This is stuff dreams are made of but no one would dream about a scene on March 19, 2009 in Nome, AK at 4:30 am with a temperature of -35.      

This scene just took place with Mitch Seavey, the 2004 Iditarod Champion, coming in 4th place and within 1/2 hour son Dallas Seavey, age 22 and the youngest Musher to ever finish the Iditarod, finishing in 6th place. Dallas said " this has not sunk in yet ".

Both J. J. Keller sponsored Musher's were happy for each other but were clear that this was the world championship and they were independent racers.

I checked everywhere and could not find a musher any youger that has finished this high. I also think that this father & son top 10 finish could be a record.

Unofficially Mitch finished in 10 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes and Dallas finished 1/2 hour later.

Dallas delivered the 100 J. J. Keller Official 2009 Extreme Iditarod Certificates that were carried in his sled since Anchorage. Dallas and I will sign these and they will be given to 100 individuals that went to the Extreme for J.J. Keller & Associates !!

We will have the best coverage (despite being dark and -35) of Mitch and Dallas including videos, photos, interviews and commentary. This will be available soon on this site and in the 2009 J. J. Keller Iditarod Adventure DVD.

We will wrap up our coverage in Nome, AK today and will fly out tomorrow.

I will keep you advised of our post-race coverage and plans. Thanks for visiting our site and we hope you have enjoyed our coverage of the 2009 Iditarod.  

 

  

   

Lance Mackey is still in the lead at mm 761. Lance was the 1st to arrive into Unalakleet and won the Wells Fargo Gold Coast trophy and $2,500. He won 2 other checkpoint prizes worth $6,500. If he wins the race he receives $69,000 plus a new truck.

King is at mm 731, Backer, Neff and M. Seavey are at mm 729. Dallas is 10th at mm 701.

This part of the race is very cold and windy. Crossing Norton Sound is always risky with temperatures of -40 with 30+mph winds. It was reported that this race has seen an 80 degree swing in temperature.

Rookie Musher Kurt Reich (Bib #63), from Colorado, decided to scratch on Sunday and will call it quits at Ophir. I have noticed over the years that it is very hard to compete with the Alaskans. They train in this brutal climate and it can't be duplicated.

Dog collar tags are use to identify each dog. Each mushers receives tags with their number and a letter. Each dog is then recorded and this report is used to make sure each dog is returned to the owner.  You can find a collar tag from the 2007 race in the Iditarod display case in our corporate office.

Rosanne & I are leaving for Nome in an hour so the next report will come from the Bering Sea. I hope cell phones and the internet are in service this year!!

Note: I will cover dog microchipping in my next blog - thanks for visiting our site.

 

Thousands of race fans greeted the 67 mushers awaiting their turn to enter the chute and head north 1,100 miles. 

The weather was overcast, a balmy 20 degrees with no wind.

We met many friends we have made over the past few years.  We concentrated our time on the three Seavey mushers.  They left the ice between 2:30 and 4:00 p.m.

We met the producer for Versus TV.  They are again covering the race, and will be showing the race in a few weeks.  The are featuring the three Seavey mushers and mentioned that J. J. Keller is very visible and should be seen.  He said, Dallas spoke very highly of the relationship and sponsorship.

All the sleds have GPS trackers.  You need a subscription from the Iditarod Insider to receive the positions.

I will report out on a daily basis the positions of the Seavey's and the top five mushers.

We flew all night, and I will be in the office in a few hours.  I will issue a race report ASAP.  

Note:  Please check out all the new photos just added!

Tomorrow at this time we will all be in Anchorage, AK. The J. J. Keller Team is looking forward to our 3rd race. We have a great plan, better equipment & knowhow, so the photos and videos should be awesome - the blogs won't be bad either. The 2009 DVD will be impressive!! 

I have processed dozens of E-mails the past few days from Individuals, Schools and Businesses cheering us on. We have sent out many DVD's and Extreme Reports. Over 5,000 schools and millions of children follow the race nationwide.

I also received a request to call in to AM 1570 the Score, Appleton's Sports Radio, with a live report from Nome. 

Janine Seavey, Mitch's wife, called this pm for a last minute update and said Mitch and Dallas are ready and have impressive teams. Mitch has published a new book so go to www.mitchseavey.com for details. He will be doing a few book signings on Friday before the race.

It's heating up, and we will bring our A game, so please stay tuned................................. 

  

  

    

The Iditarod starts on Saturday, March 7th in Anchorage with the restart on Sunday, March 8th in Willow Lake - 90 miles north. The 5 person J. J. Keller Team leaves for Alaska on Wednesday, March 4th and Thursday, March 5th. We need to pickup our press credentials on Wednesday and attend the Mushers banquet on Thursday. The Mushers starting numbers are assigned at the banquet. There is a field of 67 mushers (96 last year); 52 veterans, 15 rookies; 54 males, 13 females. There has been less than 700 individuals who have ever finished the 1,150 mile " LAST GREAT RACE ON EARTH ". Stay tuned to jjkeller.com/iditarod for unique race coverage. 

