Day 5: 2012 Iditarod

Day 5: 2012 Iditarod.
Matt checked into McGrath at 6:17 pm AKST last night with all 16 dogs.  He is taking his mandatory 24 hr stop here for rest.  Matt planned to take the long stop at this checkpoint as he sent out extra supplies before the race.  He can't leave until after 6:17pm AKST tonight.  Leaving Rohn, Matt had this to say: "the twenty miles out of Rohn were as tough as I have ever seen it – almost bare ground."  This is very different from reports of the rest of the trail as there seems to be a lot of snow this year.

A few notes about Matt this year:  His team is made up of 18 month old Alaskan Huskies owned by Jake Berkowitz/Apex Kennels out of Big Lake, AK.  There are 3 teams training out of Jake's place this season.  Jake's (currently in 22nd place after his 24 hr stop), Trent Herbst (currently in 2nd place but he hasn't taken his 24 hr stop yet) and Matt.  Driving a team of 18 month old dogs to Nome is nothing short of unbelievable.  It shows the amount of work involved to be able to train these dogs for this long race. 

In the summer Matt works as a guide on the Herbert Glacier in the Juneau Ice Field for Coastal Helicopters/Blue Kennels Dog Sled Tours. (Note:  I worked up there with Matt in the Summer of 2010 and it was an awesome experience.  Check my profile banner for a pic)  If you ever have a chance to get to Juneau, I cannot recommend this enough.  Thanks Armchairmusher Sebastian Schnuelle for that experience.  Our crew that season was Matt, Jake Berkowitz and Ryne Olson (currently in 36th place).  Blue Kennels is owned by Sebastian Schnuelle (winner of the Yukon Quest and has a 2nd place finish in Iditarod). 

Matt mentioned before the race he thought he would finish roughly 35-40th.  Let's see how the race plays out as there are still 700 miles to go.

GO MATT GO!