Champions' Corner

Winning strategies in 2010 Copper Basin 300

By Jon Little / January 13th, 2010

The 2010 Copper Basin 300, one of the largest and deepest fields I can recall in a mid-distance race, turned out to be a lesson in how sometimes the fastest team is the one that's not moving at all. Rest is a critical component to winning.

Jeff King, the four-time Iditarod champion, executed what appears to be a near perfect, if not perfect, schedule, which he suited to match his team's speed and carefully maintained physical conditioning. He had to, if he wanted to win. Allan Moore of Two Rivers, who's notched more Copper Basin wins than anyone besides Lance Mackey in the last few years, was right on King's tail to the end. And there were about 10 other teams within three hours of King's winning time.

Breaking down the rest schedules of both King and Moore, it's tough to argue who did it "right." And it would be pointless to do so. Each played out the 18 hours of mandatory rest in a very smart way, each suited to his own team's needs.

King rested at just about every checkpoint. Rested is probably too strong a word. He took quick breaks, as short as 30 minutes, which were likely pit stops where he got a little food and water into his dogs. "Micro breaking," was the term Zack Steer, who finished 9th, used to describe it.

King ran about 24 miles, took a 30 minute break, ran another 30 miles, took an hour and a half, then about 50 miles to Sourdough for a nine-plus hour break. Coming off that major layover, he ran about 40 miles to Meier's Lake, rested just 30 minutes, took a two hour jaunt over to Paxson, pulled over for an hour and a half for a cheeseburger, launched into a six-hour run, 55 miles, over to Chistochina, to take his remaining six hours of mandatory rest, followed by a 75 mile run to the finish.

Moore consolidated his rests a little more, taking two hours at Wolverine, approximately 50 miles into the race, running another 50 to Sourdough, giving the dogs four hours off their feet, then about 40 miles to Meier's Lake, where he took his major layover of nine-plus hours. From there, he blew through Paxson and ran a total of roughly 75 miles to Chistochina, where he took his remaining four hours of mandatory rest before the 75 sprint to the finish.

Moore pulled within two minutes of King, but told reporters at the finish line that his dogs got confused leaving the Glennallen checkpoint, costing him roughly 10 minutes. He finished seven minutes behind King.

The point of all this? King and Moore had different approaches, but each made sure the dogs got plenty of rest early in the race, saving the long runs for the second half of this 300 mile marathon. King, who routinely puts in 90-mile training runs, showed that a well-miled team can stop, chow down, keep their booties on, and keep going at a winning pace. It works if you know how to pull it off.

Other mushers ran long right off the bat, for a number of reasons. Steer, for instance, said his goal was not to win, but he wanted to test his Iditarod-bound dogs with a 100-mile run from the starting line to see how they would recover. His competitive run times coming out of Sourdough indicate they bounced back extremely well. He also finished with a full string of 12 dogs. But he lost at least an hour on the competition in that long drive from the start to Sourdough. Sled dogs' speed tends to tail off after about six or seven hours of constant running. Again, Steer's goal was not to win.