Iditarod! Rootin for Newton!

[SistahD]

Re:Mush on Newton!

From the JDT Facebook page...

" Tired like a dog....finally tomorrow I be at the finish line! Mush Mon to all! " Words from Newtons mouth just now. Off to bed he goes...

If Newton Marshall had a Ground Hog Day on the Iditarod today would be that day. After being swarmed by admiring fans in Elim and not one minute of sleep Newton made h...is way out to White Mountain after just a 5 hour rest. He pushed through non stop passing the cliffs along the Bay and then three mountain ascents. Back on the ice Newton mushed through the wind through Golovin and finally into White Mountain. And that's just when the night began. At least 40 locals stayed up til after midnight to cheer Newton into town. Banners and home made Jamaican flags were flapping in the wind. After feeding and congratulating his team Newton signed autographs and posed for pics with the kids and then headed indoors for yet another surprise.

Newton recieved his own homemade Jamaican meal courtesy of local Joanna Adams. Chicken Jamaican Stew, Rice and Black Beans, Banana Rice, Apple Mince Pie, Apple Sauce Cake and Corn Bread were the main items on the menu. Needless to say Newton ate well....and now he is sleeping like a baby. His new Inupiaq ...name Iglaqpaq meaning 'one who laughs' has now been shortened to 'Iggy'.


pics and more comments here at the JDT page posted half hour ago


<span style="font-size: 11pt">Not mush farther Newt!!</span>

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 77 miles to the finish!!!!!

<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 20pt">GO NEWTON!!!!!!</span></span>

This is soooo amazing. We'll see Newton hit Nome today!!!

There's no place like Nome.

77 more miles!

[SistahD]

Re:Mush on Newton! 77 miles to the finish!!!!!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">77 more miles </div></div>


that's roughly 10 hrs from when he left the last checkpoint?

[MsExced]

Re:Mush on Newton! 77 miles to the finish!!!!!

GO Newton

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 77 miles to the finish!!!!!

SistahD it looks like around 6 or 7 hours. Here is a link to the current standings and it shows distance between last checkpoints and times:

http://www.iditarod.com/race/race/currentstandings.html

There are a lot of current updates on the JDT facebook page that I haven't got time to post right now cause I have to run but it's well worth looking at for those of you who haven't checked!!

Just a reminder to everyone - Newton is currently resting at the 8-hour mandatory stop in White Mountain. He is scheduled to leave for the last leg of the Iditarod this morning at 8:27 AKST. Rootin' for Newton all the way to Nome!!!

JDT Facebook page

[halfwaytree]

Re:Mush on Newton! 77 miles to the finish!!!!!


Mush it Newton! Mek wi proud!!!!

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 40 miles to the finish!!!!!

Newton is out of White Mountain and on his way to safety. It looks as though he has about 20 miles to Safety. From safety is is 22 miles to Nome!

Go NEWTON!!!!!!!!!!

WOOT WOOT!!!!

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 40 miles to the finish!!!!!

Newton is well on his way to the safety checkpoint!!

Here is a screen capture of the GPS tracking. Number 14, I circled him in red. The last green tag just ahead of him is Nome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Newton I knew you could do this!!! WOOTWOOT!!!!!!

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 28 miles to the finish!!!!!

28 miles! He has 6 miles to the last checkpoint at Safety!!!!!!!

Then a short 22 miles from Safety to Nome.

This is so wonderful!!!

I'll be looking for a live broadcast of Newtons finish later and will post a link if I find one!

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 25 miles to the finish!!!!!

Newton is just 3 miles from Safety checkpoint. Not sure how long he will be at the checkpoint but from then on it is just a hop, skip and a jump to Nome!

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 28 miles to the finish!!!!!


France 24's coverage

19 March 2010 - 00H04

Jamaican breaks new ground in Alaska dogsled race
A sled dog team participates in the Iditarod in 2007 in Willow, Alaska. Before he began racing sled dogs competitively, Newton Marshall had never traveled. &quot;Nobody knew about dog sledding in Jamaica,&quot; he says.
A sled dog team participates in the Iditarod in 2007 in Willow, Alaska. Before he began racing sled dogs competitively, Newton Marshall had never traveled. &quot;Nobody knew about dog sledding in Jamaica,&quot; he says.

