Sled Dogs

March 24, 2015

2015 Iditarod Finishes Without a Fulcrum

Over Alaska’s Iditarod course, 13 of the original 79 mushers had to abandon the race leaving 66 to finish at Nome. With the even number of finishers, no Point d’Appui could be awarded. 

On the cusp of the fulcrum were Justin Savidis of Willow, Alaska, at 33rd and Charley Bejna of Addison, Illinois, at 34rd. 

It was the second year in a row that Savidis finished 33rd. 

Dallas Seavey, the reigning champ, won again this year, edging out his father, who finished second. Dallas Seavey has finished in the top 10 since 2008 and has won the race three times now. 

The Lanterne Rouge this year goes to Cindy Abbott of Irvine, California, who finished 4 days and 16 hours behind the leaders.  This was her third Iditarod and first finish. 

March 16, 2014

Drobny Mushes into Iditarod Fulcrum

Musher Paige Drobny of Fairbanks won the Point d’Appui in the 2014 Iditarod, finishing 25th among 49 finishers.
Twenty racers abandoned the race before reaching Nome in the 1,049-mile dog sled race
Drobny, 40, finished the 2013 Iditarod seven places behind the fulcrum, but improved her overall time by more than 13 hours this year to gain the Point d’Appui.
Dallas Seavey of Willow, Alaska, won the Iditarod, finishing in a little over 8 and a half days and claiming a $50,400 prize.
Marcelle Fressineau of White Horse, Yukon Territory, was the Lanterne Rouge, finishing in more than 13 days.
Katherine Keith of Yes Kotzebue had the time closest to the median, finishing in 10 days, 20 hours, 43 minutes and 15 seconds.
Drobny moved to Fairbanks for graduate studies in fisheries oceanography in 2005. She is a fisheries biologist, and she and her husband build dogsleds for their company, DogPaddle Designs. For her finish, Drobny won $6,800.

March 17, 2013

Iditarod Finishes in Les Cuspides; No Fulcrum

An even number of mushers and their teams finished the 2013 Iditarod, the last team arriving Sunday afternoon. As a result, there is no Point d’Appui for 2013. Les Cuspides are shared by two mushers, each of whom had held the Point d’Appui at intermediate stages of the race, Curt Perano and Matt Failor.

Perano finished one day and slightly less than six hours behind the winner, Mitch Seavey, and about three days and nine hours ahead of the final musher, No. 54, the Lanterne Rouge, Christine Roalofs.

The musher with the time closest to the median time for the 998-mile dogsled race was Mike Williams Sr., whose son Mike Williams Jr. also raced the course and held one of the Cuspides after Day 6.

March 14, 2013

As First Mushers Finish, Failor Running on Fulcrum of Iditarod

Matt Failor

Matt Failor

Matthew Failor, 29, was at the fulcrum of the 2013 Iditarod as the first mushers finished at Nome, Alaska, late Tuesday night. Failor, who grew up in Ohio, was an Eagle Scout along with three brothers and learned his way around the outdoors during that period. He began learning about sled dogs and mushing while working summers at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.

He moved to Alaska in 2010 to accept a dog handling position with the Buser family. His boss, Martin Buser, somewhere ahead of him on the trail, asked if he would be interested in running a yearling team to Nome. Said Failor: “That is when I became interested in running the Iditarod.”

Failor arrived at White Mountain, the penultimate checkpoint, at 11 a.m. Wednesday with 10 dogs still on the run.

The winner of the Iditarod appears to be Mitch Seavey with a time of nine days, 7 hours, 39 minutes and 56 seconds. So far, the Lanterne Rouge continues to be Cindy Abbott.

We’ll update again once all finishers have crossed the line and we have a final Point d’Appui, if indeed the odd number of mushers survives to the finish.