DAY #9 IDITAROD MONDAY MARCH 11, 2024

To catch up : some UNALAKLEET news: I explained about people sending orders for pizza to give to their favorite musher when he arrives. Last year, MATT FAILOR was very popular and his MANY fans sent him pizza's. One can only eat so many so he brought them to the next checkpoint to share.

On to Monday: Little sad news today. HUNTER KEEFE scratched as his 4 year old male dog GEORGE collapsed on the trail about 35 miles out of KALTAG en route to UNALAKLEET. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. A necropsy will be performed. So so sad. 

AARON BURMEISTER came out of musher retirement to run this year. He had a good team. They were on fire in training BUT in UNALAKLEET he had been noticing that the team was "flat"-- not having fun, missing something, not themselves. Difficult to pull dogs out of that. He decided the best thing for his team was to scratch and let them rest. That he did as its about THE DOGS and their mental and physical health!!

DEKE NAAKTGEBOREN also scratched in NULATO with 10 dogs. No reason given.

We are now down to 32 teams. 

HENRY: MILLE is still in 7th and holding steady. Wishing her all the best.

In an interview with DALLAS SEAVEY, in UNALAKLEET, there were a lot of questions about how he was doing and some of his strategies . He said "take the path of least resistance". Stay with other mushers, don't let them get ahead of you but take no risks. Think about what you and your team are better at than that competitor at your heals. He thinks that he and JESSIE HOLMES are quite evenly matched. JESSIE has the speed but DALLAS has the staying power. Some try to reduce rest time but all it does is wear the team and musher out. Maybe reduce a rest time of 4 hours to 3 hours. He doesn't worry about competitors if he can't SEE them. If they are in the checkpoint together he can worry but if they are 10 hours behind him he won't worry about them.  He thinks RYAN REDINGTON will make a play as they come to WHITE MOUNTAIN. He also thought that at the UNALAKLEET checkpoint it was important how the team came in. If they looked strong, excited, ate well etc that was the sign of a good team. He also said this team he has now is not his strongest team as in the past but THEY think they are THE BEST so THEY ARE!!!

DR JODI GUEST interview: JODI became interested in the IDITAROD as her DAD was a Vet here in '07. She then volunteered and in '09 she worked with the IDITAROD AIR FORCE. By profession, she is an Epidemiologist which deals with incidence, distribution and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health. Coincidentally COVID hit!!! She was then put in charge of seeing that the communities that could be exposed by the IDITAROD was averted. She was also in charge of the teams' health. This year she is promoting, thru the IDITAROD, the IDITA HEALTH INITIATIVE. She is working with the communities 1-5 school grade children. She has a game for them that is an IDITAROD game with health related behaviors. 5 questions are asked each day--ex. did you brush your teeth today, did you have a healthy meal, did you drink water etc. --you gain points. They may seem like parochial questions yet these kids live in area where water, for example, is not always available or plentiful. She has included input from the kids. They thought if they could color booties for the dogs when you get a certain number of points. This point system is done in the fall. Then before the IDITAROD their points get them to move up and down the trail. You gain points and build your team. This is all in the planning stage. Any suggestions please pass them on to DR. JODI GUEST.

As of 11:45 pm EST the top 10 standings are:

DALLAS, JESSIE, MATT HALL, TRAVIS BEALS are all out of ELIM.                                                      JEFF DEETER, PAIGE DROBNY, MILLE PORSID, JESSIE ROYER, PETE KAISER and Amanda Otto are all into KOYUK. 

ITS A RACE. TILL TOMORROW!! NITE.