2011 Iditarod

Its almost here! The 39th running of the Iditarod starts March 5th, so its time to start up theIditadacks Blog! I LOVE this time of year!!!!

For those of you "in the know"....the Yukon Quest (the other 1,000 mile sled dog race) ended a few weeks back in dramatic fashion. It came down to Dog Team against the elements, with brutally cold temperatures and icey cold stories from the front runners. Hugh Neff and Hans Gatt had to scratch from the race.....while young Dallas Seavey made it to the finish line first, with Sebastion Schnuelle coming in as a close second by 1/2 hour. Ken Anderson also made an impressive 3rd place finish and also tried to help Neffs Team over an extremely sharp uphill pull called Eagle Summit. Neff, after being the lead musher for most of the race, had to withdraw after his Team balked numerous times trying to make it over the summit. Sebastian came to Gatts rescue at one point after Gatt and his Team fell through the ice into a waist deep Birch Creek. Gatt suffered extreme frost bite, but is still going to try running the Iditarod next week.

So...what will the Iditarod this year be like? It starts on the 5th...maybe that is a sign Lance Mackey will win his 5th Iditarod IN A ROW????? Or will young Seavey sneak in and stop Mackey in his tracks? There are some real good contenders that would love to stop Mackey...like Anderson, Mitch Seavey, Dallas Seavey, Jonrowe, Royer, Haltman, Neff, Gatt, the Smyth brothers, Buser, Willomitzer, Baker and Gebhardt! I for one would LOVE to see Mackey take a 5th win...only time will tell! This is shaping up to be yet another awesome race!!! Be sure to check out the official Iditarod web site for updates, as well as my blog...once the race starts I will be giving daily updates! Mush on my friends!!!