Iditarod Day 9!

  I mentioned yesterday that I wouldn't be surprised if the current standings at the time of yesterdays update would mirror the finish results.  That turned out to be the case late last night as Mitch Seavey and his team of hardy huskies were the first to cross under the burled arch in Nome to claim the top prize and seal his second victory in the race since 2004. Exactly 8 hours after the mandatory rest in White Mountain, the top mushers were allowed to pull up their snow hook and with Seavey first to leave with a 13 minute buffer in front of the number 2 spot, everyone was curious to see how the next leg was to play out, and it played in front runners favor.  Passing through the checkpoint of Safety, Aily Zirkle now trailed the leader by 24 minutes, almost doubling the lead that Seavey had on her.  With only 22 miles to finish the 1049 mile race, there wasn't much hope of anyone catching and surpassing him. Just before 10:34 PM in Alaska, Mitch Seavey and his 10 remaining dogs crossed the finish line, making Seavey the oldest musher in Iditarod history to win the sled dog race.  Concurrently, his son, Dallas, was the youngest musher to ever win the race just last year.  I'm sure the entire Seavey clan and anyone who is a fan of the father/son duo are ecstatic at the news of not only back to back wins for the family but also the fact that two records were set as well....very cool. Aily Zirkle claimed the second position on the podium, pulling in at 11:03, followed by Jeff King at 12:21 AM.  Dallas Seavey and Ray Redington Jr finished in less than two hours after the top 3 mushers.  The top rookie this year was Joar Liefseth Ulstrom pulling out a very respectable 7th place.  As I write this, 12 mushers have finished the race and the standings are as follow:

1	Mitch Seavey	36	Nome	3/12 22:39:56	10	9	7	39	56	4.41	3h 2m	Safety	3/12 19:37:00
2	Aliy Zirkle	27	Nome	3/12 23:03:35	10	9	8	3	35	4.41	3h 1m	Safety	3/12 20:02:00
3	Jeff King	18	Nome	3/13 00:21:56	11	9	9	21	56	4.38	2h 45m	Safety	3/12 21:36:00
4	Dallas Seavey	19	Nome	3/13 01:20:51	7	9	10	20	51	4.36	2h 42m	Safety	3/12 22:38:00
5	Ray Redington Jr	52	Nome	3/13 02:04:54	9	9	11	4	54	4.35	2h 56m	Safety	3/12 23:08:00
6	Nicolas Petit	16	Nome	3/13 02:39:13	10	9	11	39	13	4.34	2h 55m	Safety	3/12 23:44:00
7	Joar Leifseth Ulsom (r)	32	Nome	3/13 03:34:00	10	9	12	34	0	4.32	2h 48m	Safety	3/13 00:46:00
8	Jake Berkowitz	44	Nome	3/13 03:34:16	15	9	12	34	16	4.32	2h 49m	Safety	3/13 00:45:00
9	Sonny Lindner	67	Nome	3/13 04:11:02	9	9	13	11	2	4.31	3h 4m	Safety	3/13 01:07:00
10	DeeDee Jonrowe	28	Nome	3/13 04:24:39	10	9	13	24	39	4.30	2h 59m	Safety	3/13 01:25:00
11	Aaron Burmeister	24	Nome	3/13 05:19:02	9	9	14	19	2	4.29	3h 33m	Safety	3/13 01:46:00
12	Ken Anderson	6	Nome	3/13 07:09:20	11	9	16	9	20	4.25	2h 49m	Safety	3/13 04:20:00

With Martin Busers early surprise at blowing through Finger Lake, Aaron Burmeister having the first appearance through Nikolai, Jeff King's lead late in the race that was wrought with bad trail conditions, this years race was full of lead changes, surprise camp outs, hard pushes, and everything that makes this race exciting to watch and follow. We congratulate Mitch Seavey and the entire Seavey family for all the hard work that has obviously paid off.