DAY 1

Frozen farewell

By ANDREW HINKELMAN
Anchorage Daily News

Published: March 5, 2007
Last Modified: March 14, 2007 at 06:45 PM

WILLOW -- Saturday was all about the pomp and circumstance of a parade. Sunday was about the reality of an 1,100-mile race to Nome.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race began in earnest Sunday with the race restart on frozen Willow Lake, a day after the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage.

This time, the clock was ticking.

Another throng of thousands made their way to the restart, forming a human tunnel from one side of the lake all the way across to the other and up into the woods, cheering 82 teams bound for Nome's burled arch.

But when the restart began at 2 p.m., a stiff wind had picked up, starching the flags above the start line and sending many people hustling to their cars to escape the bitter breeze.

It was an ominous portent of what awaits as the teams make their way toward the frigid Alaska Range and beyond. The National Weather Service issued an advisory predicting wind chill readings of minus-45 Sunday night.

Weather is but one variable mushers weighed as they prepped their teams.

Many of Saturday's happy countenances had overnight turned into steely visages of determination.

"This is kind of it," 2001 rookie of the year Jessie Royer said. "If you don't have it in your sled now, or out on the trail, that's it."

Said rookie Hernan Maquieira from Argentina: "Now is the real race. We cannot turn around. It's from here to Nome."

As mushers and handlers made sure everything was in place, dogs were anxious to run.

Occasionally, a canine choir would strike up with a mournful refrain -- baying, howling and barking the sled dog's impatient lament.

Not everyone was sweating the details.

Martin Buser's camp had a mini barbecue and picnic table set up for lunch.

North Pole's Jeff Holt also had a small grill cooking up a meal.

DeeDee Jonrowe's supporters enjoyed a prerace meal while sitting on camping chairs arranged behind the dog truck.

For many of the rookies, this weekend marked a milestone.

"This is the dream of my life, this race," Maquieira said. "I've always wanted to run this race."

Maquieira can lay claim to the most exotic hometown among Iditarod participants, making his way north from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, in Argentina.

He follows in the footsteps of his uncle, Pedro Curuchet, as the only Argentineans to enter the Iditarod.

"If you go (to southern Argentina), you will see Alaska without pine trees," Maquieira said. "It's exactly the same. We have the sea, we have the mountains, we have the snow in wintertime. It's really nice.

"Argentina is a long country. You go from rain forest in the north to where I come from, Ushuaia, which is just 1,000 kilometers from Antarctica. We got snow and we got cold."

Maquieira hopes to better his uncle and complete the race, something he has longed for since seeing a video of The Last Great Race 12 years ago.

"My uncle bought (a video of a Doug Swingley victory) when he was in Alaska in '92 and he showed me that (in 1995) and I said, 'Whoa, that's what I want to do.'

"If everything goes smooth, I can get to Nome with all the dogs," he said. "This is (a) really steady, nice group of young dogs. But, you never know."

Even a race veteran like Royer still finds predicting the Iditarod a perplexing mystery.

"It's so different every year," the Fairbanks resident said. "I think I've got a pretty good team. I don't know if it's a lot better than some of the previous teams I've had, but it's a good, decent team."

For Royer, at least, the nervous butterflies of years past are long gone.

"I've been to a lot of starting lines," she said. "The more you do, the more relaxed and confident you get. I've got my checklist I can go through. It makes it a little easier every year."

Daily News reporter Andrew Hinkelman can be reached at ahinkelman@adn.com.

LEAD DOGS: Jim Lanier, starting 9th, was the first musher into Skwentna.

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