Belgian musher Sam Deltour
Twenty-four mushers pulled their teams into the starting chute on Saturday morning, to the loud cheers and best wishes of a crowd which lined both banks of the river and two big bridges – one just behind the starting chute, the other just at the end of it – and every team went off with loud and enthusiastic roars of support for the long trek ahead. Broadcast over it all was a running commentary and descriptions of each team, with their race histories and special mushing achievements duly noted. Details of interesting points were shared with the crowd:
Snowmachines helped ease the excited teams to the starting chute
“Those little booties will stay on the dogs’ feet all the way to Whitehorse, and the musher will change them at every checkpoint. Figure 12 to 14 dogs and four feet per dog times nine checkpoints… That’s a lot of booties!”
“See those spreader bars in this musher’s harness? They help distribute the weight the dogs are pulling in a different way…”
“This race is run entirely by volunteers, and it takes 1,000 people to help these teams run 1,000 miles…”
Just before the 2010 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race began Saturday morning in Fairbanks, a pancake feed brought mushers and their fans together at the Elk’s Lodge on the bank of the frozen Chena River. After the hearty meal all attentions were turned to the teams waiting outside in the dog yard, with mushers posing with fans for photos and the fans extending their heartfelt final best wishes for a safe trip. Warming temperatures and a bright sunny morning had everyone enjoying the pre-race fun!
Mike Ellis' beautiful all Siberian team is always a crowd favorite
And then the obvious crowd favorite and four-time Yukon Quest champion Lance Mackey led his team to the starting line, and loud roars of approval swelled from the crowd. In his typical manner Lance was still stepping to the fence to greet fans even as his team was jumping in their harnesses to hit the trail for Whitehorse. A quick last look over the dogs and he swung onto the runners and was off!
Brent Sass heads for Whitehorse
By early afternoon the teams were passing under the Nordale Road bridge, several miles up the Chena River, where a large group of fans had gathered to watch the teams pass by. The first mushers reached the Pleasant Valley Store on Chena Hot Springs Road by early afternoon, where another appreciative crowd of fans and photographers met them. Then for the next few miles the trail paralleled the road and cars pulling over to snap photos were a common sight. Groups of photographers clustered at especially photogenic points, and not long after a quick jag across the road near mile 26 the teams reached the first checkpoint, Two Rivers. The Yukon Quest web site reported the first arrivals:
“Zach Steer and his team took the turn down the embankment and into the Two Rivers checkpoint after four hours and 11 minutes on the trail. He arrived with one dog in the basket, but quickly added her back to the line. Then it was over to the dog yard for some rest, as he laid out the straw and some food for the dogs.
Abbie West followed closely behind and also parked her team for a rest alongside Steer. While he may have started 11th, Lance Mackey picked up some pace and was the third musher to arrive in Two Rivers. He joined the others, resting his team in the dog yard.”
Zack Steer was the first musher into the first checkpoint, Two Rivers
From Two Rivers the teams head cross-country for the first two mountain summits, the 3,640′ Rosebud Summit and 3,685 Eagle Summit. They’ll have a mandatory two hour layover at the Mile 101 checkpoint before the steep climbing begins. The first mushers are expected to arrive at Mile 101 around 6 am on Sunday.
For more reports and photos from the trail check out Alaska Dispatch’s Team & Trail.
All photos by Helen Hegener, Northern Light Media.
Tags: Bart De Marie, Brent Sass, Cindy Barrand, David Dalton, Gerry Willomitzer, Hans Gatt, Helen Hegener, huskies, Jennifer Raffaeli, Jocelyne LeBlanc, Katie Davis, Kelley Griffin, Ken Anderson, Lance Mackey, Mike Ellis, mushing, Normand Casavant, Northern Light Media, Pierre-Antoine Hertier, Sam Deltour, sled dog race, Sonny Lindner, Terry Williams, Yukon Quest, Zack Steer
Circle City, the end of the road... photo by Helen Hegener, 2009
This year we’re reporting both here at the Northern Light Media blog and at Alaska Dispatch’s Team and Trail blog. More reports and lots of photos later today, for now we’re off to the race start!
Tags: Alaska Dispatch, Canada, Chena River, Fairbanks, mushing, Northern Light Media, sled dog race, sled dogs, Team and Trail, Whitehorse, Yukon Quest, Yukon Territory
Jeff King riding the gee pole of his sled at the 2009 Iditarod start, photo by Donna Quante, Husky Productions
Updated link:
• ADN article Feb. 1: Mushers Double Up for King’s New Race
Original post Jan. 28:
The new Denali Doubles Invitational is a sled dog race for cash prizes from Cantwell, Alaska to Paxson, Alaska and back – with stops at designated checkpoints along the trail. With a $10,000 first prize and cash prizes through fifth place, the race teams will consist of two mushers and one dog team. Potential configurations include single sled, tandem sleds (drag sled), gee pole sled, or a sled and an attached skier. At no time can a team be changed into two separate units. Teams must begin the race with no more than 20 dogs and no fewer than 12 dogs, and must finish the race with no fewer than 8 dogs. The race gets underway at 5:00 pm in Cantwell, Alaska, and follows the Denali Highway to Paxon Roadhouse on the Richardson Highway. A total of 16 hours of rest must be taken, with a mandatory 8 hour layover at Maclaren River Lodge.
Tags: Cantwell, Denali Highway, gee pole, Jeff King, Mushers, Paxon, sled dog race, sled dogs, tandem sleds, • Denali Doubles
Togo, Leonhard Seppala's leader during the 1925 Serum Run
The film project is set up at family-friendly producer Walden Media, which is currently in theaters with “Tooth Fairy.” Producers are eyeing a summer start for the project, which at one point was in development at Miramax under the title “Ice Bound.” According to the film news site FilmShaft, “Hood is looking to sign on and begin filming in the summer (when it will be warmer and they’ll recreate the harsh conditions with CGI and the magic of the movies…wimps).”
The deal marks the first project for Hood since “Wolverine,” which grossed $373 million worldwide last year. His other credits include the South African drama “Tsotsi,” which won the foreign-language Oscar in 2006, and the Iraq war-themed drama “Rendition.”
The Anchorage Daily News noted the news in their Jan. 26 issue, adding, “Whether it will be filmed in Alaska has yet to be specified.”
Tags: Baldy, diphtheria, Gavin Hood, Gay Salisbury, Ice Bound, Laney Salisbury, Nenana, Nome, Norman Vaughn Serum Run, Seppala, serum run, The Cruelest Miles, Togo, Walden Media
An in-depth look at the financial side of running the Iditarod, by a long-time reporter on the race, the venerable Craig Medred:
Once an event for Alaska gold miners, fishermen, Bushrats and a handful of others with a passion for mushing, it has come to be dominated by professionals in the business of running racing kennels.
The birth of this phenomenon dates back to 1985. That was the year Libby Riddles, a Minnesota transplant living in Teller on the Seward Peninsula with Eskimo Joe Garnie, became the first woman to win the race. Before Riddles, the Iditarod was a largely Alaska-centric event. Its fame barely reached as far south as the Alaska panhandle.
After Riddles, everything changed.
Read the entire article.
Tags: Anchorage, Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, Cabela's, Craig Medred, Dick Newton, Iditarod, Iditarod Invitational, Iditarod Trail, Iron Dog, Jeff King, Joe Garnie, Joe Redington, Jon Little, Laura Bedard, Libby Riddles, Mark Nordman, Nome, Rick Swingley, Robert Sorlie, Sarah Palin, Stan Hooley, Susan Butcher, Timberland, Todd Palin
