Wow ! This race is going quickly and is very exciting. Half of the competitors have made it to Candle and are now headed back to Nome. This is a head-on trail, so those front-runners will have to pass all the other teams.

As of 10AM EST Friday the 28th, King is leading with Seavey in second, Mackey in third. To keep checking the leader board go to All Alaska Sweepstakes ( ASS) web site. On the main page, you can click on current info. www.allalaskasweepstakes.org

Also check out Josh’s blog ( listed on the right hand side of the page). It’s the ASS version of Jon Little’s coverage and is really good.

Rules ?? According to Josh’s bliog, some of the unique ASS rules may or may not have been changed. It’s unclear right now if the start order time differential will be acknowledged; or of the clock started for everyone at 10:00 AM Alaska time om start day.

There may also be an automatic winner when the first team crosses the finish line. It’s rumoured that the 24 hour waiting period for protests may be eliminated. I think that the shifting, ever evolving rules fit in with the rough & tumble frontier town atmosphere of this race.

Iditarod/Bicknell footnote : Deb is home; and has given away some of her team. The attitude ( right now) is that she IS retired. Surgury on the second knee has been scheduled for this spring.

Posted: March 28th, 2008 under The Latest News.
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The All Alaska Sweepstakes starts tomorrow ! There’e now 16 mushers signed up for the 400 plus miles racw from Nome to Candle and back.

There’s a real nice site up all about the race with photos. They say interviews are coming too. Check out www.northernlightmedia.com/sweepstakes/.

Bib # 1 was given to Pete MacManus, an Iditaropd musher and local teacher who was killed in a plane crash on his way home from competing in the 1983 All Alaska Sweepstakes race.

The remaining start order is :
2. Connor Thomas, Nome
3. Fred Napoka, Tulusak
4. Jim Lanier, Chugiak
5. Ed Iten, Kotzebue
6. Aaron Burmeister, Nenana
7. High Neff, Skagway
8. Carl Miller, Nome
9. Kirsten Bey, Nome
10. Jeff King, Denali Park
11. Jeff Darling, Nome
12. Mitch Seavey, Seward
13. Mike Sabtos, Cantwell
14. Ramy Brooks, Healy
15. Lance Mackey, Fox
16. Cim Smyth, Big Lake
17. Sonny Lindner, Two Rivers

Posted: March 25th, 2008 under The Latest News.
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I just talked to Deb’s husband, Sandy, in Nome. It was a liitle noisy as he was in the Nome dog lot checking on the dogs.

Deb & Molly left White Mountain together. Liz had decided to make her own run for Nome. Apparentently, Deb & Molly spent quite a bit of time trying to get Molly’s team moving forward. But, she had no real leaders left, and nothing seemed to work. So Molly told Deb to go and finish and she headed back to White Mountain to officially scratch.

Once on her own, Deb ran into windy, and sometime white-out conditions. At time she couldn’t see her leaders on an 8 dog team. She stopped once in a white-out, thinking she was off trail and lost.

When the winds let up, she saw the trail only 100 yards away. Once she made it to Safety, she had pretty easy going.

Her husband & daughter Jeannie heard from some snowmobilers when she was approaching Nome. They walked to the ramp where the trail comes up onto land and into town. They could see a small dot on the horizon. Jeanie hailed down a passing kid on a snowmachine and got a ride out to confirm it was Deb.

Once confirmed, Jeannie & Sandy had to run up the streets of Nome to make to the arch just ahead of Deb. They said they were impressed with the crowd that came out to cheer Deb in.

There’s a red lantern banquet tonight for all the drivers who didn’t make it to Nome in time for the first banquet. I’m sure Deb will eat well.

Posted: March 18th, 2008 under The Latest News.
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After a long afternoon and evening wait, we finally saw Deb and team on the Nome webcam just about 12:36 Eastern time. I talked to her husband who was waiting in Nome early yesterday afternoon and found he was rather nervous. Deb was “missing” again. After last year’s experience, the whole family kept close to computors, looking for word on her whereabouts.

The best source of information turned out to be some real dedicated fans on the Iditarod Forum Discussion board who called Nome bars, the Nome Chamber of Commerce, Nome’s Iditarod Headquarters and finally got word from race director JoAnn Potts on Deb’s whereabouts.

It was a real pleasure hearing from so many people who supported Deb and thanks for getting the info. I hope to phone Alaska today and get the story on what happened her last day of the Iditarod trail.

Posted: March 18th, 2008 under The Latest News.
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Deb’s in White Mountain. She, Liz Parrish and Molly Yazwinski all left Elim at the same time this morning and this afternoon they all arrived at the White Mountain checkpoint. Deb’s posting the slowest mph, so we’re assuming she just may the red lantern award ! She has a red latern award from the Yukon Quest race, so that will make a nice pair of bookends.

The Iditarod Insider videos are filming each finish so we are looking forward to seeing her on Front Street.

Posted: March 16th, 2008 under The Latest News.
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