going to be a photo finish? Could Aliy catch Dallas? We - along with an increasing crowd of fans - anxiously watched updates of GPS positioning, current speed and average speed on the PC screen at the front counter. At times it seemed that Aliy was in front only to find that it was just a lag in respective GPS updates. The average speeds of both Aliy and Dallas also varied up and down, possibly relating to their progress as they climbed and descended hills, although we had no way of knowing for sure. However, as both teams got closer and closer to Nome, the realisation slowly took hold that it was unlikely this was going to be Aliy's breakthrough victory. At 4:00am - as the traditional sounding of the town's fire alarm heralded approaching mushers - we rugged up and went out to join the crowd lining the finish route along Front Street.
Then came the announcement "We have dogs on Front Street" and we saw a sled team coming into view with the musher trotting, exhausted, beside the sled - and it was indeed Dallas Seavey and not Aliy Zirkle. Nevertheless it was exciting to see the winner come in - in a time of 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes and 9 seconds - slashing over four and a half hours of the race record set in 2011. Before the celebrations for Dallas could die down officials again announced "We have dogs on Front Street", which was followed by the sight of Aliy Zirkle and her team coming in - to finish just 2 minutes and 22 seconds behind Dallas, the second closest finish in the 42 year history of the race. And this after battling wild winds and freezing temperatures to cover 975 miles of Alaskan wilderness over more than eight and a half days.
We watched as the race marshals went through each musher's sled to check that they had all the mandatory equipment before placings were confirmed. As Aliy's dog team was led away for a well earned rest, Sam, Keira and I retired to the warmth of the Control Centre while Laura lingered a while to watch the presentation to Dallas Seavey. Shortly after we took our seats inside we witnessed a very exhausted and slightly emotional Aliy ushered into the room by her support team and start an informal Q&A session with the gathered fans. It was moving to hear her describe the battle she had fought to reach Safety through terrible weather and her perhaps unfortunate decision not to go outside a bit earlier to check the weather conditions personally, which might have prompted an earlier departure.
This Q&A session was ended by the announcement that Dallas Seavey was about to take the stage for his post race debriefing with the assembled media and public. Dallas was clearly no less exhausted than Aliy and his face looked as though it had been bruised or wind burnt or both. He explained that it wasn't until about 30 seconds after he had finished that he realised he had won the race - he had thought that Jeff King and Aliy were both still ahead of him and that the light he could see behind him was his father Mitch, whom he was determined to beat.
After a while Aliy joined Dallas on stage and it was enlightening to see the camaraderie and respect they each had for the other and hear about the hardships they and their dog teams had both faced in the closing stages of the race, battling bitter winds and freezing temperatures. Eventually Aliy suggested that it was time to call it a night, to which Dallas immediately agreed, so with a final round of applause they both left the stage.
The six of us also left for the short walk back to Brenda's car and drive back back to her house. After a long day and an even longer night of suspense and excitement we finally made it to bed a bit after 5:30am, with everyone in agreement that we had witnessed a truly remarkable finish to an iconic sporting event.
Our flight to Nome was via a 30 minute stopover in Kotzebue, which is inside the Arctic Circle. So if you count flying inside the Antarctic Circle enroute from Buenos Aires last May, Laura and I have been inside both in the last 12 months.
We arrived in Nome on time at 8:30pm and while waiting for our luggage to be unloaded, Brenda - in whose home we will be lodging for the next three days - picked us out in the crowd (The Nome "arrivals hall" is very small). This was a pleasant surprise as we had been expecting a possibly lengthy wait for a taxi to reach our accommodation. After we were all loaded up in her car Brenda took us for a quick tour around the key points of Nome including, of course, the race finish point in Front Street (not easy to miss in any case!) and various other places of interest along Front Street, out as far as the old gold mining dredge on the eastern outskirts of town.
