January 22, 2009

• Iditarod Dreams

  Several people have mentioned that they like the unusual “no parking” sign below.  I can’t take credit for the photo.  I don’t even know where it was taken.  I found it on the web last summer, without photographer’s attribution, and thought it would make an appropriate symbol to mark each of my dog racing entries, so that those who find them tiresome won’t have to slog through a paragraph before they realize they’re in the wrong place, and the fans of racing huskies will know immediately to pay attention.

  

  [Mushers' head shots below are from
  Iditarod.com.]

  Somebody asked recently if the dog racing season is in full swing.  Sprint races have been going on at various tracks since there has been enough snow on the ground to float a sled. 

  The first mid-distance race of the season was the Sheep Mountain… what is it, a 150?  I think… anyway it is a recent addition to the seasonal racing calendar and was held in mid-December.  Sheep Mountain Lodge is at a high enough elevation to be sure of snow by then.  Jessica Hendricks won it this year.

  The Copper Basin 300 starts every year on the second Saturday in January.  This year, that was near the end of the month or so of super-chilly weather Alaska experienced, and the teams endured temperatures around minus fifty Fahrenheit.  Two-time Iditarod winner, current Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey, the first person ever to win both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod in the same season, and a cool guy, too, won that one this year.

  As I mentioned yesterday, the weather warmed up and trails were so wet and mushy that the three mid-distance races scheduled for last weekend were postponed.  The Kuskokwim 300 got off to a late start on Sunday, and was won by Mitch Seavey. 

  Still to come this month are the Tustumena 200 and Klondike 300.  The long-distance season starts this weekend, in Minnesota, with the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.  Next month comes Yukon Quest, the 1000 Mile International Sled Dog Race.  It runs from Canada to Alaska this year (other way ’round in alternate years), starting in Whitehorse, YT on Valentine’s Day.  I will be blogging some highlights, but my daily race reports will not begin until the start of the Iditarod in March.

  Have you ever dreamed of being in the Iditarod?  Well, to do it the total-immersion way, you need to breed and train a dog team and finish the requisite number (I don’t know details like that because it’s something I’ll never try.) of qualifying races, pay your entry fee, etc.  But each year a fortunate bunch of regular people get to ride in the sleds with mushers at the Ceremonial Start in downtown Anchorage.  Tomorrow, around noon, Friday January 23, 2009, final bids begin in this year’s Idita-Rider Auction.

  Lance Mackey, above, is no longer available, nor is Dee Dee Jonrowe or Martin Buser, but there are still 53 mushers up for bids, including Mitch Seavey, above,

  Jeff King,

  

  Sebastian Schnuelle
  

  Ed Iten
  

  and Aliy Zirkle
  

   

  One interesting aspect of the Iditarod is the Iditarod Air Force.  They are an all-volunteer force of private pilots who donate their time and their aircraft for delivering tons of dog food and other supplies to the checkpoints before the start of the race.  During the race, they take the slow, sick or injured dogs back home after they have been dropped, and they provide transportation between checkpoints for race officials, veterinarians, reporters, photographers, etc.  Twenty-seven of them are signed up for this year.

  If you are wondering what all that Heet gas line anti-freeze is for, it’s not for the planes, and not to put in the sleds’ tanks.  It is popular fuel for the cookers mushers carry in their sleds for melting snow to water the dogs and for cooking their food.  Kibble is only a small part of those athletes’ diets.

  Some notes on nomenclature:

  These are sled dog races, not dog sled races.  The sleds are just along for the ride, to carry a few necessities and a lot of stuff required by official rules, and the runners give the musher a place to stand once in a while to rest his or her legs after miles of running, or to “pump” with one foot and lean this way or that to help steer behind the team.  The dogs do most of the work and it is the first nose over the finish line that wins.

  Huskies… well we’re a bit loose around here on what that term means.  Siberian Husky, as pictured here, is a recognized dog breed.  Each year’s Iditarod usually includes at least one team of these beautiful dogs.  Alaskan huskies are a different breed, and not a recognized breed at all.  They are dogs of mixed ancestry, bred especially for the traits that make them good racers in snow. 

  My dog Koji looks like an Alsatian, and his father was reportedly a collie, but his mother was an Alaskan “husky,” and so is he.  Most mushers call their dogs huskies, no matter what they look like.  One notable exception is John Suter, who ran the Iditarod four times, from 1988 through 1991, finishing in the middle of the pack every time, with a team entirely made up of standard poodles.

  Yeah, I guess the dog racing season is in full swing.  Keep looking for the parking sign, and watch out for yellow snow.

  

  • 6:59 pm
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