Myself, Rosanne, Brian, Meghan and newcomer Troy are all looking forward to Alaska and the 37th Iditarod.

J. J. Keller is sponsoring both Mitch & Dallas Seavey this year and have hopes for an Iditarod Championship Celebration in April.

This revised web site has unique weekly videos from Dallas as he prepares to run his 3rd Iditarod. This will be his 1st competitive race with his own team.   

 Please visit this site often for photos, videos and blogs thru the completion of the race in mid-March 2009.

Nome, the little Bering Sea coast village, and the finish of the Iditarod trail taught me many lessons.

We returned home today at 9 a.m. CST, without a bed for 24 hours, and I'm still in awe from what we experienced.

The Iditarod is not over. Mushers are still on the trail, and they will hold their banquet on Sunday, March 16, 2008. A total of 96 mushers and their dog teams started out in Anchorage 12 days ago with a goal to try to reach Nome. Most are not trying to win, just finish. This is a fascinating and spiritual sport.

While driving to the office, I realized that Alaska, the Iditarod, and Nome are special. I didn't hear or worry about the federal deficit, the financial institutions losses, the stock market wall of worry, or all the Washington spin.

Nome is a fairly happy little community with mushing on the residents' minds. What a novel and noble strategic plan. A place with no trees, permanent frost, and a few roads that lead nowhere.  The village plumber has a pet reindeer that rides in the back of his pickup.

Nome has certain therapeutic values that can teach us all some lessons.

The 36th Iditarod is coming to a close but will not be forgotten. We documented the race with hundreds of photos and videos.  We will be publishing a J. J. Keller 2008 Iditarod Extreme Report and a DVD that includes exclusive trail footage. Please stay tuned to this website for updates.

P. S. The work is just beginning...

 

Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King came in an hour and a half later for second place. Many thought he would catch Lance, with his stronger 16-dog team, but it was not meant to be.  Mackey is nearly impossible to run down.

 

We were busy filming the next four finishers and in the process got plenty of fresh air ... and even a little frostbite on anything exposed.

Mitch Seavey came in around noon for 7^th place. I immediately called Jean Bilitz, J.J. Keller communications manager, and she emailed a formal press release. Mitch had a good race and is looking forward to the All Alaskan Sweepstakes in a few weeks, a 400-mile race from Nome to Candle and back. This race is held every 25 years, and the prize is $100,000 - winner takes all. He said once he got a little sleep, he would have all kinds of stories. He did mention he had to backtrack and drop off one of his leaders, and this cost him three valuable hours.

Mitch presented me with the 100 certificates that we gave him in Anchorage. These will be given to select J. J. Keller Associates.

Dallas arrived at midnight by snowmachine and joined the team. He also has a lot of stories that will be told shortly. We were all happy to see him. He said he really missed running the Iditarod this year and will be back.

 

Our Internet connection is very slow in Nome, so Brian will be uploading the photos and videos tomorrow when we arrive in Anchorage.

We are happy to be able to bring the finish of this famous race to the lower 48 states!

Rosanne spoke with Dallas’ mother Janine last night. Team member Dallas is stranded near Ruby with engine trouble on his second snowmachine – parts are on the way. Hopefully he stays safe and will make it to Nome before Mitch does. He should have some interesting footage if the gear makes it.

Mitch is with the leaders and is currently in 8^th place with 10 dogs. He is prepared for a faster pace during the final 300 miles. In the 2004 race, which he won, he didn’t take the lead until the 900 mile marker.  Go Mitch!!

We will try to get some “cultural footage” along with race footage while in Nome. We are staying with Leo Rasmussen, an Iditarod Hall of Famer, who knows the history of the race and was the previous mayor of Nome.  Hopefully he can steer us in the right direction.

In a few days, probably Tuesday, the first Musher will stand under the famed burled arch (finish line) as the 2008 Iditarod Champion.

We are excited to be able to bring you the finish again from Nome. Please stay tuned to this website and look for updated blogs, new photos, and videos. 

Day three of the Iditarod is shaping up to be a real dogfight!

Mitch is at mile marker 185 and the leader is at 203. There are 10 mushers who will probably be trading places during the next 24 hours.

Temperatures are almost 100 degrees different than last year. When Dallas went through the mountains in 2007, it was 60 below. Right now it is 35 degrees. I have a feeling the warm temperatures won't last long!

Eighteen mushers have GPS trackers on their sleds this year. This is a trial, and so far it seems to be working. You can be fooled because many of the contenders aren't being tracked, and there will be some surprises. These units do not help the musher navigate; they only track his sled. The viewers have more current information than the mushers.

The Seavey's have two puppy teams in this race, run by two Belgians (the first Belgians to enter the Iditarod) who were trained by the Seavey's. Sam Deitour, #63, is in 87th place, and Dries Jacobs, #65, is in 93rd.

Stay tuned to this website.