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Saturday, March 8 at about 12:10 PM east coast and almost all the top teams are on the trail from Kaltag to Eagle Island for that ~70 mile stretch. The only fairly big name that is not on the trail is Nic Petit finishing up his 24 in Kaltag, and he should be pulling out pretty soon. Leader board is:
1. Paige Drobny running 13 digs 506 miles in/622 to Nome
2. Jessie Holmes running 14 dogs 500 miles in/628 to Nome
3. Matt Hall running 15 dogs 492 miles in/636 to Nome
4. Michelle Phillips running 14 dogs 479 miles in/649 to Nome
5. Millie Porsild resting on the trail with 13 dogs 477 miles in/651 to Nome
6. Travis Beals running 14 dogs 473 miles in/655 to Nome
7. Mitch Seavey resting on the trail with 11 dogs 473 miles in/655 to Nome
8. Ryan Redington running 13 dogs 471 miles in/657 to Nome
9. Riley Dyche running 10 dogs 463 miles in/655 to Nome
10. Nic Petit resting in Kaltag 456 miles in/672 to Nome
Red lantern is held by rookie Calvin Daugherty resting in Galena 369 miles in/759 to Nome.
Probably a better showing than we would have made.
Highly recommend Hamro Kitchen, if you like Nepalese and Indian food.
Getting ready to leave the house and head to the game (about a two hour drive). Catch lunch in Blacksburg somewhere, then to TSP. Looking forward to seeing some VT bombs!
Hope I don't freeze to death or get blown away!!!
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while!
Saturday morning March 8.
Hokietopher called Paige perfectly. She quickly pulled through Kaltag last night and is now camping on the trail 21 miles past the checkpoint. Arrived at almost exactly midnight local time/4 AM east coast, so she has been resting for close to 3.5 hours there. Likely leaving in 30-90 minutes. That sets her up for a single run of about 50 miles to Eagle Island. Jessie Holmes is right behind her in second. Need to get my daughter to swim practice in a little bit, but quick note on the standings at ~7:20 AM:
1. Paige Drobny resting on the trail with 13 dogs, 477 miles in/651 to Nome
2. Jessie Holmes running 14 dogs 475 miles in/653 to Nome
3. Michelle Phillips resting on the trail with 14 dogs, 472 miles in/656 to Nome
4. Ryan Redington resting on the trail with 13 dogs, 469 miles in/659 to Nome
5. Matt Hall resting on the trail with 14 dogs, 469 miles in/659 to Nome
6. Nicholis Petit resting in Kaltag, came in with 15 dogs, 465 miles in/672 to Nome
7. Rookie Emily Ford resting in Kaltag, came in with 13 dogs, 465 miles in/672 to Nome
8. Anna Berington resting in Kaltag, came in with 13 dogs, 465 miles in/672 to Nome
9. Millie Porsild running 13 dogs 454 miles in/674 to Nome
10. Mitch Seavey running 11 dogs 443 miles in/685 to Nome
At the back of the pack, veteran Jeff Deeter, who had been having trouble with the team early on and took their 24 very early, and rookie Mike Parker have both scratched. Jeff in Galena and Mike in Ruby.
Quince Mountain now holds the red lantern, resting in Galena 369 miles in/759 to Nome.
:(
Friday evening and I should have just gone to bed after exercising on the elliptical. Checked one more time before showering and going to bed and very bad news. Rookie Daniel Klien has scratched in Galena due to rule 42. Rule 42 involves the death of a dog. A PDF I found of the 2025 rules states:
"Rule 42 -- Expired Dog: The Iditarod holds firmly that no dog should suffer harm or death in
connection to the race. However, it is understood that, in rare circumstances, dog harm or death can
occur through no fault of the musher. Our policy is therefore, that:
any dog death that occurs during the conduct of the race will result in immediate (a) voluntary
scratch by the musher with right of assistance under Rule 10 or (b) withdrawal with right of
assistance under Rule 51 (such withdrawal does not imply any deliberate misconduct or violation as
set forth in Rule 51), unless the death was caused, as determined by the Race Marshal, to be due to
the inherent risks of wilderness travel (example, moose encounter), nature of trail, or force beyond
the control of the musher (these causes are all referred to as an "Unpreventable Hazard").
