As I said in my last post, this is the first year I've really been involved with the Iditarod. I wanted to last year but didn't get my act together in time (nor did I know there were so many ways a person can volunteer and be part of the race). This year, I filled out an application to volunteer. There are probably 30 different ways to volunteer, including helping out on the trail checking mushers into checkpoints, helping mushers and teams get to the starting line both in Anchorage for the ceremonial start and in Willow for the re-start, and putting hay bales into plastic bags to be flown out to different checkpoints. At the race headquarters in Anchorage, there are several ways to help also, including communications with the trail volunteers, entering race stats into a computer to update online, answering the phones to answer questions that people around the world have about the race, and even selling Iditarod merchandise.
I decided to help out with volunteer check-in and entering race stats this year. One night that I was working on race stats, I worked with DeeDee Jonrowe's mother, who's been volunteering for many many years. She is quite an interesting and humble woman with many stories from over the years!
The more I learn about the race (this year and as a whole), the more impressed I am with the whole thing and have realized this is not like any other competitive sport that I know of. So I wrote down what I could think of that has really stood out to me. So that you all can be enlightened too, here's my list:
1. The stars of the race are the dogs first, and then the mushers. The dogs are the real athletes!
2. The mushers race because the dogs love to run and the mushers love their dogs.
3. You don't hear many stories of abuse of the dogs. I haven't heard any at all among the elite mushers, and the ones that I HAVE heard are people who are trying to help but don't have the means/space to do it properly.
4. Mushers are completely devoted to their dogs. Many of the mushers who scratched during the 2012 race did so because the dogs weren't enjoying themselves or it was "in the best interest of the dogs"/"for the well-being of the dogs".
5. Jeff King's team came down with a stomach illness on the way to Unalakleet. They couldn't even make it to the cover of trees that were in sight, so Jeff (a 4-time Iditarod winner) curled up and slept in front of them to block them from the wind. When another musher came along, he got help from the Unalakleet checkpoint for Jeff King's team. Jeff made a promise to his dogs many years ago that if it ever stopped being fun for them, he'd scratch. This was the first year he scratched during an Iditarod race.
6. A dog collapsed on the trail this year. The musher was sobbing as he did "mouth-to-nose" and begged for the dog to get up and be ok. The dog survived, and the man is still brought to tears when interviewed about that experience. This is not the only story like this!
7. Mushers look out for each other on the trail, even during a race. For example, Jeff King's dog was tangled one year during a storm on the Yukon Quest trail and it was another musher who noticed it and helped save the dog (they were both in 1st/2nd place at time time). In this year's Iditarod, a musher lost a warm mitten on the trail. Another musher found it and returned it to him at the next check point. They don't think twice about helping out fellow mushers... this is Alaska! :)
8. Mushers are very (visibly) thankful for all the volunteers involved with the race. They SAY thank you any chance they get.
9. One of the first things that Dallas Seavey (2012 Iditarod winner) did after he reached the finish line in Nome and hugged his immediate family was to go to each of his dogs and pet them/give them a treat and congratulate them. THEN he talked to media/people around him.
10. Veterinarians volunteer and check the health/wellness of the dogs SEVERAL times along the trail.
11. At the end of the race, the 51 volunteer vets vote for one musher who takes exemplary care of their team during the race. The award is called the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award. This year, DeeDee Jonrowe won the award, and she had this to say: " I am very humbled and honored for this recognition. My competitors continue to care for their dogs with the utmost love so to be recognized in such company is amazing to me. Our care is displayed by the fact that for the 3rd year in a row, all the dogs that started the race are healthy and home. Once again no dogs were lost." Another musher that won this award several years ago said that winning that award meant more to him than reaching Nome first.
12. The mushers know each member of their team SO well. They can tell you all about each dog's personality, strengths, and weaknesses.
13. You can just tell that the dogs are loved and well taken care of in the way they interact with their musher. They have the utmost respect for EACH OTHER and you can see that anytime you see a dog and a musher interact.
14. The 1st place musher wins $50,400 and a truck... for going about 1000 miles through the backcountry of Alaska. Clearly their is more to the race than winning a lot of money!
15. Feeding 95 dogs (the size of Dallas Seavey's kennel) costs $100,000/year.
16. Mushers breed and raise their own dogs much of the time (but certainly not all the time).
17. Thousands of volunteers make the Iditarod possible. Logistics are incredible, from getting musher food/hay, volunteer food, etc. where they need to be on time... breaking trail ahead of the mushers, staying up all night to check in/out mushers, etc.
18. The Iditarod Air Force, the volunteers that offer their plane and their time, transport all of the supplies and volunteers to the necessary checkpoints for weeks before the race even starts. After the race starts, they transport dropped dogs and mushers that scratch to either Nome or Anchorage. They're considered the safest non-profit group of pilots in the world, which is no small feat in a place like Alaska!
