Buser's `Sail' Causes Stir At Iditarod

With about 200 miles remaining in the 1,158-mile Iditarod race, mushers are exhausted. After existing on a few hours of sporadic sleep each day, they face the most treacherous stretch of trail: across the Norton Sound.

Most racers like to cross quickly, hoping wicked winds don't blow in a deadly storm.

At this point, Martin Buser, of Big Lake, Alaska, rigged a sail to his sled by tying an extra pair of pants to ski poles, hoping the wind would catch it and speed him along the ice.

Buser won the 20th Iditarod in record time: 10 days, 19 hours, 17 minutes, 15 seconds. He bettered Susan Butcher's record by about five hours.

Seattle's Cliff Roberson said the sail created a stir.

"I don't know if it helped him - whether it's innovative or just funny or a potential can of worms," Roberson said.

"It's supposed to be a dog-powered race, not some other kind. However, it's hard for me to say anything bad about Martin Buser. I think he's just what the Iditarod needed.

"He's a real champion. He went out and met virtually every musher coming into Nome for five days - and not everyone's coming in at 2 p.m. They're coming in at all hours. That's something."