2011 Iditarod Trail Invitational

[sean salach]

Pretty sure Aidan said he's running a 28 x 22.

[sean salach]

From Bill:

"Heard from Aidan when he arrived in Elim at 5:00 PM. He got lucky and mistakingly took a direct route across the ice to Elim without stopping in Koyuk. He planned to eat and head right out. In the Mcgrath race we have no set route but all racers must hit all checkpoints. In the Nome race since we have no official checkpoints racers are asked to call in from villages where they stop for safety reasons and so we can keep family and fans up dated as to their whereabouts but it is not required to hit or stop at every village and they may take any route they choose. The reasoning behind this is if a racer gets to a village in the middle of the night there may be no phone available and a rule requiring them to stop and call in from each village would be impractical. The only other alternative route that bypasses a village I know of is Shageluk to Grayling bypassing Anvik. The danger of taking alternate routes is they are not always put in and they sometimes end in the middle of nowhere as happened early in this years race when racers took the Historic Iditarod Trail and in a previous year with the Shageluk to Grayling trail. Jay called in at 8:45 pm and had arrived in Elim. He was going to eat and wasn't sure if he would rest or head right out. If he rests too long I wouldn't be surprised if Tracy sneaks past in the dark. Just like this years Iditarod we have quite the race going on nearing the finish line in Nome. Clear skies a bright moon and light winds should make for a beautiful trip over the big hill aptly called Little McKinley to Golovin and on to White Mountain.

Bill M."


Interesting turn of events. Jay and Tracey didn't call in from Anvik, but Aidan did, which tells me Jay and Tracey may have taken the bypass route there. Aidan's move gave him a near 4 hr lead over Jay getting into Elim. Even if they leave at the same time, that's 4 hrs more rest. Jay's got a lot more gears than Aidan does on the flats. No amount of spinning out his ss gear will enable him to match the pace Jay will be able to set on flat ground. But a 4 hr lead is pretty big with less than 100 miles to go. Even if it's just rest time.

[sean salach]

Jay is in and out of White Mountain. Aidan is a ghost. There is no word on where he is on the trail, if he left Elim, stopped in Golovin, bypassed White Mountain or what.

Tim Hewitt is on pace to not only break his own Southern Route record, but to possibly break the overall Nome foot record set last year by Tom Jarding.

If Jay is first to the finish line, EVERY racer that finishes in Nome this year will likely be setting a new record or precedent.

[sean salach]

Jay's phone call from White Mountain:

Jay P's last Itidabike Update before Nome

[sean salach]

Aidan made it into White Mtn at 10am. He got more rest than Jay did last night. He's in an ideal position at this point. Jay left WM around 9:40am with no idea where Aidan was. Aidan arrived there around 20 minutes later. He's more rested, he knows where Jay is.

It's a race to the finish!

[sean salach]

Jay takes the win!!!

Time/new Southern Route record will be around 17d 6hr ??min (around 9pm Alaska time)

Aidan was about 12 or 13 miles behind him at the last report.

Nome cam grabs:


nomecam by anrothardonn, on Flickr


nomecam2 by anrothardonn, on Flickr