19. Mushers (at least the front-runners) hallucinate on the trail because of sleep deprivation. Dallas Seavey gets a total of 2 hours of sleep per day for 9 days. That sleep is in about 10 minute naps throughout the day. When they stop to rest the dogs for a few hours, there is still a lot of work for the musher to do... heat up dog food, feed the dogs, clean up afterward, fix their sled, etc.
I believe that's all I've come up with so far. The more I learn about this race, the more impressed I am and the more respect I have for it. I cannot wait to volunteer again next year... I'm officially hooked!
I was working midnight shifts for the ceremonial start of the race this year, but I decided I just couldn't miss it again this year (last year I was working during the day so there was no way to work around it). It snowed all day and was absolutely beautiful! A friend of mine found a great spot that he and his family go to every year, and they were nice enough to share their "secret" location with me. It's away from most of the downtown crowd and much more "intimate" interactions with the mushers and dogs. I brought along my camera, of course... so here's a sampling of the photos I got of the day.
First, a view from the bridge. The mushers go over the bridge I'm on and then travel parallel to the creek. So pretty!
The first musher to come our way... this year's Jr. Iditarod champion! The Jr. Iditarod is 150 miles and includes one overnight at a checkpoint. It is open to mushers between 14 and 17 years old. I cannot imagine being able to say I've accomplished something like this at that age... much less be able to say I won! What an achievement.
Ray Redington, Jr...
Jim Lanier... with his all white dog team...
Wade Marrs... a relatively new face to the Iditarod.
Happy Puppies!! See how the one dog's tongue looks like it wouldn't even fit in his mouth? That's how dogs "sweat"... as their tongues swell and they pant, the moisture surfaces of their mouth cool them. It's not as efficient as sweating, but it's what they've got. :)
There seems to be a bit of a size difference between the two lead dogs...
I got a couple videos of teams coming through. This one is #9, Nicolas Petit, and right behind him is #10, Jeff King, a 4-time Iditarod champion.
And this one is John Baker, last year's Iditarod champion. He's the first champion from northwest Alaska and first Inupiat to win the Iditarod.
Michael Suprenant... went from Iditarod volunteer to musher.
Aliy Zirkle's team. You can see her kennel's blog at http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/. There are several videos that Aliy has posted from along the Iditarod trail on there... very cool to see. The more I learn about her, the more respect I have for her. She is always positive, upbeat, and doesn't come across as feeling entitled at all. I would love to meet her some day!
More of Aliy Zirkle's team...
Not sure who these dogs belong to, but see how their noses are all snowy? It was a pretty "warm" day for these dogs, and they were eating snow as they were running. It's cooling AND hydrating!
DeeDee Jonrowe's team. The woman in her sled is an "Iditarider". Each musher has an Iditarider along with them during the ceremonial start. This Iditarider has been with DeeDee for the ceremonial start for many years. I know Jeff King has a "Make A Wish" kid as his Iditarider sometimes. It must be quite an experience! You can see DeeDee's website at http://www.deedeejonrowe.com/. There's a great video on there about her lead dog Omnistar. You can really see the connection between musher and their dogs in that video!
DeeDee waving to the crowd... you can see how hard it's snowing in this picture, especially if you look at the person on the sled behind her.
Lance Mackey... he has won 4 Iditarods in a row. Two of those years, he also won the Yukon Quest. Only person to have won both races in the same year!
More happy puppies!
And another sizeable difference between side-by-side dogs.
Traffic jam! A few of the teams stopped right along this part of the trail... for various reasons.
And we're moving again!
Paul Gebhardt...
Hugh Neff... known as the "Cat in the Hat" team!
I believe this team had stopped and is just getting started again. These lead dogs are not wasting any time.
One of the Berington twins... Kristy.
The other Berington twin... Anna (a rookie this year)
Dallas Seavey. Turns out this is the 2012 Iditarod winner... becoming the youngest winner in Iditarod history.
Some of Dallas Seavey's dogs.
At one point while I was along the left side of the trail (as the mushers were traveling), Ed Stielstra's team stopped right by me, with the lead dogs right next to me. I wasn't expecting that... much less that the dogs would immediately lean right up against me! (Obviously I didn't take the next couple... I give full credit to Lisa Brown!! Thanks for catching this!)
I got a couple photos while they were stopped and cooling off.
Another musher from the same kennel as Aliy Zirkle, this is the team of Ryne Olson (a rookie this year).
This is Dan Seavey. He competed in the very first Iditarod, 40 years ago, and is Dallas Seavey's grandfather. With Mitch Seavey, there were 3 generations of Seaveys on the trail this year. Pretty neat!
Many of the mushers were quite interactive with spectators. The ceremonial start is very relaxed... many consider it a party. This is one of the volunteers doing what many of the mushers were doing... high-5's! She is high-fiving the Brown twins here.
If you've made it this far AND read every word, you can be confident you're in the minority. Either way, I hope you've learned a thing or two! 'Til next time...
