Sled Dog Racing Info

Yukon Quest kicks off today in Whitehorse

2009-02-14T14:46:00.003-05:00

#sleddogracing Clipped from adn.com

MUSHING: Iditarod veteran buser makes his debut in the 1,000-mile trek.
Anchorage Daily News

Only one past champion is entered in this year's Yukon Quest, but the field of 29 mushers that today will begin the 1,000-mile trek across the historic gold rush trail is loaded with intrigue.

Can Martin Buser, a four-time Iditarod champ but a Quest rookie, join the exclusive club open only to dog drivers who have won both the Quest and the Iditarod

Can Jason Mackey live up to the family name and find some fame of his own on the trail between Whitehorse and Fairbanks

Is three-time champion Hans Gatt in the race to win -- or to coach Newton Marshall, the first Jamaican to enter either of mushing's premier distance races

The 26th annual running of the race begins today in downtown Whitehorse. Mark Sleightholme, a British musher running his first Quest, will be the first musher to hit the trail.

Missing from the starting line will be Lance Mackey of Fairbanks, winner of the last four Yukon Quests and the undisputed king of mushing based on his back-to-back Idita-Quest double victories. He opted out of the Quest this year and will only race the Iditarod.

That leaves the door open for Buser, Gatt, Jason Mackey and a handful of others that could challenge for the victory -- a group that includes Jon Little of Kasilof, who is running his second Quest, and William Kleedehn of Whitehorse, a two-time runner-up and perennial top-5 Quest finisher.

Gatt, of Whitehorse, won the Quest three times before Mackey's dominance began and finished second in 2006 and 2007. He's been working with Marshall the last two years and is providing the young Jamaican with both a dog team and a race schedule for the Quest.

Buser, of Big Lake, is a prerace favorite despite his rookie status -- he's a veteran of more than 20 Iditarods and owns a racing resume that is one of the best in the sport.

A win by Buser would make him the fifth musher in history to win both the Iditarod and the Quest. Rick Mackey, Joe Runyan and Jeff King have all pulled off the distance double, but only Lance Mackey has won both races in the same year, something he did in 2007 and again last year.

Jason Mackey is another Quest rookie, though at age 37 he's been around the sport for years. He's part of a three-generation mushing family that also includes dad Dick, a former Iditarod champ, and half-brother Rick, a former Iditarod and Quest champ and, of course, brother Lance.

"I'm here to uphold the Mackey name," Mackey told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on Wednesday in Whitehorse. "I'm here to win."

Ahead of Yukon Quest start today, it’s anybody’s game

2009-02-14T14:41:00.001-05:00

#sleddogracing Clipped from Newsminer.com

By Matias Saari
Published Saturday, February 14, 2009

WHITEHORSE, Yukon — With Lance Mackey out of the mix for now, the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race will crown a new top dog.

And many mushers feel they have a shot to win the 26th annual race that starts at 11 a.m. today in downtown Whitehorse.

There’s a trio who most folks are labeling the favorites: Hans Gatt, Martin Buser and Jon Little.

Then there’s up-and-comers on the cusp, like Brent Sass, Jason Mackey, Dan Kaduce and Warren Palfrey.

And not to be overlooked are veterans with previous top results, such as William Kleedehn, Sebastian Schnuelle, Dave Dalton and Michelle Phillips.

“You can’t count anybody out, really,” said Gatt, who three-peated from 2002-04 before Lance Mackey began his four-year string in 2005.

Many people are counting Gatt as the man most likely to reach Fairbanks first in about 10 days.

“I would have to say Hans is the favorite, just from his past record,” Lance Mackey said Thursday from Fairbanks, as he prepared to follow the race from afar while continuing to train for March’s Iditarod.

Gatt likely will have plenty of competition in his quest to match Mackey with a fourth career Quest win.

“My prediction is Hans and Martin are going to be battling, and the race will be between Little and Kleedehn and some of the others for the other positions,” Lance said.

Gatt’s entry comes with a side note. He has spent the last two winters training Jamaican musher Newton Marshall at his kennel near Whitehorse and has set Marshall up with a few of his strongest huskies. Gatt’s aspirations for victory might therefore be diverted slightly.

“This year, obviously, the focus is to get Newton to the finish line,” Gatt said Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Austrian concedes he still has “a really good dog team” that placed sixth at the 2008 Iditarod and second in January’s Copper Basin 300.

The latter race is where Lance Mackey told Gatt he would be withdrawing from the Quest for a variety of reasons.

“I was bummed out,” Gatt said.

One musher who has been in great spirits in Whitehorse is Buser, the first Iditarod contender since Mackey to cross over to the Quest.

“It’s rejuvenating and stimulating and exciting to have a new challenge coming at you,” Buser said.

Though a Quest rookie, Buser said he thoroughly has researched the race.

“I think I’m ready for it. I’ve prepared well,” the Big Lake musher said. “I did a lot of homework, and I think I have enough supplies out there.”

Buser is racing mostly large males in the Quest and has a speedier team lined up for the Iditarod, though he may enter a few dogs in both races.

Buser joked that he finally entered the Quest because of a mid-life crisis. He added that the timing was right as he has become an empty-nester because sons Nikolai and Rohn are attending college.

