Living on the Edge

Photos of Gerald Sousa and his team

Just found this picture of Gerald on the web from this year's race.  He finished 31st this year.  Last year he scratched due to an injury.  The best he's done, I think I read, was 16th.

This is him crossing the Yukon River...yeah, yuh think it's cold?

Gerald Sousa crosses the finish line!

Well, Gerald and his team crossed the finish line just after 1:00 this afternoon.  His treck from Willow to Nome took over 10 days to complete!  Just the thought of being out there that long is amazing.  I'm sitting here in my living room looking at our three dogs snoozing around the living room with a fire crackling in the fireplace to keep the rainy chill away this evening.

The first three finishers were:

#1 Lance Mackey (he was favored to win)

#2 Jeff King (he gave Lance a run for his money throughout much of the race)

#3 Ramey Smyth (also the product of an Iditarod racing family--this was his highest finish)

#15 DeeDee Jonrowe (top finishing woman this year.  This woman is 54! I'd like to look that good when I'm her age!  In her free time she also does triathlons and bike racing--she's an ANIMAL!!!)

#31 Gerald Sousa (bet he'll be sleeping, eating and enjoying some warm moments in front of the fire and playing with his young son).

So there are still just under 2/3 of the mushers yet to cross the finish line.  The Red Lantern Musher right now is a woman from Klamath Falls, Oregon. 

More Iditarod Info

Just checked the Iditarod website.  Our musher (yeah, I'm sure he doesn't even remember us 4 years later) Gerald Sousa has moved up to spot #23.  He's keeping a steady pace of 7.8 miles per hour and has all 16 dogs at this point.  Lance Mackey still has a strong lead.  He is the favored musher to win again this year.  But anything can happen in this long race.  One angry moose can really mess up a dog team!  One bad fall can surely mess up a musher as well!

Here's the map of the route:

Gerald and his team made it into Nikolai at 4:30 this afternoon.  That's quite a distance to travel already!  There are two more teams that have scratched today.  The field is now down to 93 teams.  Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.