Here Luc Tweddell, a rookie born in Quebec, is arriving on the Chena River to claim 14th place in the Yukon Quest -- as you can see, he is coming straight in.
Friday, February 27, 2009
So you would like to run dogs....
I happened to be in Fairbanks at about 3:00 pm on Thursday and learned that a musher was due in within the hour. It is always fun to see them cross the finish line so I hung around. Often it is only the dramatic stories that get told, but here is a rather humorous one.
For no apparent reason, about 200 yards from the finish line his dogs head off to the left toward downtown Fairbanks.
He is frantically shouting a droite!, a droite! (he is French-Canadian) but his dogs are looking unsure.
Pretty soon they are in a total muddle and here he is trying to turn them back towards the finish line. He is moving very slowly and looks tired -- how would you feel after 1,000 miles on the trail?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The finish line...
(the moose at the end is for Dennis).
The real heros of the Quest are the dogs
Anticipating the finish
The guy in the orange vest (center front) is doing the same job I was assigned. There were two large speakers and our job was to keep the crowd from knocking them over or tripping over the cords, and to moderate the volume if signaled. Not very exciting, but hey, you have to start somewhere... Your feet get very cold standing around on the Chena River for hours -- even with toe warmers.
Lance is being asked here how he feels about being a spectator at this Quest.
You may be able to guess his answer. In the end, the first 3 teams to finish beat his record time by 3+ hours -- the trail conditions were very good for the most part this year.
I know, another photo of Lance Mackey....
Two more... they don't even really look tired
On the off chance anyone is interested in the various upsets on the Quest trail this year I refer you to the website www.yukonquest.com. There are also several good articles in the Fairbanks News Miner www.newsminer.com. Every morning I would wake up to surprising developments -- particularly among the front-runners.
Spice and Revlon -- two members of a 10-dog sprint team
On Sunday I was assigned to Spice to keep her from chewing the tug-line at the ADMA race start. I also learned to harness and unharness dogs. The more exposure I have to these animals the more I admire and respect them.
I drove by this moose on Willow Run one morning. I also saw a Bull last week but was not in a position to take a photo.
There are a fair number of activities coming up at the end of the Quest. Friday night is a "meet the mushers" event and the banquet is Saturday night. To top it off Hobo Jim is performing at Ivory Jack's (just a few miles from the cabin) on Thursday night. I know, apart from Amanda few will grasp the significance of this.
And then it is on to the Iditarod....
Monday, February 16, 2009
Life in Alaska
Random stuff that would never happen in Florida....
The biggest news is that my neighbor, Ann, is driving down to Anchorage for the start of Iditarod -- and I am going with her! I have been officially accepted as a volunteer and am registered to attend the Dog Handler Certification Course at 12:30 pm on March 6. I will be a handler both at the ceremonial start and the re-start in Willow. I am really excited!
While I am on the subject, I am hoping to see Lance Mackey at the finish of the Yukon Quest in a week or so as well. Although he isn't running this year, his brother is, and Lance will be at the finish when he comes in.
A Goldstream Valley land/skyscape
It turns out that the Goldstream Valley is about the best place I could have ended up as it has a very high density of mushers. I have already connected with 3 (2 sprint and 1 long-distance). Once the two big long-distance races are over I will plan to spend some time at their kennels learning the ropes. Goldstream even gets a mention in Racing the White Silence: On the Trail of the Yukon Quest by Adam Killick which I just finished. A good book for anyone interested in the Yukon Quest (not the Yukon Gold, CLF -- that is a potato).
The Alaska Range from the Institute of Arctic Health Research at UAF
Two moose just before sunrise (8:30 am)
A little before 8:30am I got a text message from Ann that read "Moose on Snow Hook right now". It is about a mile and a half from my cabin to Snow Hook but I got in the car and drove off without even warming it up (it was slightly above 0). When I got there they had moved off the road but I was able to get these photos -- again they are not very clear mainly because it was still pretty dark and they had moved away from the road.
Moose by abandoned car
Ann was once chased by a moose and took refuge on top of this abandoned car. I often join her for a four-mile round trip walk up this road when she takes her dogs, Duke and Chicken Little out. She does this walk twice a day. It is great exercise.
A few more interesting observations: 1) Laundry detergent freezes if you leave it in your car; 2) Toe-warmers are essential protection when out in the cold; and 3) there are more dogs (by far) than children up here. I think Adam Killick estimated 10,000 dogs in and around Fairbanks. In fact, when Ann came in last evening and saw my new vacuum cleaner her comment was "Well, now that you have a car and a vacuum cleaner it is about time to go to the shelter." Oh yes, I bought a car -- used 2009 Subaru Forester. Subarus are like gold up here.
That's it for now. I will post again when the Yukon Quest is finished.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Dogs, dogs, dogs...
I can't resist a beautiful sunrise
The following photos include examples of three characteristic sled dog races. The Yukon Quest is a long distance race. The photos immediately below are from the start of the Junior Yukon Quest that took place on February 7th. The race is for teens between the ages of 14 and 17 and is only 135 miles (as opposed to 1,000+ for the real thing).
Following the Quest are photos from races at Dog Musher's Hall on Sunday February 8th. These are sponsored by the Alaska Dog Mushers Association (ADMA) and include skijoring and sprint races of 7.9 to 15 miles with varying numbers of dogs. The cultures of the sprint and long distance racers are quite different -- they don't overlap much. For one thing you need different types of dogs. The sprinters can go 20 miles/hour or more while long distance dogs average around 10 mph.
The start is on the Chena River at Cushman (main street Fairbanks)
Young musher waiting for it all to begin
Getting lined up before the start
A team heading for the start of the race
They are held back by snow machines
Norman and Marty at the start.
They are "wheel" dogs (dogs right in front of the sled).
I am now an official volunteer.
I was able to help bring the teams up to the start.
A skijorer taking off at the start of one of the ADMA races
Dogs
...and more dogs
Two competitors among the 10-dog teams
This is a big part of what I came for
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Coming in for the finish
It is impossible to capture the excitement
Fairbanks is the world capital of dog mushing. There are lots more races coming up (every weekend at least for sprinters). On Saturday I also went to observe the vet check for the Yukon Quest which starts February 14th in Whitehorse. While there I met the mother of one of the women mushers who is running this year. She is absolutely mystified (and should I say horrified) as to why her daughter got into this. She told me with strong emotion "She used to go to the mall with me in Colorado and buy designer jeans! I don't know how this happened." In any case, she invited me to sit with them at the Yukon Quest mushers banquet and I am looking forward to it.
That's it for now. Believe it or not I have to work on a malaria lecture for a class tomorrow at UAF.
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