His goal is “to finish well,” but it seems he’s also eyeing the $30,000 first-place prize.

“I do need to make some money,” Buser said a week ago during the vet check in Fairbanks.

Then there’s Jason Mackey of Kasilof, who said he’s racing to win and to uphold the family name.

Palfrey, of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, also didn’t hesitate to reveal his hopes of landing in the winner’s circle.

“Ultimately, first place, that’s the goal,” said Palfrey, who wasn’t satisfied with 26th at last year’s Iditarod. “I don’t go into any race saying I’ll be happy with the top 10 or top 20. Basically, anything (below) a first-place finish is a disappointment.”

Of course, many others would be thrilled with 10th place, while some aspire just to travel the entire 1,000 miles.

Mike Ellis of Rumney, N.H., has been in Two Rivers since Halloween preparing for his second Quest with his team of purebred Siberian huskies. He placed 11th and set a Siberian record of 12 days, 10 hours last year.

“I’m hoping to crush it,” Ellis said of his record.

Frenchman Didier Moggia and Becca Moore of Willow are back after dropping out on day two last year at the Mile 101 dog drop. “I need to finish what I started,” Moggia said.

Also among the 29 mushers who will start — more than a dozen others entered but later withdrew — are 21-year-old Josh Cadzow of Fort Yukon, the first Alaska Native musher in years; Wayne Hall of Eagle, who is familiar with the challenges waiting on the Yukon River; and Yuka Honda, who is drawing plenty of attention from a Japanese film crew following part of the race.

Reports so far predict a hard, fast trail on the Canadian side, while Quest veteran John Schandelmeier, filling the newly created Alaska trail coordinator position, got a head start breaking out and marking the second half of the route. Complaints were rampant about trail conditions in Alaska last year, particularly on a neglected section of jumble ice on the Yukon.

One negative in this year’s race is that only $151,000 of a planned $200,000 purse is guaranteed so far. The shortfall is due partly to a decrease in sponsorships because of the lagging economy.

“There’s a lot of little things that should have been done,” Dalton, who is starting his 19th Quest, said about the organization’s fundraising efforts. “Mushers feel they’re getting hurt in the long run.”

Correction

There are three mushers who have won the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest sled dog races in different years — Rick Mackey, Joe Runyan and Jeff King. Lance Mackey is the only musher to have won both races in the same year. He did it in 2007 and 2008, but he is not entered in the Quest this year. Rick Mackey is the only one of the four who won the Iditarod before wining the Yukon Quest. Rick Mackey won the Iditarod 1983 and the Yukon Quest in 1997. A story in Friday’s News-Miner incorrectly stated that King and Runyan were the only other mushers other than Lance Mackey to win both long-distance races.

Volcano looms over Iditarod dogs

2009-02-05T21:42:00.002-05:00

Clipped from CNN.com

By Jim Spellman
CNN

STERLING, Alaska (CNN) -- From the Seavey dog sled kennel you get a clear view of the Redoubt volcano, and the Seavey family is watching closely.

The volcano is expected to erupt any day now, and the Seaveys are trying to find a way of keeping their prized sled dogs safe from the ash that may fall over a large portion of Alaska. The ash is highly abrasive and dangerous to breathe in for both humans and dogs.

"How we react to the volcano is going to depend on the scope of it, I guess. We have my grandfather's kennel we can move to about 200 miles from here," said Danny Seavey, adding with a laugh: "If it's so big that it covers most of the state then I don't now what we're going to do. Move to Russia or something, I guess."

But moving the dogs 200 miles away is no easy task.

The Seavey kennel has about 100 sled dogs that are training for the Iditarod sled dog race that begins in early March. The race spans 1,150 miles, from Anchorage to Nome. To make the run, the dogs must be in tip-top shape. The Seaveys can't afford a break from training the dogs, and they can't allow the dogs, who sleep outside in small crates, to be exposed to the dangerous falling ash.

"They are very well fed, highly trained athletes," said Seavey. "We're only a month from the Iditarod. They need to be training right now."

Seavey expects to have very little time to get the dogs to safety.

"Oh, yeah, it would be in a hurry. At the current wind conditions we would have about two hours from when it blows to when the ash gets here," he said.

"We have big trucks, and each dog has a little kennel that they can hop in ... so we have three of these trucks, and we can move 60 or 70 dogs that way."

Seavey says the canine exodus is "going to look crazy, a bunch of dog trucks and horse trailers running east. That's our only plan right now."

Plans are easier to come by for the human population of the Kenai Peninsula. Scott Walden is the emergency management coordinator for the Borough of Kenai.

"It can create a sense of panic," Walden said. "It's sudden. It's hard to predict when and where it's going to hit."

He was fire chief when Redoubt last erupted in 1989 and says the biggest hazard is the slippery driving conditions the ash will present. The borough plans to close schools as soon as Redoubt blows, hoping to get all the kids home safe in the two hours they will have between the eruption and the ash hitting the ground.

Walden is instructing people to take shelter and hopes to keep most people off the road for about a day while the ash falls.

He says everyone should have paper respirator masks, plastic sheets to seal up their houses and a weather radio to monitor the situation.

