Iditarod Upset

When I went to bed last night I thought the story of the Iditarod was all sewed up.  Jeff King had established about an hour lead over Ally Zirkle and all he had to do was just keep on to Nome for the win.  However, Mother Nature took a hand and it wasn't that simple.

Coming down from the mountains onto the shore they began to experience extreme winds, gusting up to 55 mph and creating a ground blizzard of blowing snow.  King, with a comfortable 1 hr. lead over Zirkle is struck by a severe gust of wind and blown off the trail and into a pile of drift wood.  There he would spend the next 1 1/2 hours untangling his dogs and sled and getting them settled and back on the trail.  The dogs were unhappy with the wind conditions and King decided that he just couldn't push them to finish and scratched.  Ally, not knowing that this had occurred, persevered down the trail and into the next check-point, not realizing that she had passed King on the way.  Once there she took stock of her dogs reluctance to run head-on into such a gale and decided to rest and hope the wind died down.  (This is not just a breeze but hurricane force winds, at below freezing temperatures with ground snow blowing in sheets parallel to the ground. The winds are flipping snowmobiles over and tearing off windshields.   All along the trail mushers are pulling off and seeking protection for themselves and their dogs.)

Now it gets weird.  While she is resting in the check-point, Dallas Seavy, who was in third place behind her, charges into the check-point and out again without stopping for a rest, thinking he has to catch the leaders, who he thinks are a couple of hours ahead.  Ally, realizing she has just lost the lead, hurries out after him.  They tear off down the trail in the wind and snow, on the final 22 miles into Nome.  The funny part is that Dallas thinks the light he sees dogging his trail is his father, Mitch Seavy, who was running in fourth place behind him.  Remember, he still thinks he is in third behind the leaders.  Now, he knows that if he lets his 54 year old father run him down and pass him his family will never let him live it down.  With that thought he goes all out on his drive for Nome, running beside the sled or ski-poling to help push them along.

With that determined light behind him he charges down the street toward the finish line, running beside the sled.  Reaching the finish he collapses onto the seat and drops his head in exhaustion.  An official drapes his arm over his shoulders and says, "Do you realize you just won the Iditarod?"  He looks up in amazement and just two minutes later, Ally Zirkle comes rushing down the street to her third, second place finish in the last three years. (Dallas' dad, Mitch didn't finish for third place  until about 2 1/2 hrs. later. 

The time---8 days, 14 hours, 9 minutes.  A new record.

Maybe there is something to youth and strong legs after all.