After the guided tour Brenda took us back to her house in Icy View, a sub division about a mile from "downtown" Nome. There we met Brenda's other two house guests - another Brenda (from Pittsburgh) and her son Jake (currently working in Juneau). Meanwhile Sam and Keira had been keeping in touch with the Iditarod race progress online which showed Jeff King (a four time winner) currently in the lead, closely followed by our sentimental favourite Aliy Zirkle. On current position data they were both approaching Safety Roadhouse, the last checkpoint about 22 miles from Nome, so it was clear that there would be a winner tonight. Brenda (our hostess) kindly suggested that we use her car so that the four of us plus Brenda (the other guest) and Jake could drive in and wait at the Iditarod Control Centre for the finish.
 |
| Some of the crowd in the race centre |
Most importantly the race centre was the prime location for the latest news about race standings, including a large poster on the wall where each musher's time of arrival and departure for every checkpoint was recorded.
 |
| Part of the progress chart for the race field |
Speculation as to why both mushers had stopped so close to the finish was rife, although it was clear the strong winds blowing outside had something to do with it. Then, just after midnight, the sensational news came through that Jeff King had scratched, still short of the Safety checkpoint. This meant that Aliy, runner-up for the last two years, was now in the lead! We started to get excited about the prospect of witnessing history - she would be the first woman to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. The only dampener on our optimism was the news that Dallas Seavey, the 2012 winner, was now in second place and quickly closing the distance between his and Aliy's team. Our hopes were further dimmed when officials announced that Aliy had stopped at the Safety checkpoint, not a mile past it. This meant Aliy was not sorting out a temporary problem with her dogs on the trail, but was holed up inside dealing with more serious problems. (We later learned of the brutal weather conditions she and Jeff King had endured between the White Mountain and Safety checkpoints - hear Jeff speak about it here).
Meanwhile, the GPS trackers showed Dallas Seavey was very close to Safety. As he continued to close the gap we anxiously awaited news that Aliy had left Safety for the final leg of the race and wondered what might be delaying her so close to the finish. Was Aliy not aware that Dallas had made up so much ground?
Finally the word came in that Dallas had reached Safety at 1:11am and left at 1:14am - he was now in the lead and still no word that Aliy had left. Soon another update came through that Aliy had left Safety at 1:33am - 19 minutes behind. Was this going to be a photo finish? Could Aliy catch Dallas? We - along with an increasing crowd of fans - anxiously watched updates of GPS positioning, current speed and average speed on the PC screen at the front counter. At times it seemed that Aliy was in front only to find that it was just a lag in respective GPS updates. The average speeds of both Aliy and Dallas also varied up and down, possibly relating to their progress as they climbed and descended hills, although we had no way of knowing for sure. However, as both teams got closer and closer to Nome, the realisation slowly took hold that it was unlikely this was going to be Aliy's breakthrough victory. At 4:00am - as the traditional sounding of the town's fire alarm heralded approaching mushers - we rugged up and went out to join the crowd lining the finish route along Front Street.
 |
| Dallas Seavey brings it home in record time. |
We watched as the race marshals went through each musher's sled to check that they had all the mandatory equipment before placings were confirmed. As Aliy's dog team was led away for a well earned rest, Sam, Keira and I retired to the warmth of the Control Centre while Laura lingered a while to watch the presentation to Dallas Seavey. Shortly after we took our seats inside we witnessed a very exhausted and slightly emotional Aliy ushered into the room by her support team and start an informal Q&A session with the gathered fans. It was moving to hear her describe the battle she had fought to reach Safety through terrible weather and her perhaps unfortunate decision not to go outside a bit earlier to check the weather conditions personally, which might have prompted an earlier departure.
This Q&A session was ended by the announcement that Dallas Seavey was about to take the stage for his post race debriefing with the assembled media and public. Dallas was clearly no less exhausted than Aliy and his face looked as though it had been bruised or wind burnt or both. He explained that it wasn't until about 30 seconds after he had finished that he realised he had won the race - he had thought that Jeff King and Aliy were both still ahead of him and that the light he could see behind him was his father Mitch, whom he was determined to beat.
 |
| Two exhausted mushers field questions from the crowd |
The six of us also left for the short walk back to Brenda's car and drive back back to her house. After a long day and an even longer night of suspense and excitement we finally made it to bed a bit after 5:30am, with everyone in agreement that we had witnessed a truly remarkable finish to an iconic sporting event.
No comments:
Post a Comment