Down the road at the Home Depot, manager Mark Pierson says business in Redoubt-preparation supplies has been brisk

"The biggest thing that we're selling is the dust masks," says Pierson, who had to order extra stock. "We've bent over backwards to make sure we have these for the customers."

Pierson grew up on the Kenai Peninsula and was here when Redoubt erupted in 1989 and when the nearby Augustine volcano erupted in 1986. He saved ash from the Augustine eruption in a jar. He says people here are used to dealing with nature and the hardships that come from living in a place that can be beautiful one minute and dangerous the next.

"I think people here want to be prepared, but I don't see too many people over-reacting," he said. "You learn not to panic, you learn to be prepared."

Anderson optimistic this will be his year in the Iditarod

2009-02-04T20:09:00.002-05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Clipped from forestlaketimes.com

Wednesday, 04 February 2009

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Could this be Ken Anderson’s year in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race?

Anderson is hoping the stars in Alaska are aligned as he prepares for his ninth run in what is billed as the world’s greatest sled dog race, the 1150 mile push from Anchorage to Nome.

At 36, Anderson is no stranger to racing dogs. The former Forest Lake resident has been at it since moving to Alaska in 1994 and is a veteran of the Iditarod. He earned his best finish ever a year ago when his team crossed the finish line in fourth place.

If Anderson is looking for good karma as he prepares for his ninth run in 2009, there are positive signs.

Anderson and his wife, Gwen Holdmann, saw the birth of twins Leif and Marais on Aug. 28, 2008 in Fairbanks.

He labored last summer and fall on building a new 2000 square foot log home on their property in Fox, a small community 20 miles north of Fairbanks.

The hectic family days of the second half of 2008 were rolled in with sled dog training duties, manning the Windy Creek Kennel for sled dogs and working summer shifts giving sled cart rides to tourists in Fairbanks.

In the past month, he has put his racing dogs through a series of races in Alaska in preparation for the Iditarod which starts on Saturday, March 7.

Optimistic man

Anderson remains optimistic that his busy schedule may be just what is needed for this year’s Iditarod.

Race preparation has changed for Anderson. In past years he has entered teams in long distance races similar in length to the Iditarod. But not this year.

In a change of strategy, Anderson ran more mid-distant races in Alaska covering 200 and 300 miles. His dogs trained well and he picked up some top places and prize money to support the operation.

He is as confident as he has ever been one month prior to the big race.

“They are in good shape and I’m optimistic,” he said of his team. “I’m shooting for a win this year. I’m as prepared and as confident as I’ve ever been.”

Training conditions have improved, too, he said, as the temperature has moderated from early January when readings of 40 to 50 below zero were common.

At stake in the Iditarod this year is the top cash prize of $69,000 and a 2009 truck.

After last year’s fourth place finish, a good training winter for his dogs and a number of Iditarod veteran dogs in the mix for his team of 16 dogs, Anderson says he has to be optimistic. He believes his chances are good, barring serious accidents.

He has had three top 10 finishes in his previous eight races.

Inspiration

Anderson says 2009 has opened with new inspiration and purpose, now that he and his wife have started a family. The twins are the major addition to the Anderson family that also includes 75 dogs ranging in age from puppies to the retired team dogs that call Windy Creek Kennel home.

“My first priority is being a good dad,” Anderson said, adding that his time away racing the dogs is bittersweet because he is not with his family.

“They are an inspiration to do my best,” he said.

The couple has managed with some help from family.

Gwen’s parents, Robert and Erika Holdmann, spent most of the summer and fall in Alaska helping with childcare while Gwen and Ken were working and the new home was being built.

Three days after giving birth, Gwen returned to her job as organizational director of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power in Fairbanks which she helped found.

Ken’s mother, Betty Anderson of Forest Lake, is now in Alaska helping with the family duties.

Even with the new family responsibilities and running the kennel business, Anderson said he still has the desire to race.

“It’s become a lifestyle,” he said of the dog raising and racing. “I enjoy the dogs and the challenge of preparing for a race. I am competitive and like to travel.”

One more sign

Could karma be on Anderson’s side this year.

His balancing act of so many responsibilities has worked like clockwork, so far, he says.

And then there was the trip last month from Fox to Anchorage, a journey of 360 and the jumping off point for one of the in-state mid-distant races.

On the way to Anchorage, Anderson’s truck struck and killed a large moose. “I had just paid off the truck,” Anderson said.

The truck was damaged but was serviceable and Anderson continued on his way.

“It was scary,” he said of the untimely meeting with the animal. “I was lucky as the moose almost came through the windshield.”

More good signs as Anderson and his dogs prepare for the Iditarod.

Quest mushers put strategy into food, staple planning

2009-02-01T19:16:00.003-05:00

Clipped from Nwesminer.com

By Matias Saari
Published Sunday, February 1, 2009

FAIRBANKS — Of the countless things Wayne Hall packed for the upcoming Yukon Quest, the musher from Eagle made sure not to short himself of one crucial item.

“Copenhagen,” Hall said with a laugh, exposing a dip of chewing tobacco. “Enough to keep me goin’. That might help keep me awake when I’m sleep deprived, I hope.”

Josh Cadzow of Fort Yukon packed several unique comestibles for his huskies, including bear meat, prime rib donated from The Vallata restaurant and even “spoiled fish snacks.”

