From ADN.com – Schnuelle’s Report on Pete and the Pack of Three

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Read the whole article here:

It surprised me a bit so see that Jake Berkowitz, Ray Redington, and Pete Kaiser stopped in Kaltag after a short 4.15 hr run. They sure are eating up the trail. I thought they would have gone to Tripod Cabin, camp there and than run to Unk. I can see a very distinct difference in attitude from the Quest to Iditarod. Questers are much more likely to camp out, like Michelle Phillips and Ken Anderson, who both did that move and skipped Kaltag. Bruce Lee said that very well: “If there would be no checkpoint, those mushers would not stop.” But now all three once again did a super strong run into Unalakleet with running 1.5 hours faster than John Baker and even 45 minutes faster than fast moving Dallas Seavey. Jeff King and Mitch Seavey both camped on their way to Unalakleet. So for now the front pack has reduced itself to 4 mushers, which I do not think are safe from that hard pushing trio of Jake, Pete and Ray

–Sebastian Schnuelle
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Andy’s Corner – Brawling at the Front has a Cost.

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There is a recently established Iditarod theory that says if you make a strong-enough marathon run coming off of your 24 hour layover, you can crush your competition.  In 2006, Jeff King made an exceptional all-night run to Ruby that locked up his 4th championship.  In 2009, Lance Mackey made a similar move on the southern route that gave him his 3rd victory in a row.  This year, Mitch Seavey and Dallas Seavey both made powerful pushes to the front that almost every pundit (me included) figured would put them in the driver’s seat going down the Yukon River.  Not so fast.  Aliy Zirkle, who made a couple of strong moves in the race’s early going, made an equally powerful move by blowing through Ruby while Dallas and Mitch rested.  It was the equivalent of taking a right cross to the chin, staying on your feet, and countering with a left hook.

The problem for the frontrunners is that they may have traded too many punches in the last 300 miles.  Just behind the Seaveys, Zirkle, Baker, and crew, are Pete, Jake Berkowitz, and Ray Redington, Jr.  These guys are burning up the trail.  It is worth noting that Pete and Jake are good friends, and in fact, Pete trained out of Jake’s dog yard in the week before this Iditarod and in previous years.  They have been traveling together now for a majority of this race, and it seems to be working to their collective advantage.  There are several positive aspects of traveling and racing with someone… for one thing, you have somebody to BS with on the trail and in checkpoints.  It keeps things light, and keeps a musher from getting into their own head.  At the same time, it allows them to push each other competitively, and if one team is having a bad run or faltering in some way, the single best way to turn it around is to draft another team.

This has been the most dramatic race in recent memory, as far as top mushers trading the lead.  There may be one or two potential winners by White Mountain, but enjoy the next 200 miles of racing.  It’s been awesome and is only going to get better.

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From Joe Runyan Blog – Baker Picks Kaiser and Berkowitz

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From Iditarod.com-Joe Runyan.

1PM-  I was in the dog yard as Burmeister and Dallas Seavey booted dogs, at the same time noting that Zirkle was behind in schedule to the two.

Burmeister noted his apprehension about leaving Unalakleet because the myriad of snowmachine trails provided a lot of excuses for errant leaders.  Sure enough, he pulled the hook and promptly ending up guiding his dogs  back on the trail after negotiating half a dozen intersection.   In time, he got them rolling.

Dallas Seavey soon followed, both leaving around 12:40PM, just for the record.  Dallas stopped, switched a few dogs and was soon back on the trail within sight of the checkpoint and already with Burmeister.  I didn’t see Aliy leave, but it must have been fifteen minutes later.

Concurrently, another development

More action.   With a grand entry of loping dogs, Jake Berkowitz and Pete Kaiser come into Unalakleet holding hands.  They are driving gorgeous teams , but, unfortunately they are essentially 6 hours behind.  More on that in a moment.

While aliy is nearly ready to depart, we are diverted to a small emergency.   Berkowitz cut his hand with a knife while separating chunks of fish on the trail.  I happen to be there and immediately tell comm to arrange a medic to sew him up.  Knowing that it was really stupid to allow jake to continue caring for his dogs with a cut made with a knife that was cutting fish,  Mark Nordman, race marshal, and Larry Weslake logically suggested he get sewn up.  Bruce Lee, your commentator, and I, with the permission of officials, put straw under the dogs.

Back with Baker

Back in the headquarters  see John at 1PM, where he tells me he is playing it cautious and resting his dogs.  I told him about Berkowitz and Kaiser.  “There is still time for them to win the race.  I’ll go with them,” indicating he was not taking chances with his team.  He is going to generously rest his dogs.

My brilliant reply was, “Really, Kaiser and Berkowitz.”  John opined, “250 miles in the race, we keep forgetting to identify the competition.”

Final Thoughts

An airplane waits to take the Insider to Shaktoolik to witness the fight at the front.  Next report, Shaktoolik.

Weather  remains cold but uncommonly calm for a region that is known constant wind.

Delving into our collective memory, we can think of plenty of examples of well prepared teams roaring up from behind to win a race.   The early history of Ric Swenson, the 5x winner, was instructional in the 70’s and 80’s.

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Three on Three

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Pack of Three into UNK officially in three minutes of each other.

Positions – Arrival Times – Trail Times

6- Jake Berkowitz  12:14:00- Trail Time 11h 1m
7- Ray Redington Jr 12:15:00- Trail Time 11h 2m
8- Peter Kaiser 12:17:00- Trail Time 11h 4m

Three must be our lucky number this year.

Arrived within 17 minutes of Mitch Seavey. Jeff King still on the trail.

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The Story of Three

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ADN calls them the “Three Musketeers.” Although it sounds pretty cool, the Musketeers were, “All for one and one for all,” and this is not the case at all with these boys. Each of them would take whatever opportunity to take an advantage over the other if offered.

Pete has been traveling with Jake Berkowitz since before Cripple and along the Yukon they picked up Ray Redington Jr. All three mushers have led their little group and as they head into Unalakleet, Redington holds the lead. Pete led them down from Galena to Nulato, and it was a toss up from there.

The deal is for these guys, less traveling together, and more of the old phrase, “Keep your friends close, and your competitors closer.” These three teams have the fastest teams in the race right now and are steadily moving forward on the front pack. An Insider video of Aaron Burmeister in Unalakleet had him mentioning that the second pack was the one he was feeling pressure from. That second pack is our group of three.

The race is far from over and the real story will be when this small pack of three decides to make a real move for the front. Of course it will be dependent on how THEY look coming into Unalakleet.

In any case from here on out I am going to refer to this little group as the Pack of Three, because make no mistake, each of these guys can win it with the right combination of luck and performance.

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