Buser breaks 9-day barrier

Under a crisp Tuesday morning sunrise in Nome, Martin Buser entered Front Street and crossed the finish line at 8:46 a.m. to win the 30th-annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Driving a powerful team of dogs that took command early in the race, Buser and his beautifully orchestrated team completed the trip in a record time of 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds.

The time eclipsed the previous record of 9:00:58:06 set by Doug Swingley in 2000 and marked the first time a musher has completed the trip in less than nine days.

"I never really looked at the record until I got to White Mountain," Buser said. "I didn't want to concern myself with those thoughts other than sticking to my schedule. My schedule had me equaling the record pace, but I was a little bit ahead of schedule."

The win marked the fourth time that the 43-year old musher from Big Lake was crowned the Iditarod champion, winning the race in 1992, 1994 and 1997.

Buser set a record with his first victory in 1992, marking the first time that a musher had completed the race in less than 11 days. He believes, however, that no one will ever complete the race under eight days.

"The eight-day mark will stand forever because it is not realistic to think that it can be done in less than eight days," Buser said. "It's kind of nice to be introducing the sport to that new barrier."

Moments before Buser's finish Tuesday, his wife, Kathy Chapoton, said that they were more excited about this win than the others.

"We are more excited because of the 24th-place finish last year," Chapoton said. "Plus the kids are old enough now to understand it all."

Buser said after the race that it was his most enjoyable Iditarod experience.

"The whole atmosphere with the love of the family and support from sponsors and friends was a force that traveled with me from start to finish," Buser said, "giving me an incredible amount of strength and confidence."

Buser charged to the lead on the third day of the race, continuing from Nikolai while others rested during the daylight hours. He continued a torrid pace north, capturing most of the checkpoint awards along the way.

As the race wound around the Bering Sea coast by last weekend, it appeared only Ramy Brooks had a shot at catching him.

Buser opted to rest his team for three hours in Elim Monday before pressing on to the mandatory eight-hour checkpoint in White Mountain.

The extended rest allowed Brooks to close ground, checking in at Elim and immediately going back onto the trail, seven minutes behind Buser.

Buser explained his strategy for the rest in Elim.

"It might seem that you're wasting time when you are sitting resting your dogs," Buser said. "I still believe that the dogs will go faster if you rest them -- it's a mathematical equation. The more you rest them, the faster they go."

Buser explained that Brooks did not have a choice but to continue on past Elim without a rest at that point in the race.

"There was really no other situation for him, that was his last try," Buser said.

The strategy worked for Buser as his rested dogs sprinted from Elim to White Mountain and returned a sizable lead of one hour and 21 minutes with 77 miles left in the race.

A lead that big can be overcome in some circumstances, but Buser's team of 10 dogs was much too strong for Brooks' team of seven to catch.

"The dogs just kept getting faster and faster," Buser said.

Finishing the Iditarod with 10 strong dogs is a luxury most mushers would love to have. The majority of mushers finished the race with a single-digit number of dogs on their team.

Buser started the race with a 16-team contingent of 12 males and four females, with an average age of 3.8 years. Buser said the team had 2,050 miles of training coming into this year's race and had peaked during the race.

"With dogs, they have to peak all at once," Buser said. "I could see it happening when I took my 24 [hour layover in Cripple] -- it was the best 24 I have ever had."

When asked if he was disappointed that Swingley wasn't competing this year, Buser gave a resolute response.

"No, he couldn't have kept up anyway," Buser said. "It would have been hard to keep up with this team."

After completing his 19th Iditarod, Buser gave no inclination of a retirement of his own.

"I will come back and compete next year," Buser said. "If my wife gives me permission and enough money to sign up, I will do it."

Brooks, of Healy, arrived just more than two hours later to take second place, his highest finish in seven Iditarods.

Brooks' race time of 9:00:49:18 also bettered Swingley's 2000 mark, giving Brooks the second-fastest time in Iditarod history behind Buser.

Brooks was happy with his trip but feels he needs to improve his schedule in order to win.

"To beat the best like Buser and King, you have to be efficient at the checkpoints," Brooks said. "I need to improve on that."

Kotzebue's John Baker finished third in the race, arriving in Nome at 3:46 p.m. The third-place finish was Baker's best ever in the Iditarod.

"The trail was incredibly smooth," Baker said. "The trail committee did an excellent job on the trail this year."

Baker said his dogs ate seal meat almost exclusively on the trail this year, a diet he said Natives have used for hundreds of years.

Iditarod veteran Vern Halter of Willow pushed strong in the final few days of the race and posted a fifth-place finish, arriving in Nome Tuesday at 5:47 p.m.

Halter raced with Jon Little of Kasilof for the last few days before easing back and conceding fourth place to Little outside of Safety, the last stretch before Nome.

"I had to put a dog in the sled so I knew I couldn't stay with him," Halter said. "So I called it a day and took it easy coming in."

Halter was also impressed with trail conditions this year.

"It was fast, hard and beautiful," Halter said.

DeeDee Jonrowe pulled into Nome Wednesday at 8:07 p.m. to take 16th place in the race.

The ever-popular Jonrowe had run a strong race in the first half but experienced problems with her team around Elim.

After a long rest with many mushers passing by, she was able to continue and finish the race strong.