“It’s fish that’s been sitting on the ground for awhile, caught in a fish wheel on the Yukon in the fall,” the 20-year-old said of the king and chum salmon. “It stinks. (The dogs) like it, though.”

Dave Dalton of Healy said what’s different in his drop bags is what’s lacking.

“No cholesterol,” Dalton, 51, said. “No cookies, candies and all that sweet stuff. Basically just a bland diet of oatmeal and crackers.”

The aforementioned trio was among 22 mushers — 15 from the 1,000-mile Quest and seven from the Quest 300 — assigned to drop off their supplies (or have a handler do so for them) on Saturday afternoon at Summit Logistics off Van Horn Road.

From there, the hundreds of 40-pound woven plastic bags will be moved in two 40-foot Lyndon Transport trailers to nine checkpoints between Whitehorse, Yukon, (where the race starts Feb. 14) and Fairbanks (where it will end about two weeks later). Bags will be flown to road-inaccessible Eagle on Monday.

That’s one place Hall doesn’t need to worry about shipping supplies, since he lives there. The logistics of the race require not only time but brain power, he said.

“Things like the food drop ... we probably got 40 hours just in putting bags together,” said Hall, who was assisted by wife Scarlett. “That doesn’t mean chopping (meat) and gathering and logistics and figuring your run/rest (schedule) and how you’re going to feed. It’s a very mind-boggling experience.”

It might be tedious, but packing is a crucial task.

“Once your drop bags are done, that’s it. You can’t change anything, so you really have to pay close attention,” said Hall, who left Eagle on Jan. 13 and mushed 170 miles just to reach his truck near Tok. From there, Hall drove to Fairbanks a few days later.

Cadzow’s travel came earlier, as in December he left Fort Yukon for Goldstream Valley, where he’s been staying with his parents.

As a rookie, Cadzow figures it’s better to pack too much than too little. He dropped off three bags per checkpoint.

“I think I packed enough,” Cadzow said. “I don’t want to run out of nothing.”

The task was not a last-minute scramble for Cadzow and his helpers.

“We started it early this week, chopping meat. We were ready for a couple days now,” he said.

For Dalton, this will mark his 18th Quest.

“It’s pretty much down to a science these days,” he said about packing.

One might think Dalton would be trimming his loads to save weight, but instead he’s now packing more of everything — clothes, sled parts, meat — to prepare for the wildly varying trail conditions and weather that the race can produce.

“I have about 40 bags,” Dalton said. “I think my first Quest I had 22.”

Roster at 30

The 2009 Quest looks like it will have 30 starters, up from six a year ago. Ken Anderson of Fairbanks, the runner-up in 2008, and Abbie West of Two Rivers dropped out last week, becoming the ninth and 10th mushers to withdraw since the entry list peaked at 40 mushers in December. Also, Carmen Perzechino of Sterling is racing the 300-mile Don Bowers Memorial Sled Dog Race in Willow, which she needs to complete to be Quest-eligible.

Yukon Quest adds major sponsor

2009-01-23T13:19:00.001-05:00

Clipped from newsminer.com

By Matias Saari

Published Friday, January 23, 2009

FAIRBANKS — Faced with the likelihood of a decreased purse, the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race announced good news on Wednesday — TransCanada Corp. has upgraded to become the biggest sponsor for this year’s race.

TransCanada is now the race’s only major sponsor, a category classified by a donation of at least $25,000. The Quest therefore is guaranteeing a purse of at least $150,000, which is still short of the planned $200,000. It continues to seek a full purse through fundraising and sponsorships.

“This is a significant development for the Yukon Quest,” Stephen Reynolds, the organization’s executive director in the Yukon, stated in a press release. “Like many events who rely on sponsorship, the recent economic situation is having an impact on our partners, and TransCanada’s decision to substantially increase their support strengthens our organization and the race itself.”

TransCanada, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, has about 3,850 employees and owns a network of pipelines that taps into almost every major gas supply basin in North America, according to the release.

“We are proud to take on a more significant role with this renowned event,” TransCanada spokesman Peter Kruselnicki said.

On its Web site, the Quest lists more than 130 sponsors. They include one major sponsor, nine supporting sponsors, 21 lead dog sponsors,

21 team dog sponsors, 37 summit sponsors, 30 trail sponsors, 14 government sponsors and three media partners.

The race begins Feb. 14 in Whitehorse, Yukon, and will end about two weeks and 1,000 miles later in Fairbanks.

Withdrawals

and signups

As the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest field declines, the field for the Quest 300 is going up.

The full Quest peaked last month at 40 mushers, which would have been the fourth-largest field in the race’s 26-year history. However, since then, six mushers have withdrawn, the most recent being Peter Bartlett and Scott Smith of Willow and Simi Morrison of Marsh Lake, Yukon.

“We have seen this in previous years as well, that mushers withdraw for various reasons,” Quest Alaska executive director Tania Simpson said Thursday, citing causes such as financial trouble and dog injuries.

Four-time defending champion Lance Mackey and 2008 runner-up Ken Anderson also have said they each plan to withdraw, but both still were signed up as of Thursday.

