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It's Not a Question of "If," it's a Question of "When"

Mushers Begin Taking Their 24-Hour Layovers

by Andy Moderow

03/08/2006

Just when you thought the race statistics were beginning to make sense, the mushers send another curve ball your way… Its 24-hour layover time! There are three mandatory rests that each team must take during the Iditarod: One 24-hour layover, to be taken at any checkpoint, one 8 hour layover, taken at any checkpoint on the Yukon River, and an 8 hour stop at White Mountain, 77 miles from Nome. Strategy plays a large role determining where a musher chooses to take their layover, and in the past few years, the general school of thought has evolved.

There are many different factors that mushers consider when choosing where to take their 24-hour layovers. For top competitors, the main concern is to stop at a point where the team needs it the most: This can help mushers maintain speed, and provide them with an opportunity to complete one longer than normal run (typically 7-9 hours) before stopping. Another concern for mushers, particularly in the back of the pack, is which checkpoint offers the best hospitality. Takotna and McGrath are known for being very musher friendly: Race supporters provide everything from homemade pies to hot showers. Cripple, on the other hand, has fewer resources available, because it is a ghost town. Hospitality is more likely to influence the decision for those in the back of the pack because they aren’t basing their entire decision on what helps them competitively: Homemade pie can enter the equation! Weather may also influence where mushers stop: If a big storm system is moving in, it may be smartest to run on the good trail while it lasts, and stop when it begins to snow. Similarly, however, an argument can be made to stop sooner rather than later, allowing teams pushing on before their layover to pack down the trail, making it faster for the teams following them.

Statistics show that there has been a major shift in thought, but no specific consensus, about the ideal layover checkpoint. Iditarod 2001 saw three quarters of the top 20 taking their 24-hour layovers in Takotna or a checkpoint before. Last year, on the same route, half the field chose to ‘24’ at the checkpoint Iditarod (the halfway point on the southern route) or beyond. During the early years of the race, a majority of competitors took their layovers in Nikolai, just after crossing the Alaska Range, believing that their dogs could most use the break after the difficult trail. Over the years, top competitors have decided that taking their 24 later in the race is best strategically. It is extremely likely that, this year, more than half of the top 20 will choose to take their break at Cripple or beyond.

So what are the symptoms of a 24-hour layover? Once a musher stops in a checkpoint for longer than 10 hours, it is likely that they have stopped for their 24. If history is any indication, most mushers will 24 in the checkpoints Cripple, Takotna or McGrath. Be particularly wary of the leader board as teams stop for their break: As an example, Jeff King appears to be '24ing' in Takotna, and has already fallen to 16th place, halfway into his break: More teams are bound to pass him as he stops. As one of the first teams into Takotna, expect him to catch up with the teams that stop further down the trail, being almost neck and neck with them as they complete their stops.

Once everyone completes their break, we’ll have a much clearer picture of which team is in the lead, particularly because differences in start times will be made up. Because the start in Willow was staggered, with one musher leaving every two minutes, the first team to start left nearly 3 hours before the last team. To make up for this ‘jumpstart’, 24-hour layover times are adjusted, holding teams that left earlier in the day longer than those who left later. Thus, the first team out of the chute in Willow will stop for nearly 27 hours on their '24' – the second team will stop two minutes less than them. The last team to start the race, #84 Paul Gebhardt, will stop for exactly 24 hours.

Once everyone completes their layovers and start traveling down the Yukon River, the statistics will become much less convoluted… I promise!