39th Iditarod Sled Dog Race Official Start - Willow, Alaska

The following pictures are a small sample of the 1200 that were taken at the start of the 39th Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  Enjoy!

DeeDee Jonrowe on her way to Nome.

Jamaican dog sled team with musher Newton Marshall.  Yes, I said Jamaican!

Musher Zoya Denure and her team of adoptions and rescues!

These next 3 shots are of some of Robert Bundzten's team.  Trivia:  Robert is an infectious disease physician here in Anchorage and mushing is just a hobby of his...some hobby, huh?

Here comes Nicolas Petit...he ended up being Rookie of the Year this year.  Notice that his team is nearly all white?  Some mushers prefer white dogs as they don't get as hot during the day when the sun is bright and reflecting so much heat off the snow.

Lance Mackey.  His dogs are pulling so hard and he's going so fast that he's having to ride the break.  Check out the snow spray behind him!

These are the lead dogs.  Qualities of a good lead dog are intelligence, initiative, confidance, common sense, and the ability to find a trail in bad conditions.  They are the ones that get the rest of the team to the destination.  The 2 dogs directly behind the leads are the swing or point dogs.  They swing the rest of the dogs behind them in curves or turns on the trail.  The rest of the dogs behind them are team dogs, they add the power.

Team dogs.

These 2 are wheel dogs, the dogs that are closest to the sled.  They are generally stronger and sometimes bigger than the other dogs as they have to really pull to get the sled moving.They are calm and not easily startled or stressed by the sled behind them, strong, steady and have the ability to guide the sled around tight turns.

Musher Svan Haltmann

John Baker, the pride of Kotzebue

A Little Iditarod Background Before the Big Start!

The best way to describe the Iditarod Sled Dog Race is to let the Iditarod Committee do it themselves:

"You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world! A race over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska.  It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won worldwide acclaim and interest. German, Spanish, British, Japanese and American film crews have covered the event. Journalists from outdoor magazines, adventure magazines, newspapers and wire services flock to Anchorage and Nome to record the excitement. It’s not just a dog sled race, it’s a race in which unique men and woman compete. Mushers enter from all walks of life. Fishermen, lawyers, doctors, miners, artists, natives, Canadians, Swiss, French and others; men and women each with their own story, each with their own reasons for going the distance. It’s a race organized and run primarily by volunteers, thousands of volunteers, men and women, students and village residents. They man headquarters at Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome and Wasilla. They fly volunteers, veterinarians, dog food and supplies. They act as checkers, coordinators, and family supporters of each musher. "  - http://www.iditarod.com/ 

The race started as a labor of love to commemorate the saving of an entire town.  The trail itself originally served as a mail/shipping route from Seward on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula up into the interior of Alaska to mining camps and villages like Ruby, Unalakleet, Golovin, White Mountain and Nome to name a few.  Mail and supplies went in and gold came out!  In 1925 tragedy struck and a diptheria outbreak threatened to wipe out the entire town of Nome, on the Bering Sea Coast.  They didn't have enough serum to treat the entire town.  At that time, the Bering Sea was frozen over and transporting medicine via ship was impossible and air travel into the bush wasn't established.  The serum was brought in by several teams of fearless dogs and their mushers.  In the late 1920's, not long after the serum run, airplane became the primary means of transportation into interior Alaska and the trail started to fall into disrepair.  By the 1960's barely anyone remembered there was even a trail there.  Dorothy Page and Joe Reddington are credited with taking the initiative to revive the trail and start the tradition of the race.  The race doesn't follow the exact route that the serum run did, but it is a commemorative act that was first run competatively in 1973.   There are 2 routes, they run the northern route in even years and the southern route in odd years.

 

As my last post stated, every year there is a ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage for fans to come out and cheer on their favorite mushers without driving north to the official start in Willow, AK.  It is a carnival like atmosphere, fun and lighthearted.  The next day all that changes.  Willow is a sleepy, tiny town about an hour north of Anchorage.  Every year the Iditarod participants and their crowd of suporters and fans gather

on Willow Lake for the official race start. 

It is from here that they travel some 1049 to Nome.  Just them and their dogs.  All mushers start out with 16 dogs, they must have at least 5 to officially cross the finish line.  There is a $4000 entry fee for each musher, with a purse totaling more than $510,000.  It has taken anywhere from almost 9 days to 31 days for mushers to complete the race.  Some camp along the course with their dogs, others choose to rest at checkpoints.  They all train their dogs differently and feed them different diets (of which the exact ingredients are guarded closely).  Along with their sled and 16 dogs the following are the "required items" each musher must have.



Lance Mackey's sled ready to go.



Rule 16 -- Mandatory Items: A musher must have with him/her at all times the following items:

• Proper cold weather sleeping bag weighing a minimum of 5 lbs.
• Ax, to weigh a minimum of 1-3/4 lbs., handle to be at least 22” long.
• One operational pair of snowshoes with bindings, each snowshoe to be at least 252 square inches in size.
• Any promotional material provided by the ITC.
• Eight booties for each dog in the sled or in use.
• One operational cooker and pot capable of boiling at least three (3) gallons of water at one time.
• Veterinarian notebook, to be presented to the veterinarian at each checkpoint.
• An adequate amount of fuel to bring three (3) gallons of water to a boil.
• Cable gang line or cable tie out capable of securing dog team.
When leaving a checkpoint adequate emergency dog food must be on the sled. (This will be carried in addition to what you carry for routine feeding and snacking.)

