Driving into sloppy, wet snow and temperatures pushing 40 degrees, the lead racers in the world's longest and toughest snowmachine race faced strong winds Sunday as the sun set on the first day of racing, and the early race leaders headed across the Farewell Burn for Nikolai and McGrath.
A pair of Willow 20-somethings — Brett Lapham, 23, and Cody Barber, 22 — left Rohn at 6:48 p.m., followed less than a minute later by Fairbanks riders Ryan Folsom and Troy Conlon. Those aren't the familiar names of past champions that typically run at the front of the Iron Dog pack, but many top teams elected to take a six-hour layover in Puntilla, about 50 miles back on the trail, high in the Alaska Range. Once those rests end and the frontrunners pause to take their own layovers, expect the standings to flip flop.
Scattered snow showers are expected overnight with temperatures forecast to dip into the teens, so any precipitation should come down as snow. Blowing snow. Earlier Sunday, the National Weather Service issued an advisory for winds up to 30 mph, gusting to 45 mph, for McGrath, Nikolai and Takotna until midday Monday. Strong winds at the Big Lake start earlier Sunday forced race organizers to take down some of the inflatable arches adorned with sponsor names that are in the start chute.
As they motored off Big Lake, racers were cheered on by hundreds of fans. Before long, drivers were blazing up the Susitna River toward Skwentna at speeds up to 75 mph. From there, racers headed into much deeper snow as the trail climbs into the Alaska Range, eventually topping out at the Puntilla checkpoint, some 1,800 feet above sea level.
The snow was a mixed blessing. All together, 82 snowmachines started the Iron Dog, and with the machines' fast-spinning tracks and metal racing studs, it won't take long before treacherous holes at least 4 feet deep get carved out of the trail where there is deep snow. That spells a big advantage for racers toward the front of the pack.
At the front early on into Shell Lake was defending champion Scott Faeo and his new partner, five-time champion Marc McKenna. They pulled out at 12:44 p.m. Leading the field early was not in the race plan Faeo laid out a few days before the race start. "We're not going to try and push real hard the first day," Faeo said Thursday. "We'll be reeling people in later and let other riders break trail. We're comfortable not being the first team to Nome."
But sometimes, being out front can keep a team out of trouble. And just a few hours into the 2,000-mile race from Big Lake to Nome to Fairbanks, some racers already were encountering problems:
• The team of four-time champion Todd Palin and Shane Barber had one of the racers' Polaris Switchback sleds on its side just north of Shell Lake checking out the track, according to a post on the race's Facebook page. The wrenching apparently worked. The duo arrived in Puntilla at 5:38 p.m. and started their six-hour layover.
• Another highly regarded team, that of two-time champion Chris Olds of Eagle River and Mike Morgan of Nome, took its four-hour layover in Skwentna, pulling out at 6:49 p.m. They were the only team to do so, and such an early break sometimes suggests mechanical difficulties.
• The Vanwingerden brothers — Kris and Klinton — ran into trouble when Klinton crashed, and Kris had to tow him for a bit before they were able to get his machine moving to Skwentna. They left Skwentna at 5:01 p.m., headed into the Alaska Range.
• And the tandem of Robert Strick of McGrath and Jason Moore of Wasilla became the first team to scratch at 5:27 p.m.
Contact Mike Campbell at mcampbell(at)alaskadispatch.com