The deadline for mushers to withdraw and get back all but $150 of their $1,500 entry fee has been extended one week to Jan. 30, Simpson said. A day later, mushers will drop off supplies at Summit Logistics in Fairbanks, from where the supplies will be transported to checkpoints along the route.

Meanwhile, the Quest 300 has a record 28 mushers signed up. The latest to join are Iditarod veteran Ramey Smyth of Willow, Quest veteran Richie Beattie of Fairbanks, Kathleen Frederick of Juneau, Will van Randen of Yukon, Spencer Thew of South Colton, N.Y., and Juho Ylipiessa of Tornio, Finland. Yukoners Rene Lapierre of Whitehorse and Kyia Bouchard of Dawson City have withdrawn.

The Quest 300 field initially was maxed out at 25 mushers, but organizers recently opened extra spots to those on a waiting list. That’s because organizers have prepared for 65 mushers at checkpoints in the Yukon and the 1,000-mile race withdrawals freed up room.

Elite Mushers Prepare for Wet K300

2009-01-14T21:25:00.001-05:00

Elite Mushers Prepare for Wet K300

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Iditarod needs more volunteers

2009-01-14T20:49:00.002-05:00

Image via WikipediaClipped from: KTUU.com

by Maria Downey
Tuesday, January 13, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Every year, around 1,800 volunteers come from all over the world to help pitch in for the Last Great Race: the Iditarod.

There are volunteers who have been hooked on the race since the start in 1973, Iditarod officials said, but they say new help is always needed.

Volunteers help out with things from dog handling to logistics, as each position is essential to keep the race from Anchorage to Nome running smoothly.

"The volunteers are almost as important as the sled dogs that run this race," said Chas St. George with the Iditarod Trail Committee. "They are the heart and soul of this race."

If you're interested in volunteering for this year's Iditarod, there's a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Millenium Hotel in Spenard.

And for Valley volunteers, a meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Iditarod headquarters in Wasilla.

Jeff King Hoot Sample Video

2009-01-10T21:27:00.001-05:00

From Jeff King's new video camera:

Mackey to withdraw from Yukon Quest

2009-01-10T08:36:00.002-05:00

Image via WikipediaClipped from: Anchorage Daily New

KEVIN KLOTT / kklott@adn.com

Published: January 9th, 2009 09:17 PM
Last Modified: January 9th, 2009 09:17 PM

Lance Mackey, one of Alaska's biggest mushing icons, is planning to withdraw from next month's Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, an event he's won a record four straight years.That means there's no chance for an Idita-Quest trifecta by Mackey. The 38-year-old from Fairbanks won back-to-back titles in the Yukon Quest and Iditarod in 2007 and 2008, the only musher in history to accomplish such a feat once, much less twice.

On Friday, Mackey said he will not race in the 1,000-mile race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, mostly because of a lucrative deal he made with an Alaska musher trying to qualify for the Iditarod in March.

Mackey took Kwethluk musher Harry Alexie under his wing in October, leasing him 24 dogs and giving him daily expertise.

Alexie picked a good mentor. Mackey is a two-time Iditarod champion and the son of 1978 Iditarod champion Dick Mackey and half-brother of 1983 Iditarod champion Rick Mackey.

What Mackey gets in return for training Alexie is a deal worth $50,000 from the Alaska Army National Guard, which Alexie has belonged to for 13 years.

The deal also came with a difficult decision: Yukon Quest or Iditarod?

With Alexie training with a team of made up mostly of Mackey's yearlings, all that would remain in Mackey's Comeback Kennel is enough veterans and youngsters to give him a chance at winning one of Alaska's two premier long-distance races.

Mackey, a member of the Yukon Quest board of directors, said the choice has been weighing on him for a few weeks.

"I've gotta go with my gut feeling," Mackey said by phone on his way to Glennallen for Saturday's Copper Basin 300. "I'm not going to run the Quest this year. I don't have any spares."

Mackey has yet to officially pull out of the Quest, Yukon Quest executive director Tania Simpson said. If he withdraws by Jan. 30, he can get $500 of his $1,000 entry fee refunded.

His absence will leave the Quest without its most famous and winningest musher. Last year's victory made Mackey the race's lone four-time champion, surpassing three-time champion Hans Gatt of Canada.

This year's field was supposed to be one of the best in the race's 26-year history: Mackey, Gatt, Quest rookie and four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser, 2008 Quest runner-up Ken Anderson and top-ten Iditarod finisher Jon Little.

But Mackey would rather focus on the bigger picture - as in the bigger purse. The Iditarod has treated him well in the last two years, awarding him $138,000 in prize money and two new Dodge trucks. He gave the first truck to his wife, Tonya, and traded the second for a sports car.

"I still need a new truck," he said. "That's my ultimate motivation. I'm fired up and determined to win."

His last two Quest wins have earned him $75,000.

"I'd hate to say it's about the money," Mackey said. "I'm making this decision to do what's best for my kennel."

With Alexie in the picture, Mackey said it's his duty to give the Iditarod rookie his full attention and a well-trained team. The Yukon Quest starts Feb. 14 and the Iditarod begins March 7.

The Army National Guard is counting on him, Mackey said. Last year the Army National Guard hired Iditarod veteran Al Hardman of Michigan to train Master Sgt. Rodney Whaley of Franklin, Tenn., for his rookie run. Whaley ended up scratching in Cripple.

