ETA for Iditarod Winner

[emwcee]

This may seem like a strange question - but does anyone have an idea when the winner will make it to Nome? I usually plan on a Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning finish - but with the Fairbanks start and the Monday date for a restart - plus that extra little jog - who knows? The Tuesday that would normally be the finish is St. Patrick's Day, and some friends have invited us over. Of course, maybe they could share in the experience. . .

[mira]

That's a hard question.

I would just say add 20 hours to the finish time from the last years. No one can predict the weather yet so we don't know how much impact weather will have.

The first part has lot less ascent/descent than the normal route. The Fairbank route is 4 miles longer than the northern route and 19 miles shorter than southern route (this numbers are very approximately).

So.. if the conditions are reasonable and no storms are ruining the plans I would say it probably will be one of the fastest times. In 2003 Robert Sørlie used 9 days and 15 hours, Martin Buser was faster in 2002, Mitch Seavey 3 hours faster in 2004. Though, I seems to remember that they were hit by a storm in 2003 (but hey.. is there any years they are not hit by a storm?)

Don't know if this was much of a help..

[fladogfan]

Sure mira guess and be lucky