Target Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^™ Trail Tidbits 22

by Kim Slade

Wells Fargo Awards Banquet (Finishers’ Banquet):

The awards banquet was a grand event. The Nome Recreation Center was packed with mushers, their families, and fans. It began at 4:30 and lasted well into the night. Sponsors spoke about the success of the race, there was an auction that raised thousands of dollars for the Iditarod Trail Committee, awards were given, mushers were recognized, and dinner was served.

The highlight of the evening centered on the mushers. Mushers who received awards on the trail, like the Halfway Award and the Gold Coast, were given to them to take tonight (mushers participated in ceremonies on the trail when these accomplishments were made, however mushers did not keep the trophies due to the nature of the race). Some other awards that were announced tonight were:

Rookie of the Year – Sigrid Ekran
Most Improved Musher – Tollef Monson
Sportsmanship –Tollef Monson
Most Inspirational Musher – Lance Mackey
Golden Stethoscope – Veterinarian Mike Gascoigne
Fastest Time from Safety – Cim Smyth (2 hrs, 4 min – 3rd fastest time in history)
Leonard Seppala Humanitarian Award - Ed Iten
Golden Harness Award – husky Larry from Lance Mackey’s team
(New) Herbi Nayokpuk Memorial Award – Louis Nelson – This award was given for the first time to the musher with the “Heart of the Iditarod”
For a complete list of awards and sponsors check out http://www.iditarod.com/2007/dailyarchives/story_377.html

Great stories from the trail were told as mushers were called to the podium and recognized. Allen Moore told of a time out on the Yukon River. He thought he might be going slow and knew it when a guy on a bike passed him. He decided at that point it was time to stop and snack the dogs to get them going (Since the Iditarod Trail is a public trail, there are people that travel the trail from Anchorage to Nome riding bicycles, running, walking, and cross country skiing).

Jim Lanier brought his young son up on stage and they sang a song that talked about counting sled dogs instead of sheep if you have trouble getting to sleep. He also told the story about losing his team twice on the trail. Each time the team continued on and he made his way to them. One time, they actually made it to the checkpoint without him. When asked by a vet if he was going to drop any dogs, he replied “No, but he was going to drop himself, because the team obviously did not need him to race.” Jim did stay on the sled and placed 27th.

Most mushers thanked the volunteers that help put on the race, thanked their families, their sponsors, their host families in Nome (people who let them stay at their homes after the race until mushers leave to go home), and they thanked their dogs!

Each musher received a packet with their statistics, a check, a certificate from the Governor, the Iditarod Musher Patch, and the Iditarod Belt Buckle if this was their first finish (mushers only receive one belt buckle when they finish the race for the first time).

Most told of the great respect they have for Lance Mackey and his achievement. It was said that Lance showed it takes more than money to run the Iditarod – It takes determination, willpower, and heart!

Where is Jack?

Where do you think Jack was tonight?

One Small Square:

Something important is in the frame. What is it?

Auction Math:

Tonight, at the banquet, two pieces of Lance Mackey’s and Paul Gebhardt’s Trail Mail Caches were auctioned off. Mackey’s sold for $800 and $875 dollars. Paul’s sold for $350 and $325 dollars. What is the average selling price of all four pieces?

Fastest Time from Safety:

Cim Smyth had the third fastest time in history from Safety to Nome at 2 hours, 4 minutes. He also holds the second best time at 2 hours, 1 minute. John Cooper has the fastest time at 1 hour, 59 minutes. What is the difference between each time? What is the difference between first and third? What is the average of all three times?