Any dog that expires on the trail must be covered and taken by the musher to a checkpoint. The
musher may transport the dog to either the checkpoint just passed, or the upcoming checkpoint.
An expired dog report must be completed by the musher and presented to a race official along
with the dog. At this time the musher shall scratch or be withdrawn from the race, except in the
case of an Unpreventable Hazard."
It goes on to describe what happens in the investigation. Link is below.
https://cloud.iditarod.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2025-Iditarod-Race...
Ok that's what I thought too
I think there's a decent amount of time he was used that way but, it was only for 1 year.
If it was for 2-3 years there'd be plenty of tape in many different roles at the coaches would have that additional time to evaluate his best use in actual game.
I think they need to win the series for the point. Halfway there!
Well, Paige dropped 2 dogs in Nulato and pulled out with 13. Jessie Holmes and Nic Petit took between 4 and 5 hours to make it from Nulato to Kaltag. If Paige has a similar run, that puts her in Kaltag ~ 10 PM Alaska time/2 AM east coast. Jessie is eligible to leave Kaltag around 1 AM Alaska (12:42 AM + however many minutes need to be added on to even up his start time)/5 AM east coast. So she should take over first place this evening if things go okay. Current standings at ~9:35 PM are:
1. Jessie Holmes resting in Kaltag, 456 miles in/672 to Nome
2. Nicholis Petit resting in Kaltag, 456 miles in/672 to Nome
3. Emily Ford running 13 dogs 443 miles in/685 to Nome
4. Paige Drobny running 13 dogs 421 miles in/707 to Nome
Next 6 are all resting in Nulato 420 miles in/708 to Nome
5. Michelle Phillips
6. Mitch Seavey
7. Travis Beals
8. Samantha LaLonde
9. Ryan Redington
10. Anna Berington
Matt Hall is in 11th, he has completed his 24, and he is approaching Nulato, so he should jump past a bunch of people this evening.
Do all three games count as a point or just the weekend series?
Paige just pulled out on her way to Kaltag at 9:15 PM according to my computer. 5:15 PM Alaska time. That moves her up from 7th place to 4th.
That makes it 6-8 in the commonwealth clash, in favor of the hoos. Getting closer.
Georgia Tech loses to NC State by one on free throws by the Wolfpack with 7 seconds left
HOKIES win first game of Commonwealth Clash 8 to 4!
Edit: Drinking
Play Saturday at 2pm.
Ladies beat UVA 8-4 this evening
That would make sense.
And she is packing up now. Filling up a "return bag" to send things that can still be used back from the checkpoint. Good sign she will be leaving soon.
I'm only learning and speculating because of what you've taught us over the last few years. I'm betting she goes through Katlag with the minimum reqd stop for check in and than camps on the trail 20 miles later or so, then run through the early hours to eagle.
You know, I was honestly wondering if she was waiting for cooler weather. It would make sense given that she pulled in just after noon. If she leaves in the next hour, that is 4:30-5:30 PM Alaska time. 36 miles to Kaltag is a pretty short stretch, so she could go through there and camp out on the trail after Kaltag. 36 + 70 more miles to Eagle Island is too long to do without a decent rest break along the way, but if she split it up to two ~53 mile stretches that would get her to Eagle Island with 1 rest break and a lot of cooler weather travel time.
The woman handling the live feed from Nulato said she thought Paige would be getting ready to leave soon, but she did not have any inside information on when exactly that would be.
Edit: and you can see Ryan Redington's team pulling into Nulato right now (8:38 PM). He has pulled into the short-term parking area, so will be staying for at least a little bit and not going straight through. Women with the camera expects he won't stay long coming of his 24 hour rest, so we will see.
Hokies drop game 1, 4-3
Is it odd to take that long of a rest after just taking a 24 hour rest 50-60 miles ago? Is she just waiting for colder evening weather and gonna run through the night??
Oh my goodness, I just learned something. They are having a live feed interview with the analysts and the people on the live chat. Earlier someone asked do the mushers have access to the GPS to know where others are. I assumed no, and looked like it was no. But there is no rule against calling someone and asking them where other teams are. So you can be coached that way. Because you can have reception even in the middle of nowhere, there really was no way to stop that without taking communications away. So everyone can do that and it is not against the rules.
I think I read somewhere that Paige and Jessie live about 20 miles apart. Apparently they have helped each other build a trail system to train on around their homeplaces.