Bogieblog

Aliy Zirkle First Musher to Halfway Point

Aliy and her dog team won the GCI Dorothy Page Halfway Award in the Checkpoint of Iditarod. She is a particular favorite since she is a NH native.

 

She has since dropped in the standings as she is taking one of her mandatory breaks at the Iditarod checkpoint. Only time will tell how her strategy works out.

Still Here

Still alive and well. Just nothing going on to write about.

Try Ripley's Journey with the latest SpaceX launch from Space.com or from Space Flight Now 

Or the Iditarod is starting and here is an article about one of the dogs from 7 different teams.

Lipizzaner Stallions In Goffstown, NH

While the folks were in town, the Lipizzaner Stallions were performing locally, so we went to see the show. It was at a small arena at a therapeutic riding facility, so we were fairly close to the action. Since I didn't take my camera that has better zoom abilities than my camera, most of my pictures were limited to shots of the horses in their stalls. But that just means I was able to focus on the performance rather than focusing on trying to take pictures - so all was good.

 

Aragorn was the Big Boy of the group. Not only was he taller and more solid, but he held his head very high and proudly throughout the performance.

Apparently one of the horses was in time out - LOL

 

And, the one action shot I got; it was toward the beginning of the show as they were showing a horse being "cart driving" from another horse. Apparently, although appearing to be a simple type maneuver, is challenging to train especially when using all stallions. It was probably even more difficult as they were using a young stallion as the "cart" horse. And this particular horse (Achilles),we were to learn later from the announcer, is full of himself and vying to become the alpha stallion as they had recently retired their alpha and the horses are in the process of sorting out their hierarchy. Additionally, post tropical storm Hermine was off the coast and the pressure change was affecting the horses' attitudes and sensitivities.

Had a great time and I hope the folks enjoyed it too!

Aliy Zirkle Team Running in First

Aliy Zirkle's team is still in first and have arrived at Shaktoolik. Wishing her a safe and speedy trip for the rest of the race!

Iditarod Update

Aliy Zirkle was the first to Galena for this year's Iditarod and got some well earned prizes and awards. She is currently showing as second on the leaderboards, but she has doen some amazing running this year and still has 14 dogs, so she is certainly a strong contender. Go Aliy!

SNAFU

I was going to post about several things, but as usual lmy black cloud is following me around. My 1.5 year old desktop computer died. So, along with all the snow removal and trying to keep this place warm (can you say 1k worth of propane used in the last month? Not includint pellets of course). I will just go crawi in a hole and  try to figure out what I did in a past life that was so bad that all this bad karma follows me.

Girl Having Fun

Thanks to Ruth for posting this. And by the way, while watching, turn on the speakers - the music goes well with the video!

 

Iditarod Aftermath

The Iditarod has been won, with the top five finishers of: Mitch Seavy, Ally Zirkle, Jeff King, Dallas Seavy and Ray Reddington Jr. It looked to be an exciting race as it was the 4th closest finish in history. Just as a side note, and in case you haven't read comments on other posts, Mitch is the oldest driver to ever win the Iditarod (at 53 yrs old). This is the second time Ally has come in second - she came in second last year. And, by the way, she is a new Hampshire native (who relocated to Alaska). Jeff King is even older than Seavy, and has won the Iditarod multiple times. Dallas Seavy is the son of Mitch, and he was as the youngest to ever win in last year's race.

The Iditarod is not over, there are still two teams running: Bob Chlupach is at White Mountain and Christine Roalofs (rookie) is at Elim. The race is not over until everyone has either finished or scratched. There is a great celebration when the last team rolls in and they get the Red Latern award.

There are still many interesting stories to read. There is the insider story of dropped dogs (dogs that are sick, injured, or just don't want to run any more are left at checkpoints). There is the story of the all white dog team, Lanier's Northern Whites, fielded by a guy that has run 16 Iditarod's, and he has run a race in every decade that the Iditarod has been run in. There are pictures from the Finish Line.

From other sources (Alaska Daily News), there are other stories: The Long Journey of May, a dog that got loose and retraced the trail and was found several hundred miles from where she got loose - amazingly in fairly good condition. There is the story of Cym Smith, who had to stop shortly before the end of the race because his lead dog got confused - he replaced the lead dog with his oldest and slowest dog, and caught up to Paul Gephardt who had passed him while the lead dog change was taking place.

Lots of good stories and pictures galore at both sites, so go take a look and marvel at the athletes and their feats.

2013 Iditarod

Just got a chance to look at the standings so far in the Iditarod. Many familiar names in the front, and a rookie is in 6th. from places 1-12:

1. Mitch Seavy
2. Aaron Burmeister
3. Aliy Zerkle
4. Martin Buser
5. Jake Berkowitz
6. Joar Liefseth Olsum Jr, (Rookie)
7. Dallas Seavy
8. Sonny Lidner
9. Ray Reddington Jr
10. Jessie Royer
11. DeeDee Jonrow
12. Jeff King

Looks like all the field has taken the mandatory 24 hour layover, and the majority have taken the 8 hour mandatory (with a mandatory layover at White Mountain still to come). The top two have made it to Unalakleet, which is about 200 miles from White Mountain, with the rest having left Kaltag - just under 300 miles from WM.

The Alaska Daily News also carries many stories from this years Iditarod.

Looks like a Tuesday finish, althought it all depends upon weather conditions, and of course the dogs and mushers.

Twenty Seven Days

Twenty seven more days until the Last Great Race. Unfortunately with my work schedule (or lack of time at home due to work), I will not be able to provide race coverage as I have in previous years. I'm sure the racers won't notice though.

So far it looks like a group of 89 racers, with 16 women in the running - although that is subject ot change. The canine reporters are already putting up posts about subjects such as keeping healthy, happy dogs - and one of the reporters, Gypsy, is from New Hampshire. Hey, the canine reporters have already taught me something - one of the dogs that I thought was a Siberian-type puppy is actually a full grown Alaskan Klee Kai.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this year's race.