Big Lake musher Tim Pappas went from Bottom 20 to Top 20 in his second appearance in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, an improvement that earned him the Matson Most Improved Musher Award for this year’s race.
Pappas drove a team of top dogs from four-time champion Martin Buser’s kennel to a 20th-place finish in his second run to Nome. He was among 34 finishers in a race that saw 20 teams — 35% of the field — drop out during a year notable for abundant snow and dangerous overflow.
In his 2016 rookie run, Pappas placed 51st in a field of 71 finishers.
Pappas, 30, works at Buser’s Happy Trails Kennel as a tour guide in the summer and runs dogs for the kennel in the winter. This year, Buser drove a team of young dogs to Nome while Pappas drove the kennel’s veteran team.
Buser finished 25th and was part of the Elim 11, a group of 11 mushers who got stuck in Elim for two days because of a Norton Sound storm surge that sent overflow onto the trail and made it impassable.
[Bookended by rookies, Elim 11 makes it to Nome]
Pappas was one of several mushers who enjoyed big improvements this year. Jessie Holmes and Lev Shvarts both jumped up 18 spots from their previous races, and Thomas Waerner and Brent Sass both improved by 16 places.
Like Pappas, Waerner was making his second Iditarod appearance. He was the 2015 Rookie of the Year for finishing 17th, and he won the race this year.
The award was first presented in 1987, and since then the two biggest improvements have come in recent years. In 2018, Matthew Failor of Willow shot up 46 spots to finish 13th after placing 59th in his previous race; in 2016, Noah Burmeister of Nome jumped up 44 spots to finish 11th after placing 55th in his previous race.
Matson Most Improved Musher Award
1987 — Ted English
1988 — not given
1989 — Tim Mowry
1990 — Mike Madden
1991 — Frank Teasley
1992 — Claire Philip
1993 — Bob Holder
1994 — Charlie Boulding
1995 — Harry Caldwell
1996 — David Scheer
1997 — Bill Bass
1998 — Sonny King
1999 — Max Hall
2000 — Ramy Brooks
2001 — Dan Govoni
2002 — Lynda Plettner
2003 — Clint Warnke
2004 — Jason Barron
2005 — Harmony Barron
2006 — Rick Casillo
2007 — Tollef Monson
2008 — Warren Palfrey
2009 — Dallas Seavey
2010 — Sam Deltour
2011 — Trent Herbst
2012 — Rohn Buser
2013 — Nick Petit
2014 — Richie Diehl
2015 — Travis Beals
2016 — Noah Burmeister
2017 — Ryan Redington
2018 — Matthew Failor
2019 — Paige Drobny