AFP - Before he began racing sled dogs competitively, Newton Marshall had never traveled. &quot;Nobody knew about dog sledding in Jamaica,&quot; he says.

The 27-year-old from St. Ann Parish in Jamaica, stopped to talk in Koyuk, Alaska, a checkpoint along the trail of the Iditarod Great Sled Race, to describe his unlikely journey into a cold-weather sport.

Marshall had been working with horses as an adventure guide, when his boss asked him to help care for a few sled dogs for a little while.

One thing led to another, and soon Marshall and his company were using the dogs to pull sleds modified with the addition of wheels. At first, he admits, &quot;I thought it would not work out.&quot;

The company, Jamaica Dogsled Team, now offers the wheeled sled rides on the island as a tourist attraction.

But for Marshall, they were a step to something bigger: training to run a real race in real snow. It wasn't easy. For one thing, the conditions weren't exactly what he would face in the north.

&quot;The weather was kinda warm, so we were doing it at five o'clock in the morning,&quot; he recalls.

Still, the training paid off, and eventually Marshall found himself headed to Canada to race.

He still recalls stepping out of a plane in Whitehorse, in Canada's Yukon Territory. He wasn't wearing gloves.

&quot;All the sudden my finger was all stiff,&quot; he laughs.

&quot;I didn?t know what I was getting myself into,&quot; he adds, on a more serious note. &quot;I didn't know what 18 below (zero) was; I didn't know any of that stuff.&quot;

Marshall persevered, though, doing well in smaller races and qualifying for the 2009 Yukon Quest, a 1,600 kilometer (1,000-mile) sled race in Alaska and Canada.

Finishing the Quest brought Marshall some media attention -- it's tough to resist a story line about an athlete from a tropical nation competing in a cold weather event.

And because he is from Jamaica, Marshall inevitably draws comparisons to the island nation's Olympic bobsled team, whose travails and eventual success drew lots of attention and eventually were made into a 1993 movie titled &quot;Cool Runnings.&quot;

&quot;Everybody brings that up,&quot; Marshall laughs. In fact, when he first took up the sport, friends teased him asking &quot;Did they make a mistake and write ?doglsed??&quot; he says.

But all this was just a prelude to his 2010 Iditarod bid.

In the meantime, he has taken his training seriously. His trainer this year was Lance Mackey, of Fairbanks, who earlier this week won his fourth consecutive Iditarod this year in near-record time.

Some of Marshall's Iditarod team even comes from Mackey's kennel.

Hans Gatt, the second-place finisher, was Marshall's coach before Mackey.

Despite his experience in the Quest and other races in Alaska and Canada, the Iditarod has still proven a challenge, Marshall says. It's especially windy, and at times &quot;I couldn?t see the trail.&quot;

Still, he?s pushing on, and even moving slowly forward in the pack, at a stage in the race when more than a dozen other mushers have scratched.

Cold and weary, but with less than 270 kilometers (170 miles) to go in the 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) race, Marshall is closing in on his goal.

When he reaches the finishing line at the burled arch in Nome, he'll be the first Jamaican to do so. He?ll bask in some well-deserved attention, then head home.

What?s the first thing he'll do when he gets there?

&quot;Go to the beach,&quot; he laughs.

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 25 miles to the finish!!!!!

Arriving in White Mountain:



The kids at White Mountain decorated a sweatshirt and presented it to Newton!



image from JDT official facebook page

[Nanook]

Re:Mush on Newton! 28 miles to the finish!!!!!

[Nanook]

Re: 20 miles to the finish!!!!!

Newton is through Safety and on the very last leg of the trail to Nome!

20 miles to go according to my GPS. OK, off to find a live broadcast!

[Nanook]

Re: 14 miles and a live streaming video link!!!

Watch Newton finish here!

Newton should be gliding into Nome within the next couple of hours!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright Newton!!!!!!!!!!!!!