Iditarod

Buser gets well deserved meal

Martin Buser’s probably never had a meal this good, nor this deserved. The four-time Iditarod champion was the first musher to reach the Yukon River checkpoint, earning him a gourmet meal and a prize of $3,500. Said the veteran musher: “Pretty awesome.” Pretty awesome indeed, considering the couple mishaps Buser has suffered so far on the trail.

Closing in on the halfway point at the ghost town of Iditarod, Buser hit his knee on a tussock so badly that he passed out from the pain. I have no idea what a tussock is, but if you hit your knee one I bet it stings pretty badly. Later in the race, Buser hit a stump and lost thirteen of his dogs when the gangline snapped. He finally caught up to them about 45 minutes later, continuing on the trail with just three dogs and pushing power.

Pretty awesome also because Buser had a 1 hour, 15 minute lead over defending champion Jeff King when he reached Yukon River. With about 500 miles to go to Nome, that’s a pretty good margin, though this race is still wide open. The latest standings have King in first place, having left Eagle Island at 12:55; Buser was five minutes behind him.

Bringing up third place this morning was Lance Mackey. Apparently the Mackey rocket sled has run out of gas because he had dropped to fourth place by the time he reached Eagle Island, having been passed up by Paul Gebhardt.

In other Iditarod trail news, Deborah Bicknell was located yesterday after she failed to check in on time. An airplane spotted her on an old part of the trail mushing towards Rohn; apparently she took a wrong turn and ended up on the older part of the trail. (How many times do I have to remind you people: Bring a map.) Bicknell was in last place when she got lost and the wayward turn didn’t help things any, so she later decided to scratch. But at least she was safe and sound.

Currently, Iditarod rookie Heather Siirtola is listed in last place and a top candidate for the red lantern award. The 29-year old North Dakotan moved to Alaska in 2003 to learn the trade and train with dogs. She now has her own kennel with about 25 dogs. Chin up, Heather, you’ve only got 722 miles to go.

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