Martin Buser talks about using water from a slough like this
Here’s an interesting article from Joe Runyan on water quality and how it may be affecting some teams. It just goes to show that ANYTHING can happen in a race and sometimes its the little details that can get ya–
Martin talks about water in Iditarod- By Joe Runyan
Martin declared an eight hour rest in Anvik and took the liberty to answer questions from the press while enjoying each course of the Millenium gourmet meal.
Martin admits to making a mistake in Idiarod. After 26 Iditarods he knew that slough water from Iditarod was not good to mix with the ration. Normally everyone melts snow water. But, volunteers had punched a hole in the ice and transported water by bucket for the mushers. Even some of our camera guys observed that the water had that brown, partly decayed, look of stagnant water. Martin took advantage of the water but realized up the trail that it had affected his dogs. He suspected that other mushers staying in Iditarod may have the same problem. He is feeding dry dog food and thinks that the dogs will tighten up, but one can imagine the damage to the pack if other mushers used the water.
I raced in the 80?s, thirty years ago, and was aware not to use swamp water in Iditarod—always melt snow. But that kind of knowledge even goes deeper. On the trapline, I remember being told by Athabascan friends of mine not to use swamp water for the dogs. Even a lake on the tundra often has that brown, stagnant, mossy flavored water that still has that taste with tea and surgar. Its better to chop ice or just melt snow, even though it takes more effort.
Contemplating this news, I think that Aliy Zirkle probably did not use the water from iditarod because she rested outside the checkpoint. If the reason Aaron Burmeister is pulled over parked, and Mitch Seavey is shown to be parked in Shagelulk, is water at iditarod—-then its a total bummer. I hope it’s not the reason.
Inexplicably, I notice that AaronBurmeister’s tracker shows zero speed at a point short of Shageluk. Could his team be affected by the bum water? Somehow Seavey and Berkowitz, who started AFTER aaron from iditarod, are now ahead resting in Shageluk. This is a big mystery.