I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like alot of "mandatory" items to have to take. Notice that list says nothing about mandatory food for the musher?  A new option this year was a GPS.  The mushers all have trackers on their sleds and the dogs are microchipped for safety, but carrying a personal GPS to help them navigate has been illegal until this year.  The mushers themselves are split on whether this should be allowed.  Lance Mackey refused to carry one stating that he didn't need elecgronics to tell him how his dogs are doing and where he's going.  Interesting.
See complete race rules here:  http://www.iditarod.com/pdfs/2011/rules.pdf

**Here I will interject a personal observation and opinion.  The race has gotten quite a bit of flack and criticism from animal rights groups like PETA over the years.  I honestly didn't know how I would feel about it, because as you all know my dogs are family to me.  They are treated as members of my family.  It is the way that I grew up watching my parents care for our animals.  They are loved, hugged, kissed and spoiled regularly.  Let me just say that if anyone would spend time watching these dogs and the way their mushers and handlers treat them alot of this propaganda would disappear.  These animals WANT to run.  It is in their blood, they were born to do it.  The excitement in the corral area was palpable.  Dogs pulling at their lines, fussing, barking and itching to get going.  I wish I had taken video, but sadly my camera is SLR so no dice.  The mushers have to actually hold the dogs back at times because they want to move forward TOO much.  The dogs look at the mushers with adoration, like they would do anything asked of them and give any musher the chance to talk about their dogs and they will tell you that this is all about the animals and the bonds that they are able to form with them.  Most of these mushers have had their dogs since birth, others are rescues.  The dogs are checked out by vetrinarians within a week of the race and then again at every check point along the race.  If an animal is not fit to continue then the dog is dropped at the check point and flown back to Anchorage.  Many times mushers will pull a dog from the line on the trail and zip them into their sled with their heads sticking out until they can get them safely to a checkpoint where they can be treated (if necessary) and sent home.  These animals are taken care of, and respected...they are most certainly loved, hugged, kissed and spoiled regularly!  IT IS ALL ABOUT THE DOGS.  With the VIP passes the Mom and Jackie had (and luckily myself) I was able to get up close and personal and see all the pre-race prep from the front row.

Sled dogs being removed from the travel trailer, secured and snacked (generally with frozen salmon) prior to the race start.



DeeDee Jonrowe's line stretched out and locked down with the hook.  You can see the lead lines that the clip in to the dogs harnesses. 

Speaking of DeeDee here she is...incidently wearing a hat handmade by a lady from Unalakleet.  The yarn is spun from 50% wool and 50% shedded sleg dog undercoat hair.  She was selling them at the craft fair in Nome for $275.  I have enough sled dog undercoat floating around my house to make a pant suit.  Apparently I need to start saving dog hair and spinning on my loom!

4 time defending champion Lance Mackey signing autographs.  This lady later fell off the snow drift through the orange "security" fence.

Denali (Mt. McKinley) in the distance on this clear, cold day!  Seeing that never gets old!



Looking back toward the start line from the far west edge of Willow Lake. 



A "little" Iditarod superfan trying to stay warm.

Alaskan stroller

Had to take her picture...loving the hat!

Jackie and her first "reindeer" sausage.  Verdict: "delicious...like a keilbasa"

These are pics of the dogs prior to being removed from the travel trailers.  We arrived early to get to experience all the pre-race preparations. 



   



Waiting to get harnessed up.



Delux Alaskan stroller.


Next post will feature pictures from the start.  There are just too many things I want to share to cram it into one painfully long post!



Ceremonial Iditarod Start - 2011

My dad left town on Tuesday March 1 and my mom and Aunt Jackie arrived promptly a day and a half later on Thursday March 3.  The plan was for the 2 of them to be here in Alaska for 2 weeks as volunteers for the 39th Iditarod Sled Dog Race!  While I worked that Friday, Mom and Jackie attended a dog handling class at the Iditarod Headquarters in the Millenium Hotel.  By early afternoon they were "Official Iditarod Dog Handlers!"  That evening we attended the Musher's Drawing Banquet in downtown Anchorage.  This was a really neat thing!  We got to watch all the mushers draw numbers for their starting positions.  Also, much more exciting, we got to MEET several of the mushers including 4 time defending champion Lance Mackey!  I'm sure most of you don't follow Iditarod news, but Lance is the son of Dick Mackey who won the 1978 Iditarod 1 second in front of the 2nd place finisher.  Lance has had quite a life including surviving throat cancer in 2005.  He has even penned a book, The Lance Mackey Story. (That both Jackie & Mom read during their trip here.)  We were even able to get his autograph and personally wish him good luck. 

