Kotzebue’s John Baker finished his 20th Iditarod race in 21st place, logging an official time of 9 days, 22 hours, 12 minutes, and 58 seconds. John says he was impressed with his team this year, and that he was the weakest point. “The musher definitely had some things going on that didn’t work.”
Baker says it was a very rewarding experience stopping in the mushing community of Huslia along this year’s trail from Fairbanks. It was exciting to meet new people and also gave mushers some experience with extreme cold that they might not have trained in before.
With twenty years of racing behind him, John Baker says you just have to keep trying. “You make dumb mistakes, and you’re going to do that if you’re going to get better.” Looking at his finish in 21st position, John says, “Sometimes it’s not that bad, when maybe it’s the most I’ve ever learned.” Baker says the year he won, things were easy and just seemed to come together. But some years don’t go that way. “You have to work hard sometimes.”
Aniak’s Richie Diehl completed his third Iditarod Thursday morning in 23rd place, greeted by friends and family. Led by Vandal and Treason into the chute, Richie took time to congratulate his dogs on a job well done. Logging an official time of 9 days, 23 hours, 26 minutes, and 59 seconds, Richie said it was a long race, and he was happy to be to the finish.
Iditarod 2015 certainly presented its own flavor of challenges. Richie says the cold temperatures that lingered over most of the first part of the race took his dogs a while to adjust to. Looking back on the race this year, Richie mentioned the highlight of running to the mushing-centered community of Huslia. The mushers appreciated great hospitality there, and Richie said the support continued all the way up to their departure. “The community would cheer on every team leaving. It was pretty cool.”
