Nic Petit Comes Flying Into Nome!

Nic's Team came barreling into Nome, tails up and loping to a strong finish, doing the run from Safety to Nome (22 miles) in just over 2 hours, whereas Joar took a little over 3 hours to cover that same section of trail.  But with Joar's 3.5 hour lead into White Mountain, Nic had no chance to catch him in the last 77 miles to Nome. 

Nic's Team is awesome....fast, wild, full of energy.....just like their Musher.  Joar's Team is equally awesome, but in a totally different way....quiet, driven and tame....much like their Musher!  These 2 Teams took different strategies....Joar most likely had a strategy, a plan....and he stuck with the plan (like going all the way to Iditarod for his 24 hour rest), whereas Nic boasts about no plan....his plan is whatever his dogs are feeling at the time.  So instead of him managing his Team to fit the plan, his Team dictates all the decisions and Nic is essentially accommodating them on the fly.  Most competitive Mushers have a A, B and C Plan...and then shift to each plan based on their dogs needs.  So its the Musher making the plan that is then customized to the dogs needs, instead of the other way around. 

You have to wonder....if Nic had a plan with options...would he have done better?  Maybe he wouldn't have fallen asleep so soundly on the trail outside of Grayling when Mitch passed him by, unnoticed.  Maybe he would not have spent so much time in the Shelter Cabin on the edge of the seas ice if he had a plan?  Maybe he would have studied a map more closely before leaving Shaktoolik so he knew better as to where the trail was relocated?  I bet Nic will be asking himself these types of questions all year....but get ready, because next year he will be wiser, more cautious, and perhaps more disciplined in his race "plan", if he so chooses to formulate one. He no doubt will win this race someday....so look out 2019...Nic will be back with winning on his mind!  

Mitch will be next under the Burled Arch in Nome...presently 11 miles outside of Nome going about 8 mph.