March 17, 2008

• Iditarod Finishers’ Banquet

  NOTE:  Red Lantern update at bottom
  

  ---

  Jon Little, in his Eye on the Trail blog, at what until this year had been Cabela’s Iditarod, has reported on last night’s awards banquet in Nome.  All otherwise unattributed quotes in this post are from Jon Little.  No specific photo credit is given in the blog, so I’ll attribute them to Jon Little as well.  I deserve no credit at all for my reporting on the Iditarod.  This morning, my urgent desire to learn the news from last night’s banquet was what drew me out of bed.  After next week’s All Alaska Sweepstakes is run, I’ll need to find some other reason to get up and sit at the computer.
  

  ---

  Jon Little opened his report:

  “If the pre-race banquet in Anchorage is an in introduction of the year’s cast of characters, the finishers’ banquet on March 16 is a party, a chance to blow off steam; and that cast of characters is more grizzled, scarred and definitely relaxed than they were when this thing began on March 1.”

  I would enjoy being there some year.  Occasionally, some business holds a sweepstakes offering tickets to the mushers’ banquet, and whenever I see one, I enter.  The mood is apparent in this photo of Sebastian Schnuelle accepting the four-wheeler he won.

  DeeDee Jonrowe was awarded the Dorothy G. Page halfway trophy and $3,000 in gold nuggets for being first into the Cripple checkpoint.  She did that run into Cripple on her husband’s birthday, so she gave him the gold as a birthday present.

  Last night, DeeDee said, “I love my competition. They’re awesome. They’re a lot of fun to be around.  March is family reunion time.”

  Rookie of the Year honors went to veteran musher William Kleedehn of Carcross, YT.  He has finished the Yukon Quest as high as second place on two occasions, but this was his first attempt at the Iditarod.  He finished in 27th place, ahead of all other rookies in this year’s race.  That adds $1,500 and a big trophy to the $5,700 he won for 27th place.  

  He also won the Northern Air Cargo Herbie Nayokpuk memorial award, with a prize of a free air cargo allotment and a new Carhartt jacket with its pockets stuffed with stacks of dollar bills.  The Nayokpuk prize is voted on by checkers at checkpoints along the Bering Sea coast, to the musher who best exemplifies the late Shishmaref Cannonball’s attitude on the trail.  Herbie was tough, and valued tradition, yet was an innovator as well.

  The Sportsmanship Trophy and a $500 gift certificate from Fred Meyer went to Ray Redington, Jr., grandson of Iditarod founder Joe Redington Sr., for helping other mushers and replacing trail markers that had been blown down by the wind.  That one, I think, needs to be a bigger prize, maybe needs to find a more generous sponsor.  Little acts like that save lives, of dogs as well as mushers.

  Jennifer Freking won an engraved crystal bowl and $1,000 in fuel cards from Chevron as Most Inspirational Musher.  One of her dogs was killed and another injured when a snowmachiner lost control and ran into her team as she and her husband Blake had their sleds stopped beside the trail to snack their dogs.  They had stayed together from the start in Willow, and when their dogs showed eagerness on the morning after the accident, they decided to go on together to Nome.  Blake established a record this year, with the fastest Iditarod run for a team of Siberian huskies, the pretty dogs.  Jennifer preceded him into Nome, but her team included a few of the mongrels we call Alaskan huskies.

  Mushers voted the Golden Clipboard to Nulato this year for the villagers’ friendly reception and their efficiency in moving the checkpoint from its former location at the community hall, to the school, which provides easier access and hot water. 

  The Golden Stethoscope went to veterinarian Paul Nader (left), who showed, “real investigative skills and determination to save a sick dog at Kaltag. The dog had been dropped and was laying inside the checkpoint to warm up when one of the race judges noticed it seemed unusually lethargic. It was sick. Nader and the other veterinarians there first treated it with IV fluids and antibiotics, but they feared it had a bacterial infection and were scratching their heads. Nader is not a specialist, so he placed a call to a veterinary internist he knows in Pennsylvania, who mentioned the symptoms may indicate hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. Nader then had the idea to check with the Kaltag village clinic, and found a resident who is a diabetic; the vet borrowed a blood testing unit from him. Sure enough, the dog’s blood sugar was low. Nader went back to the clinic, got sugar water for an IV to bring the dog’s sugar back up. The dog pulled through just fine. The other veterinarians there who helped out got an honorable mention: Vince Gresham, Vern Otte and Michael Zindeen.”

