Sørlie blasts through McGrath
by Jon Little

Robert Sørlie, in and out.

McGRATH, 11 p.m., AST, March 8, 2005
Robert Sørlie made it look easy. The Norwegian's dog team swept silently up a long plowed road to this checkpoint at this city's community center. Cheers, whistles and a strobe-like cascade of flash bulbs broke the quiet.

He signed in at 11:35 p.m., had his gear checked and was awarded the PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award, then silently swept around the community hall and back out onto the Kuskokwim River. The team swiftly made its way on to Takotna, after making it from Nikolai in a respectable five hours and 20 minutes.

Martin Buser would arrive here about 40 minutes later, moving just a shade slower on the run from Nikolai. Buser's dogs ran an extra hour, starting the run from a campout 60 minutes the other side of Nikolai. Buser would camp here. Earlier in the day, he had another blow to his race, having one of his dogs slip and break a bone in one of its front legs shortly before Nikolai. Buser handed the dog to veterinarians at Nikolai, said Race Marshall Mark Nordman. The Big Lake musher is already battling the odds, running the race with a finger half amputated only four days before the race start.

Robert Sørlie and team pull out of Nikolai.

Due into McGrath shortly after midnight, about two hours behind Sørlie, were a string of awesome dog teams: Ramy Brooks, Jeff King, DeeDee Jonrowe, Rick Swenson, Aliy Zirkle and Zack Steer.

Sørlie was the first to bolt out of Nikolai at 5:15 p.m., resting six hours after an 8-plus-hour lope from Rohn. His team eased past the village Russian Orthodox church at a basic trot but was loping with a beautiful fluid rhythm just 10 minutes later down a tributary of the Kuskokwim River.

At the same time, from my vantage point in the back seat of a Cessna 185, I spotted Martin Buser's team loping off the river and into the Nikolai checkpoint. Of course, he didn't stay long, taking chase after Sørlie.

Jeff King, Ramy Brooks and DeeDee Jonrowe were all fussing about their sleds, repacking cookers and sorting through dog booties as they watched Sørlie pull out. They would all be on his tail within about an hour.

A clear, early front pack has emerged, but its composition will likely change as the race wears on and some teams flag while others stay strong. That lead group includes Sørlie, Buser, Ramy Brooks, King, Jonrowe, Aliy Zirkle, Mitch Seavey, Doug Swingley, Rick Swenson and John Baker.

Bjørnar Andersen pulls into Nikolai. Photo by Jeff Schultz

Some of the confusion will clear as the teams take their 24s, a process that begins right now as several of them roll into McGrath and Takotna.

The race seems to parallel last year in some ways at this point.

This time last year, Jeff King and Martin Buser leaped ahead of the pack by a couple of hours by the time they reached McGrath. Norway's Kjetil Backen then slipped past them on his way to his mandatory 24-hour layover in Takotna. Mitch Seavey was hovering in the background, just an hour or so off the pace of those three. And a host of other top drivers were nipping at the heels of those four. Seavey would eventually power away from everyone and claim the title of champion of Iditarod 32.

A year later, the mushers are just about as stacked up as they approach the usual stopping places for a 24-hour layover - McGrath, Takotna and Iditarod. Mushers must take a 24-hour break at one checkpoint along the trail. They usually go 350 to 550 miles before making the pit stop.

It isn't Backen making a move this time, but Team Norway's Robert Sørlie is making an almost identical run to Backen's in 2004. A big difference, though, is that the Norwegian was in lead leaving Nikolai, instead of playing catch-up to King and Buser.

Sørlie rose to the lead in what has become a trademark move for Team Norway. They have their dogs trained to run long and go without as much rest while still maintaining an extremely good attitude and a nice pace. They run for about eight hours and can pick up and go after as little as a four-hour rest.

One of Aliy Zirkle's dogs sleeps in the sun. Photo by Jeff Schultz

If Sørlie keeps this pattern up, he will stop for his 24 in Takotna before pushing on for what could be a long, slow slog through soft snow into the Gold Rush ghost town of Iditarod. Front runners typically like to run past Takotna these days, despite that town's well-earned reputation for hospitality and great food at all hours. Buser, for instance, usually guns for Iditarod, where it is more remote, more peaceful and therefore a better place to rest a tired dog team. If that's his plan, he'll stop for six hours at McGrath, then take a shorter pit stop at Ophir and launch into a long 90-mile run to Iditarod.

King is less predictable, since he's historically taken his 24 in McGrath. Will he push on to Iditarod this year?

Bad news from the back of the pack
Unconfirmed word on the trail is that teams further back in the pack are having a rough ride getting

An Iditarod team passes through the Dalzell gorge on the way to the Rohn checkpoint. Photo by Jeff Schultz

down the Dalzell Gorge. Helicopter crews filming the race for the Outdoor Life Network said they witnessed at least one musher foundering through the gorge. The individual could not be identified, but it was a woman. She would lurch along for 100 yards then crash, then right the sled, only to crash again a few yards later. Ice bridges were reportedly disintegrating in the balmy 35-degree temperatures, and the dreaded bottomless pot holes gauged by dozens of sled brakes were sucking in teams, causing dogs to swim through deep snow.

Even lead teams were reporting sore arms and backs from having to wrench their sleds through soft snow.

Deep snow by itself is not a problem. Warm weather by itself isn't trouble either. But the combination of the two is nasty for dog mushers. Trails either don't set up, or those that are hard packed for the first few teams quickly break up and turn to a powdery, sand-like fluff.

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