When we made our Nome reservations last year, we decided to plan our arrival for the eighth day of the race, trusting that none of the mushers would get there any sooner than Martin Buser's record time of eight days and 22 hours. As it turned out, we needn't have worried as the race took almost 10 days for Lance Mackey, the first-place finisher, to complete. Conditions along the trail were trying for many of the mushers -- warm and slushy at first, then deep snow, crashes, wipeouts, brutal cold, blistering winds. Fifteen mushers were unable to finish the race, including seven rookies.
The Anchorage Daily News had excellent coverage of the race, and the links to its reports are here; http://www.adn.com/iditarod/ There is nothing like first-person accounts to give you a "feel" for the mushers' struggles and triumphs, and I would encourage visitors here to my site to read a few of these articles before proceeding to my photos of the finish.
The Anchorage Daily News had excellent coverage of the race, and the links to its reports are here; http://www.adn.com/iditarod/ There is nothing like first-person accounts to give you a "feel" for the mushers' struggles and triumphs, and I would encourage visitors here to my site to read a few of these articles before proceeding to my photos of the finish.
The official map of the Iditarod. For some perspective, it is 77 miles from White Mountain, where all mushers must take an eight-hour layover, to Nome.
The official map of the Iditarod. For some perspective, it is 77 miles from White Mountain, where all mushers must take an eight-hour layover, to Nome.