  Babe, Ramey Smyth’s lead dog, who is nearly eleven years old, won the Lolly Medley Golden Harness award presented by the city of Nome.

  “Babe has led for Smyth in nine Iditarods, finishing in lead eight times, including this year’s impressive third-place finish just behind Lance Mackey and Jeff King. Racing sled dogs are typically in their prime between ages 3 and 7, and rarely does a dog pushing 11 have the speed or intensity to help an aggressive, competitive team in the top five. Sled dogs, like all dogs, have a life span of 10 to 15 years on average. Her accomplishments would be tough for any dog to match. Smyth has said Babe has a gentle side as well, spending lots of time in the house, where she is motherly to Smyth’s one-year-old daughter, Ava.

  “The Big Lake musher was unable to say any of that at the banquet, however. He couldn’t utter a word, he was so full of emotion, and walked off the stage to a huge round of applause. Smyth’s mother, the late Lolly Medley, came up with the award, and used to sew a gold-colored harness for the winner.”  

  Lance Mackey collects $69,000 and a Dodge Ram quad-cab 4-wheel-drive truck for his first place finish, plus the one-of-a-kind spirit mask by Orville Lind and $500 credit to fly on PenAir, for being first into McGrath.  The meal prepared for him by the head chef of Anchorage’s Millennium Hotel (my favorite place to stay in Anchorage, for the food), which he wolfed down in Ruby for being first to the Yukon River, will be repeated later for him to enjoy at his leisure, for winning the race.

  I could be wrong, but the dogs in this shot look to me like Larry on the left and Hansom (or Handsome–Lance seems to favor shorter variant spellings, and the newspapers often get them wrong) getting in Lance’s face.  I don’t know of many places where dogs get invited to banquets.  Here they are the guests of honor.

  Jeff King won the Wells Fargo Gold Coast Award, $2,500 in gold nuggets and a trophy, for being first into Unalakleet on the Bering Sea.  Again this year, as last year, he got to Unalakleet just ahead of Lance Mackey, and to Nome just after Lance. 

  The gold nuggets are nice, but Jeff might value more highly the Alaska Airlines Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award he won this year.  Voted by the veterinarians on the trail, it is awarded for exemplary dog care. 

  “King maintained a cheerful squad of 16 dogs all the way to White Mountain, while still vying for that elusive fifth Iditarod win. He finished second to Lance Mackey, who tapped a well of speed on the second-to-last run and was able to maintain an hour-long lead. Veterinarians praised King’s 14-dog team at the finish for having good weight, hydration and attitude. King used the platform to remind mushers that, ‘care of dogs occurs more between checkpoints in how you run them than at the checkpoints.’  The award comes with two free tickets anywhere Alaska Airlines flies. ‘I’ve got a hunch I’m going to Mexico!,’ King said.”

  The same competitive banter between Jeff King and Lance Mackey that has been going on since last year’s Iditarod, continued at the banquet last night as they prepare for next week’s centennial celebration of the All Alaska Sweepstakes. 

  “I’m pretty sure I’ve got a couple more left in me, so don’t get relaxed,” King said, glancing at Mackey.

  “I’m very much looking forward to seeing Jeff on the trail again,” Mackey said later.

  You can read more at the Eye on the Trail.

  The Red Lantern was not awarded at last night’s banquet.  Liz Parrish got to Nome at 10:51 this morning, in 77th place.  Molly Yazwinski and Deborah Bicknell left White Mountain a minute apart before midnight last night.  Whichever of those two, Yazwinski or Bicknell, is last into Nome, she’ll win the Red Lantern.

  UPDATE:
  Molly Yazwinski scratched.  This leaves only Deborah Bicknell out on the trail.  She dropped a dog in White Mountain yesterday and left there with 8 dogs at 11:21 PM last night.  If she makes it to Nome, she will win the Red Lantern.  If not, it belongs to Liz Parrish.

  

  • 3:20 pm
  • 6 Comments