Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Iditarod Update #24

The leaders are in to Takotna. Soon we'll see the 24 hour rest strategies take shape.

Aaron Burmeister
Hugh Neff
Sebastian Schnuelle
Lance Mackey
Jeff King
Mitch Seavey
Paul Gebhardt
Bjornar Andersen

Martin Buser is in the top 20 and moving up. Don't count him out!

Karin Hendrickson has been moving smoothly and appears to have Rookie of the Year in command - barring unforseen difficulty.

So, can the "Quest Guys", Sebastian and Hugh, who along with Aaron, have been leading for several checkpoints, hold off Lance and Jeff, the cream of the crop for the last few years?

I'd have to say "no". Lance and Jeff know what it takes to win this race. I look for the running order to be quite different by the Yukon, as the 24 strategies play out. I don't know if Paul has what it takes to win. Mitch and Bjornar could very well be major factors in the outcome, and I wouldn't counnt out Martin - he runs fast on the southern route and I am looking forward to see what he does, as well.

This is shaping up to be an exciting race!

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