This year the National Guard picked Alexie, an Alaska Native who wanted Mackey as a mentor. Alexie is a Personnel Service NCO for the 2nd Battalion, 297th Infantry in Bethel.

Once Alexie and his dogs begin their journey to Nome, Alexie will be his own. Mackey's focus will be on capturing his third Iditarod title.

Mackey said he'll return to the Quest in the future. But for this year, there will be no Idita-Quest title, at least not for him.

"I don't have a thing to prove to anyone," he said. "I can't run ‘em all - and I sure as hell can't win ‘em all."

Lure of the Iditarod

2009-01-02T22:06:00.003-05:00

Image via WikipediaClipped from thesundaily.com

S. Indra Sathiabalan

RACING through 1,850km of rugged terrain across frozen rivers and through isolated tundra in Alaska is no walk in the park. Yet, each year, a group of people push themselves and their sled dogs to the limit taking on Mother Nature in The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The gruelling race, which begins in Anchorage and ends in Nome, puts human and animal teams to the ultimate test. Each team has 16 sled dogs, and it is said that no animal has ever covered as much ground as the sled dogs that take part in the Iditarod.

In March 2, 2008, a total of 96 dog mushers started the race but only 78 finished. The record holder is Martin Buser, who had won the race four times and holds the fastest record in the race’s history of eight days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and two seconds.

Discovery Channel followed seven mushers and their dog teams – both rookies and race legends – on the trail last year. Their story will premiere on Discovery Channel’s Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod on Jan 6.

Among those participants is breast cancer survivor DeeDee Jonrowe, 55, who has competed in 27 Iditarod races so far.

During a teleconference call, Jonrowe said she started running dogs in 1972 when she moved to stay in Western Alaska. It all began with her visits to different villages in Alaska which was part of her job with the Department of Fish and Game.

Her usual mode of transportation is the dog sled. To find out how good her dogs were compared to other teams, Jonrowe decided to take part in village races.

"It wasn’t long before I was bitten by the bug to travel across the state of Alaska with a dog team. Actually, I got my first dog team in 1979, and I entered my first Iditarod and completed it in 1980."

To date, Jonrowe boasts of two top second finishes and 14 top 10th finishes.

In 2002, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy after completing the Iditarod that same year. After nine months of chemotherapy, Jonrowe returned to race in the Iditarod in 2003 and was placed in the top 20.

"I have been, what you call it, fortunate enough to be able to return to the competition," said Jonrowe. "I finished in the top five since having recovered from cancer and am currently training for the race this race. I have a kennel of 63 dogs in Willow, Alaska, which is my home."

Rather than retire after battling cancer, Jonrowe said she will continue with the sport so long as she is psychologically and physically capable of doing it.

DeeDee Jonrowe

"The challenge really makes my heart tick, you know, that makes the adrenaline run in my veins and everything that makes me feel alive.

"I’m so ramped up when I’m in Iditarod, and I love dogs. I love being out in nature. I love being able to see God’s great creation unfettered by filters of civilisation.

"I most expressively love the native people of Alaska and the culture here. That was what I wanted to return to, and all the medical ... stuff that I went through was kind of like paying my dues to try to recover the life that I loved so much, but I wasn’t sure I could," said Jonrowe in retrospect.

When it comes to her team of dogs, Jonrowe said there is really no secret to training them. "It’s just being consistent and responding to them in the same way for the same action throughout their life.

"Fortunately, that allows me to utilise positive reinforcement because I’m in this because I love dogs, not because I want to discipline dogs."

Jonrowe raised her dogs since they were pups, and both dogs and mistress have developed a respect for each other over the years,

"I love studying my dogs and then trying to figure out what is the motivator that unlocks each individual. And there’s a lot. Sometimes it’s food. Sometimes it’s praise. Sometimes it’s running loose. There’re lots of different things that are motivators. Each dog is a little different."

Few women take part in the Iditarod and Jonrowe points out that for the upcoming 2009 race, there are only 12 women in a field of 72.

Still, more people should take a leaf out of Jonrowe’s book and live life to the fullest.

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2008-12-31T22:49:00.002-05:00

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Yukon Quest Celebrates 26 Years

2008-11-09T19:45:00.000-05:00

Image via WikipediaThe Yukon Quest is having a Birthday Party!

Come celebrate the 26th Running of our 1,000 Mile Sled Dog Race with an evening of live music, fine food, and decadent desserts! Featuring a selection of Gourmet Martinis, including our very own Questini, Frostini, Yukontini, and the Howler!

Whitehorse
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14
7pm The Old Fire Hall (First Ave. & Main St.)

NEW TWO RIVERS CHECKPOINT
Chena Hot Springs is not available as a Checkpoint for 2009. It will be replaced by the new Two Rivers Checkpoint. The Checkpoint is located at the Twin bears campground – a run of approx 26 miles past Chena Hot Springs. As a result of the new Two Rivers Checkpoint, the distance from the last Checkpoint to the finish line is estimated to be approx 44 miles which eliminates the need for a Dog Drop. The North Pole Dog Drop will be removed for the 2009 race, however the City of North Pole will continue to support the Yukon Quest and host spectators at the Nordale bridge viewing area. We thank Mayor Doug Isaacson and the City of North Pole for their continued support.

