Iditarod start, the teams, the mushers, and the people

[Øivind Tøien]

The Teams:

This year, Monday March 6, the worlds longest sled dog race, the Iditarod, had to move its real start to Fairbanks after a ceremonial start in Anchorage in the weekend due to poor snow conditions. This has happened only a few times before. By now all finishing mushers have arrived in Nome at the Arctic coast of Alaska after about 1000 miles (1609 km). The winner this year, 57 year old Mitch Seaway, set a new record of  8 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes and 13 seconds, while the last finishing musher arrived after more than 12 days. -- This is going to be an image heavy presentation, so I will divide it into 3 posts, the first post with the teams.

Starting a dog team for such a race is a little like a rocket launch. There are a number handlers helping bringing the dogs to the start line, then the dogs are set free from the handlers, while the break is still on the sled, once released off they go.
#1



Steaming with anticipation.
#2



Once the team is away, they are nearly unstoppable, just like a rocket. Here is Dallas Seaway, former winner and record holder with his team flying by. He came in on a 2nd place only beat by his father.
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Kristy Berington's team.
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Nicolas Vanier starting his first Iditarod (i.e. a rookie).
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Aliy Zirkle made a respectable 8 place, about 19 hours after the winner.
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I previously showed images of her team in the Yukon Quest 300 start last year which she used as a training exercise for the Iditarod. However she got a scare in Iditarod last year when a crazy local guy on a snow-machine tried to run over her team and that of Jeff King. One of Kings dogs were killed and several dogs injured. So she had some struggle to recover from that.
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Norwegian musher Ralph Johannessen made a respectable 16 place.
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Ouch, not everybody made the turn down to the river, here rookie Paul Hansen's team. One lead dog is wondering what is going on.
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Then they happy carry on.
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Some extra fun!
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He was dragged 50-100 meters before safety personnel helped him stop the team. He made a 61 place.
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Norwegian musher Joar Leifseth Ulsom made a very respectable 4th place.
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Jessie Royer made a remarkable 5th place, arriving as only one of two teams with all 16 dogs she started with (it is common to leave several dogs at checkpoints).
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Dave Delcourt (rookie) is cheered on. He made a 50th place.
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Next some musher portraits...

[MFloyd]

I don't think that focusing on the first row of dogs is the best option. I believe priority should be given to the musher. Alternatively increase the DOF.

[Øivind Tøien]

The Mushers:

Red Lantern winner Cindy Abbott finished last at 64th place. She also had a bad start tipping over at the turn down to the river. It is still highly respectable to even finish this race.
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Swedish Mats Pettersson finished at a 25th place.
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Norwegian Lars Monsen finished just after at a 26th place. I notice his multiple layers, allowing to quickly remove his parka, with still a windproof layer below.
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He is a very public person well known for all his adventure programs in Norwegian TV. Nothing is more appropriate then to show his sled from his viewpoint in this crop:
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Veteran musher Jeff King made an 11th place. It is interesting to see how the clothing strategies vary. Although it has warmed up quite a bit, note that this is a day after a night with -38°C.
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Seth Barnes made a  37 place.
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Some carry more fur than others. It helps keep a boundary layer of still air in front of the face, here Larry Daugherty who finished at 44th place.
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Musher fashions are highly variable, here Monica Zappa who unfortunately was one of 8 mushers that had to scratch.
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Trent Herbst finiehd at 52 place. As many of the mushers it looks like he has been out working hard to get his team underways long before the start.
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Next the people...

[Øivind Tøien]

The People:

A number of volunteers are needed to make this work. Here they are bringing dog teams from the staging area to the start line.
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News reporters.
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The camera seems to be fogging up. As mentioned this was after a night with -38°C; by the time I arrived it was already at -30°C, but still challenging.
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#31



I regret focus got a bit far back in this one, but I like the colors.
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This guy was apparently running his own real time world wide news show from his phone, as judged from his comments.
#33



Too good a target to pass up.
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#37



Babies in the cold is a special challenge. This has apparently been solved very well here in native tradition.
#38

[Øivind Tøien]

I don't think that focusing on the first row of dogs is the best option. I believe priority should be given to the musher. Alternatively increase the DOF.

Thanks for the comment. Opinions may differ on what is most important. The real super athletes in this race are the dogs, thus I favored the images with focus on them and rather used closeups of the mushers. I did capture some team images with focus at the back. Here is an example:
#39...


Getting good focus down on the river was really a challenge due to inversion layers and turbulence in the cold air set up by the dog teams, in addition to keeping the focus point where I wanted it. Many images ended up with focus in the middle of the team with very poor optical quality due to the air. I had VR on the 300mm PF turned off the whole time as shutter speed was kept at 1/1000 sec or shorter, however retrospectively I think it had been best to keep it in sports mode even if it would cause disturbed background rendering in some of the images. The cold turbulent air might also have confused the focusing system.

[BW]

This is great photo journalism Øyvind. You really make me feel I am at the wrong place right now

[armando_m]

Awesome series, it is mind blowing to consider they spend so much time outside in such temperatures

Thanks for sharing this images and stories

[John Geerts]

Super series, Øivind.

Like especially the close-ups.  Very bright colours and light.

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for the kind comments, Børge, Amando and John. This is certainly an enjoyable time of the year in Fairbanks.

[Akira]

Wonderful report with exciting images!  I like the way you use the diagonal line nicely and effectively.  The portraits of the participants are vividly captured.

Thanks for sharing!

[elsa hoffmann]

Amazing, interesting and just plain great images. I also want to be there but I am afraid I would freeze my a$$ off.

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for further comments, Akira and Elsa. The diagonals came free, pretty much mandated by the subjects. The temperatures are a matter of adequate clothing and getting used to it; the intense solar radiation reflecting off the snow at this time of the year also helps.

[CS]

Wow, I got cold just looking! Good job, Oivind.

[Jan Anne]

Thanks for sharing an insight in your world, really enjoyed these as they are so different from the local one week of mild snow "winters" here in the NL.

[afx]

Good coverage of dogs and people!
Love your portraits.

cheers
afx