Willow musher finishes a close second in Iditarod

NOME — A day removed from his runner-up finish in the 39th Iditarod, Ramey Smyth can’t help but think about just how close he was to claiming gold in the world’s toughest and most renowned long-distance sled dog race.

“I was really trying to get first, trying to get ahead of John Baker, but he wouldn’t stop,” Smyth said by cell phone from Nome Wednesday evening.

The Willow musher was gunning for No. 1, his first victory in what’s turning into quite the career. The racing gods threw him curveballs early. Smyth drifted off trail took about a 30-minute detour in the Finger Lake area. He crashed on the “steps,” an infamous stretch of trail that leads teams down a series of elevation drops and curves into Happy River Gorge between Finger Lake and Rainey Pass. He also lived outside of the top 10 until teams hit Grayling.

But that’s where Smyth began to make his surge. Throughout the final 450 miles of the race, Smyth steadily marched up the Iditarod ladder. He survived treacherous conditions during the final days of the race and made excellent time traversing less than ideal trail conditions en route to putting together the second-best time in the 39-year history of the race.

Smyth’s time of 8 days, 19 hours, 50 minutes and 59 seconds netted him his highest finish, second place, in 14 career races. It bested Lance Mackey’s previous record, set last season. But was just shy of Baker’s 2011 time of 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes and 39 seconds.

“That was shocking to me,” Smyth about finishing with a better time than the previous Iditarod record. “I wasn’t racing to break the record.”

What made it so surprising, Smyth said, was doing it on the Iditarod’s southern route, which breaks south at Ophir.

Smyth said the southern route throws teams a tough stretch of trail. This year, teams were forced to deal with high winds and water on the trail near the coast. There were also temperature variations that would range from 30 below to 30 above.

“Very tough racing conditions,” Smyth said.

Smyth stayed outside of the top 10 for about the first 600 miles of trail. But when Smyth left Grayling, he was in 10th. He was fourth out of Eagle Island and never dropped out of the top 4 after that. Smyth said his move during the final 500 miles was part of his strategy. He was able to get by the likes of Hans Gatt and Hugh Neff, but not Baker.

Smyth had a spirited battle with Gatt. He was behind Gatt heading into Shaktoolik, but blazed through that checkpoint and left four minutes ahead of Gatt. Once again, Smyth was behind Gatt heading into Koyuk, but left the checkpoint more than an hour before the Canadian musher.

“He has a very fast team. He’s a true professional, and his dogs were doing good,” Smyth said of Gatt. “He’s not easy to beat. He was definitely a thorn in my side.”

Arguably the key stretch of trail for Smyth was between Koyuk and Elim. Smyth cruised at an impressive pace of 8 miles per hour between the checkpoints and built a two-hour lead over Gatt.

“That was probably the hardest run of my career,” Smyth said.

Smyth said he knew as early as the Iditarod checkpoint that it could come down to a race between he and Baker. That thought was affirmed once Baker got to Unalakleet.

“There was no question once he got to Unalakleet he had the strongest team,” Smyth said.

Baker and Smyth mushed at an identical pace — 6.39 mph — from Elim to White Mountain. Smyth also had another incredibly fast time from Safety to Nome — Smyth has won the Nome Kennell Club Award for the fastest time from Safety to Nome several times. But Baker did just enough to stay in front.

Smyth was one of three Valley mushers to finish in the top 10. Dallas Seavey, who now lives in Willow, finished fourth, and Wasilla’s Ray Redington Jr. was seventh. Popular veteran DeeDee Jonrowe was 12th. Four-time champion Martin Buser finished 18th and Smyth’s brother, Cim, was 21st.