The Armorer of the Iditarod

Jack Niggemyer.

In the original German, Niggemyer means gun or armor maker.

But this Niggemyer is the race manager of the Iditarod.

His armor is made of fleece, rubber, Gore-Tex and Cordura.

But the name is still apropos for an Iditarod official, and he even has the look, with his imposing frame and scraggly beard.

With the start of the Last Great Race, one would think Niggemyer would be spending his days bursting through snowdrifts on a snowmachine, hauling bales of hay to remote checkpoints or even flying the length of the course looking for mushers lost in the vast wilderness of the Alaskan interior.

Nope.

I stick a telephone to my ear for the two weeks, he said.

For the months before the race, his job is a bit more romantic; yet his to do list reads more like a manifest.

His volunteers start breaking trail by the first of the year, and then theres the small matter of getting food, hay and other sundries for 50-plus teams of mushers spread along the trail.

We have 25 aircraft and pilots who volunteer to transport the tons of equipment, Niggemyer said.

The trail is broken by volunteers along the route.

I equate it to building a 1,100-mile highway through the Bush in the dead of winter with volunteer labor, he said.

Most of the snowmachiners who cut the trail are volunteers excited to be a part of the the race; although, Niggemyer is not above trading a case of beer here and there to get especially remote sections of trail broken.

Then theres the matter of trail markers. Once the trail leaves the tree belt and enters the tundra, thousands of stakes have to be pounded into the snow by hand.

Its pound a stake, run a little while, pound a stake, he said. It can make for pretty long days.

Niggemyer has been the race manager for 11 of the past 14 years.

I like to say Im the one responsible for spending the money, he said.

He saw his first race in 1983, and volunteered for a few years before becoming the race manager.

I still have [dreams] of running the race, he said. But in the meantime, he is content to organize everyone else along the trail. I think the true heroes of this race are the people I work with. These are my best friends.

Were all just trying to get to Nome, he said.

During the race, two teams of snowmachiners ride in front of the leaders to make sure the trail is still in good shape.

The first group runs two to four days in front of the leaders, to break trail if a storm dumps on us or a bridge needs to be built, Niggemyer said. The second group is 24 to 36 hours in front of the leaders and are really just an over-glorified insurance policy in case the first guys get slowed down.

The third group follows the last mushers.

It just makes the mushers feel better that someone is out there with them, he said.

If it sounds as if its all work, it pretty much is, but Niggemyer has his hopes.

I have my fun. I didnt get to do it last year, but I hope to ride the last 250 miles into Nome with the [trail breakers], he said.