http://wolfdogg.soldierlink.com/iditarod/

Thought I would remind everyone that the Iditarod race is running in a
couple hours! Saturday Morning Alaskan Time the race will start. Better
make the coffee or tea strong.

"Wolf" " wrote in message
ink.net...
http://wolfdogg.soldierlink.com/iditarod/

Thought I would remind everyone that the Iditarod race is running in a
couple hours! Saturday Morning Alaskan Time the race will start. Better
make the coffee or tea strong.


the race doesn't "really" start til Sunday afternoon.. the saturday stuff is
for show..
(my hubby and step son work the communications for the race....hehheehe)

Davina

"Davina Stuart" wrote

"Wolf" wrote
http://wolfdogg.soldierlink.com/iditarod/

Thought I would remind everyone that the Iditarod race is running in a
couple hours! Saturday Morning Alaskan Time the race will start. Better
make the coffee or tea strong.


the race doesn't "really" start til Sunday afternoon.. the saturday stuff
is
for show..
(my hubby and step son work the communications for the race....hehheehe)

Davina

So...the ceremonial start was of absolutely no interest to anyone?

"caroline" wrote in message
...
"Davina Stuart" wrote

"Wolf" wrote
http://wolfdogg.soldierlink.com/iditarod/

Thought I would remind everyone that the Iditarod race is running in a
couple hours! Saturday Morning Alaskan Time the race will start.
Better
make the coffee or tea strong.


the race doesn't "really" start til Sunday afternoon.. the saturday
stuff
is
for show..
(my hubby and step son work the communications for the race....hehheehe)

Davina

So...the ceremonial start was of absolutely no interest to anyone?



not at all.. just the ceremonial start is the only one that seems to get any
attention, when it's really the restart conditions that affect the health
and well-being of the dogs during the race.

In article ,
caroline wrote:
So...the ceremonial start was of absolutely no interest to anyone?

Not to me, actually. That's a circus, not a race.

But here's an excuse to plug what I think is one of the best
uses of wireless technology ever: the Can-Am 250, which is
probably the biggest distance race in the east, was run this
past weekend (along with its smaller siblings, the 30 and
the 60). This year they put GPS receivers on each of the
sleds and used some sort of radio technology to send the
locataion data back to a server where they were able to
integrate it with a topo map in real time - that is to say,
you could watch the races on the web, including teams
passing, arriving and leaving checkpoints, and all sorts of
stuff.

If you go to http://can-am.sjv.net/ and click on "race
info", it will take you to a race data page. Click on
"trace!" and it will pull up the map and replay the race.

I'm happy to say that the purebred teams did quite well.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

The projected gap between Social Security revenues and expenditures is
smaller than the gap between non-Social Security revenues and expenditures

Melinda Shore said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

If you go to http://can-am.sjv.net/ and click on "race
info", it will take you to a race data page. Click on
"trace!" and it will pull up the map and replay the race.

That's pretty cool. What happens at the check points? Going
into CP1, Amy Dugan was way ahead, but Martin Massicotte left
CP1 way ahead of her.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Rocky said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Going
into CP1, Amy Dugan was way ahead, but Martin Massicotte left
CP1 way ahead of her.

I figured it out - Martin doesn't sleep much.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

In article ,
Rocky wrote:
That's pretty cool. What happens at the check points?

Feed the dogs, let them rest, feed yourself, talk to the
vets, etc. Regarding your followup to yourself, it's my
understanding that nobody sleeps much and that in the longer
races (Iditarod, Quest) hallucinating from sleep deprivation
is a pretty universal experience. John Balzar's "Yukon
Alone" is sort of a yuck book (how some guy who didn't even
run the race can turn a book about it into a book about
himself is a mystery to me), but I think it's an interesting
read and gives a basic idea of what the mushers experience
during one of these multi-week races. Same with Ann Mariah
Cook's "Running North" (which is a little less yuck, come to
think of it).
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

The projected gap between Social Security revenues and expenditures is
smaller than the gap between non-Social Security revenues and expenditures

"Davina Stuart" wrote

"caroline" wrote
"Davina Stuart" wrote

"Wolf" wrote
http://wolfdogg.soldierlink.com/iditarod/

Thought I would remind everyone that the Iditarod race is running in a
couple hours! Saturday Morning Alaskan Time the race will start.
Better
make the coffee or tea strong.

the race doesn't "really" start til Sunday afternoon.. the saturday
stuff
is
for show..
(my hubby and step son work the communications for the
race....hehheehe)

So...the ceremonial start was of absolutely no interest to anyone?

not at all.. just the ceremonial start is the only one that seems to get
any
attention, when it's really the restart conditions that affect the health
and well-being of the dogs during the race.

I'll agree with you there. I watched the ceremonial start online, but was
very disgruntled not to be able to find similar coverage of the 'proper'
start...

"caroline" wrote in message
| I'll agree with you there. I watched the ceremonial start online, but was
| very disgruntled not to be able to find similar coverage of the 'proper'
| start...


having been to both starts and seen the good and the bad of both, there is
something to be said for the ceremonial start. The mushers are generally
having a good time, and not yet too stressed out or concerned. Despite that
I have heard that the mushers and dogs all hate the ceremonial start, I have
seen very little evidence of that - most of the dogs are smiling and happy
and excited. Its a time for the mushers to mug for the tv cameras, and for
the iditarod to make some well needed money toting rides in the mushers
sleds. It might be a bit of a circus, but circuses are FUN. And circuses
with dogs in them are even more fun.

In the end neither start matters a whole lot because order out of the chute
really makes no difference in a long event like the iditarod.