The 2009 YQ300 Reaches 25 Team Maximum
The 2009 Yukon Quest 300 mile, a 300 qualifier race, has reached its maximum number of 25 entrants. This is a record number of teams entered in the YQ300 and the earliest the Yukon Quest has ever seen YQ300 sign-ups. Seeing a rise in popularity of the YQ300 over the past few years, the organization made the decision this past summer to cap entries for the YQ300 to a maximum of 25 teams. The YQ300 starts on Saturday, February 14th, the same day as the Yukon Quest, and follows the same trail as the main race from the start line until Stepping Stone, a hospitality stop 32 miles past Pelly Crossing Checkpoint. At Stepping Stone, while the main race teams continue northward toward Dawson City, the YQ300 teams will veer south toward the finish line at Minto Landing.The list of YQ300 entrants this year include Yukon Quest veterans Gerry Willomitzer, Crispin Studer, Ed Hopkins andBill Cotter, Champion of the 1987 Yukon Quest. One of the many newcomers to the YQ300 is Jillian Rogers, a musher and photojournalist residing in Fairbanks Alaska. Rogers, the 24th musher to sign-up, will be using the YQ300 as one of the qualifying races required to run a future 1000-mile race.

You can check out the musher profiles of the 25 entrants online at
www.yukonquest.com/site/yq300-mushers

Veterinarian John Overell Recovery
After many long months of therapy and recovery in Vancouver following a motorcycle accident in the spring, John Overell is finally coming home to the North. He is scheduled to head to Whitehorse later in November to continue his rehabilitation. The Yukon Quest is thrilled to continue receiving and sharing the good news about John’s recovery.

Four mushers bail on Iditarod before it starts

2008-10-02T20:16:00.001-04:00

Image via WikipediaClipped from adn.com (Anchorage Daily News)

SCRATCHED: Beating withdrawal deadline means they get entry fees back.
By MIKE CAMPBELL
mcampbell@adn.com
Published: October 2nd, 2008 12:52 AM
Last Modified: October 2nd, 2008 01:06 AM

Two promising young woman mushers have pulled out of the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Sigrid Ekran, 29, of Norway, the 2007 rookie of the year who was even faster last year in her second race, was one of four mushers to scratch by the noon Wednesday deadline for mushers to withdraw and get their entire $4,000 Iditarod entry fee refunded.

Also sitting out the race will be Silvia Willis of Deshka Landing, who finished 26th in 2007 as the third rookie across the Nome finish line. Had Willis been four seconds faster over the course from Anchorage to Nome that year, she would have beaten the Iditarod's all-time winningest musher, Rick Swenson, in her debut.

Willis, 34, who was born and raised in Switzerland, finished 26th as a rookie and 22nd in her second race seven months ago. She and her husband Andy operate the Deshka River Lodge.

Andy Willis raced in 1996 and 1998, with 28th his best finish.

Before Ekran mounted the sled runners herself, she followed the trail to update the Web site of Team Norway, a collection of Norwegian mushers headed by two-time champion Robert Sorlie.

Kotzebue musher Louis Nelson helped Ekran prepare for her rookie race. She lived in a remote cabin in Eureka outside of Fairbanks, which used to be the home of the late Susan Butcher, before the 2008 race.

Trude Paulsson, the head of media relations for Team Norway, said by phone that Ekran could not race next year because her visa expires at the end of the month.

"She intended to get a new one," Paulsson said, "but Sigrid didn't have all her sponsors in place. She wasn't secure enough for the U.S. goverment to issue her a visa."

Ekran could not be reached for comment.

Instead of the Iditarod, Paulsson said Ekran will race in several of Norway's biggest races.

"She's definitely keen on coming back to Alaska for the 2010 season," Paulsson said.

After March's Iditarod, Ekran joined another sled dog expedition, teaming with veteran explorer Will Steger and five other dog drivers from three different countries on an exploration across Ellesmere Island to document global warming.

"The melting they saw was more dramatic than what's been observed," Paulsson said. "They hadn't predicted the old ice would have borken up and pushed into the shore. They had to use ice axes to hack their way through, (but they eventually) had to turn and go back."

Also withdrawing from the 2009 Iditarod:

• William Pinkham of Colorado, who's finished five Iditarods, placing as high as 31st.

• Rick Horstmann of Willow, who would have been a rookie.

Two other mushers signed up. Gary Paulsen, the 69-year-old author of children's books, had previously signed up and then dropped out before getting back in the race on Wednesday, said Chas St. George, the Iditarod's director of public relations.

Tim Hunt, a rookie from Michigan, joined the field too.

For the 2009 race, the Iditarod entry fee was raised to $4,000 and thus far 68 mushers are entered. That's a significant drop from the record 96 mushers who left Anchorage Fourth Avenue start line on March 1.

Iditarod Dogs' Endurance Secret Revealed

2008-09-27T08:43:00.002-04:00

Image via WikipediaClipped from LiveScience.com

Racing sled dogs could be considered the Lance Armstrongs of the canine world, for their strength and endurance. New research sheds light on how they do it.