My instructions for their 2 week visit were to catch EVERY SECOND on film!   The plan for Saturday, March 5, was an early arrival downtown.  Every year there is a ceremonial start of the race on 4th Avenue in downtown Anchorage.  Extra snow is brought in downtown to link 4th Ave. to the trail systems that run through Anchorage.  The mushers run their teams approximately 18 miles around Anchorage so residents can get a chance to see them, cheer them on and wish them luck before their long trip to Nome.  It is also at the ceremonial start that people can pay to be an "Ididarider."  For several thousand dollars you can ride in the sled with the mushers on their short run through town to the Campbell Airstrip.  I think the Ididarider in Lance Mackey's sled this year paid somewhere around $7500.  Now, these dogs can travel up to 12 mph at peak speeds...so if you do the math, you aren't even strapped into that sled for 2 hours!  But...it is through generous donations such as these that this race continues to run.  Sure, they have corporate sponsors including Exxon (can we say good PR...), Wells Fargo, Anchorage Chrysler Dodge (who donates a truck to the winner) and Eagle Pack dog food (our of Mishawaka, IN actually), but this race is a HUGE undertaking and a labor of love for not only the mushers and their crews but also for the fans and volunteers.

We arrived downtown around 7am, as the sun was rising. 

It was below zero and I had the Hoosier (Mom) and the Floridian (Jackie) outfitter with toe warmers, hand warmers, long underwear and down mittens.  I dropped them off, grabbed a Starbucks and started getting my camera gear ready.  Out came the fanny pack...

The mushers travel with their dogs, which are generally between 35-70lbs, in large trucks with individual compartments for each dog laden with straw.  Once into Anchorage the mushers lined the sidestreets adjacent to 4th Ave.  The dogs were taken out of their travel boxes and chained to the trucks.  At this point, early in the morning the mushers, their dogs and their handlers were fair game for media, volunteers and fans.  Having smuggled my Aunt's "volunteer" badge, I quietly and stealthily made my way behind the ropes and barricades into the areas with all the dog teams and their mushers.  I think that I managed to get some decent shots...though I'll let you all be the ultimate judges:

Mom making friends with a couple of the "athletes."

The 2 happiest clams in Anchorage that morning! Mom and Aunt Jackie.

The media starts it's descent upon 4 time defending champion Lance Mackey as he unloads his puppies.

2 of the "athletes" on Dallas Seavey's team (winner of the Yukon Quest race that was run 1 week prior to this year's Iditarod).

Lance Mackey up close and personal.

Grabbin' a quick snack before he has to get suited up.

The dogs wear booties on the trail.  They are generally made of fleece or another synthetic fabric.  They wear them to prevent ice shards from cutting their pads and to prevent ice balls from forming in the hair between their pads.  Per race rules, the mushers have to carry 8 pairs per dog (that's 512 booties) in their sled at the start of thet race.

Lance Mackey at the start line with Senator Lisa Murkowski.  Senator Murkowski is the first senate candidate in more than 50 years to win as a write-in candidate.  She won over Tea Party candidate Joe Miller with just over 101,000 votes.  The election was not only a big deal here in Alaska, but made national news in November.  I'm sure a few of you may have heard about it...

Past champion Martin Buser

Fan favorite DeeDee JonRowe in her signature pink parka.  Her pups also have pink harnesses, booties and coats!

Past champion Mitch Seavey

Mitch Seavey's son Dallas Seavey, winner of this year's Yukon Quest

Taking a last minute snooze before the start.

Knowing that we would watch the re-start the following morning up in Willow, AK, I headed in for a quick bite of sushi and a warm-up about halfway through.  Mom and Jackie quickly followed.  The day of the ceremonial start turns downtown into something of a carnival.  The week leading up to Iditarod is The ury Rondy Festival.  There are carnival rides, a 5K, the Running of the Reindeer, snow and ice sculpture competitions, the outhouse races and Yukigassen (team snowball fights).  This day is the wrap up of the weeks events.  After we grabbed some food we did a little shopping and Jackie even met a celebrity!

Jackie was really disappointed that we never did see Russia...

The gentleman selling these gorgeous hats is a retured Fish & Game Warden.  Now he runs traplines and purchases from other trappers and makes gorgeous, hand sewn hats, gloves and ruffs (the fur linings that go on hoods).  Mom helped out the local economy and purchased one of his gorgeous sheered beaver hats trimmed in fox.

She also completed a purchase she's been mulling over for more than a year.  A traditional fur parka made here in Alaska.  It was made of beaver, wolf, wolverine, mink and rabbit.  Jackie asked me why I encouraged mom to buy these gorgeous fur pieces.  My reasoning is simple:  Missy, my sister, refuses to wear fur.  Take a minute and mull on that...and I'm sure you'll get it. :)

They even had an antique snowmachine parade.  Had we known these old machines were so popular up here I would have shipped my parents 2 1978 Ski-Doos up here with me!

Jackie is considering trading in her Mini-Cooper for a more "green" mode of transportation. 

Stay tuned.  Up next is my coverage of the Official Race Start in Willow, AK, followoed by details and pictures from our trip to Nome, AK!