Kelly Maixner surprised Iditarod followers the past couple days with a bold move, “pulling a Martin,” mirroring Martin Buser’s brazen move last year by blasting through early checkpoints and running to Rohn with nearly no rest.
But Kelly is trying a new strategy, crafting rest for his dogs on the go. He’s utilizing a trailer behind his sled to carry a small number of dogs along the way, rotating them from pulling to resting. “For most of the time out there, I was resting four dogs at a time.” Kelly rotates the dogs through six hours pulling and two hours resting. Will this strategy continue on the trail? And will it pay off? Only time will tell.
With a sled “broken three times” on the trail from Rainy Pass, Kelly arrived in Rohn at 11:26am Monday, declaring his 24 hour layover. After his 24 hour layover, what lies ahead? Running the rough 75 miles from Rohn to Nikolai with a fully rested dog team.
Hear his arrival to Rohn:
