Gebhardt first musher into Rainy Pass checkpoint

RAINY PASS, Alaska (AP) -- Mushers in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race headed into the Alaska Range on Monday, with Paul Gebhardt<br>leading the 80 teams into the Rainy Pass checkpoint.<br><br>Gebhardt,

Monday, March 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

RAINY PASS, Alaska (AP) -- Mushers in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race headed into the Alaska Range on Monday, with Paul Gebhardt
leading the 80 teams into the Rainy Pass checkpoint.

Gebhardt, who finished sixth last year, arrived at the remote Rainy Pass Lodge at 11:01 a.m. Alaska time (3:01 p.m. EST) with the
16 dogs he started the race with a day earlier.

Temperatures in the 30s forced mushers to slow their pace to keep from overheating their dogs.

"In the afternoon, if the sun's out, it's going to be really bad," Gebhardt said while resting in Skwentna. "You've got to be careful."

For two hours, Gebhardt, from Kasilof, had the stunning alpine views to himself, but then others started arriving. Three-time winner Jeff King of Denali Park was second into the checkpoint at 12:57 p.m., followed by Mitch Seavey of Seward at 1:16 p.m.

Defending champion Doug Swingley of Lincoln, Mont., was fourth at 2:06 p.m., about a half-hour ahead of five-time winner Rick
Swenson of Two Rivers, and Ramy Brooks of Healy.

Another 13 mushers were climbing the 30 miles of trail from the Finger Lakes checkpoint to Rainy Pass.

A record 81 teams took to the trail Sunday from Wasilla to officially begin the 1,150-mile race to Nome. The trail goes through Knik, home of Joe Redington Sr. who started the race in 1973 and died of cancer last June at age 82. From there it continues through muskeg and forests.

Given the crowded field, the top mushers said they likely would forgo resting much early on to put as much distance between themselves and the others. Warm weather, however, could change that strategy.

The teams, which include 29 rookies, are competing for a share of a $525,000 purse, the largest ever. The winner gets $60,000 and
a new pickup truck. Prize money will be paid to the first 30 finishers.

The race was begun to commemorate the lifesaving relay of diphtheria serum to Nome by mushers in 1925.

Swingley, who set the race record of 9 days, 2 hours, 42 minutes in 1995, refused to say whether he can break his own record this
year. If temperatures remained in the 30s, other mushers said it would be difficult. The warm weather will force them to go slow,
perhaps moving mostly at night, so as not to overheat the dogs.

Swingley said 11 of the dogs in his team this year were on last year's winning team.

"They are really animated and resilient," he said. "They don't need much rest."

Three-time Iditarod winner Martin Buser of Big Lake, who placed second last year, said he's hoping to avoid the injuries that forced him to drop six dogs early in the 1999 race. While many of the dogs are the same, this year's team feels stronger, he said.

"It feels like they're heading toward a peak," Buser said.

One musher already has scratched from the race. Ted English of Wasilla flipped his sled and landed hard on his back on glare ice Saturday afternoon just outside Anchorage.

The 61-year-old part-time carpenter struck his head on his sled and hurt his right leg and hip. English decided Sunday that his injuries were serious enough to force him to become the first
musher to drop out.