Sled dogs are best known for "mushing" each March in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the world’s longest sled race. The canine competitors cover 1,100 miles (1,770 km) from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, sometimes in just nine days.

The dogs often trek through heavy blizzards and endure temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees C). The chilly conditions are necessary for the dogs, which would overheat in balmier climes. That's because dogs can't sweat, except through their paws, and they generate a tremendous amount of heat purely from the burning of calories during the race.

Michael Davis of Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences has studied the sled dogs for the past 10 years. He runs check-ups on the dogs before and after races as well as during controlled experiments for which he sets up races with groups of sled dogs. The secret to the dogs' feats of day-to-day endurance lies in their ability to "reprogram" their bodies' responses to stress after just one day of competition, something humans can't do.

Davis plans to present his recent findings this week at a conference of the American Physiological Society in Hilton Head, S.C. If you were to attend a race, Davis said, you might be surprised that the dogs are not all purebred Siberian Huskies. Rather, they are mutts, with a mix of Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Pointer and other breeds.

Ultra athletes

Davis found that just like human athletes, conditioned sled dogs show body damage during their first day of exercise.

For instance, when any athlete, canine or Homo sapiens, pounds the pavement or icy ground for miles, bits of muscle enzymes and proteins leak out from their cells. Scientists say this is a sign of cell damage.

Our cells do recover in a day or so, but as soon as we go for another run, the same damage happens all over again.

For sled dogs, that's not the case. "If you then take them out and do exactly the same exercise the following day and the day after that, and the day after that, you don't continue to get that leakage [of enzymes and proteins]," Davis told LiveScience.

He added, "In the course of just a day or two, they manage to adapt their system so that exercise that was injuring a muscle cell here and there on the first day is no longer injuring muscle cells."

Davis found the sled dogs somehow reprogram their bodies after that first or second day of training with an athletic armor of sorts to prevent other bodily stresses as well.

Hungry canines

The four-legged fur-balls also have appetites rivaling any human athlete. During race season, the dogs, which weigh a mere 55 pounds (25 kg), consume 12,000 calories a day, Davis said.

For comparison, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps reportedly eats some 10,000 to 12,000 calories a day during competitions. But Phelps boasts at least three times the weight of a race dog, Davis said.

"The challenge is getting 12,000 calories into a little dog like that and it has to be very calorie-dense," he said. "While they're racing, they're eating a diet that is pushing between 60 and 70 percent fat."

(Every gram of fat contains nine calories, compared with the 4 calories in a gram of protein or carbohydrate).

Whatever it is that allows sled dogs to chow down on so much fatty food and stay healthy could be beneficial to humans. And so results of Davis' findings have implications for humans who have become obese or developed Type 2 diabetes.

"If you feed a diet that's very high fat to a human, a lot of humans become obese and they develop type 2 diabetes. And the dogs don't," Davis said. "There is no such thing as an obese Type 2 diabetic sled dog despite the fact that they're eating a diet that should produce that."

'No bigger rush' than sleddog racing

2008-09-22T19:55:00.002-04:00

Clipped from the North Bay Nugget

Champion musher says sport takes 365-day commitment

Posted By JENNY POTTER, THE NUGGET

Lance Mackey is not the typical dog lover. He runs his team every day, lets them come in and out of the house as they please, and if the huskies flop down on his bed, he has no problem with sleeping on the couch.

But Mackey said he owes it to them. They have pulled him through two of the longest and roughest sleddog races in the world. They have helped him win the Iditarod and Yukon Quest twice, making him the only person to win both races in the same year.

I treat them better than I treat my family," he said of his dogs.

Mackey was in North Bay Saturday, sharing his stories and secrets with more than 100 other mushers at the Ontario Federation of Sleddog Sports annual symposium.

I'm really glad to be able to come and share the knowledge with others and learn myself," he said.

Mackey comes from a long line of sleddog racers in his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. He mushed as a kid but always had the leftover dogs, so he gave up on the sport in his teens.

In 2001, it all changed. Mackey had been breeding dogs for a while and was slowly getting back into the sport but had to put it all on hold when he was diagnosed with throat cancer.

I was told I would never be able to race," he said. He went through treatment and was diagnosed as cancer-free, but surgery left him with a delicate vein on his neck that could burst if hit or cut.

The cancer has made me stronger mentally," he said. It opened my eyes up to the fact that we are not guaranteed a tomorrow."

With that in mind, he decided to take on the challenge of travelling what has been called the last great race on Earth. Taking on the Iditarod meant travelling 1,850 kilometres from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, with only his dogs. The competition lasts between 10 and 17 days as sledders travel across ice and through storms, stopping at 26 checkpoints along the way.

I'd rather do something I love 100 per cent with a smile on my face than live being worried I'll die," he said. Mackey attributes his success to his attitude and love for his animals.

There is no way in hell can you make a dog pull you 1,000 miles if they don't want to," he said.

Symposium co-ordinator Ray Erker said sleddog racing is a misunderstood sport.

A lot of people think we are making the dogs do the work," he said. But it is the opposite. We are people who love animals and the outdoors."

For Erker, the sport is addictive. With the dogs, he and his wife spend most of their vacations either competing or at home.

There is no bigger rush in the world," he said, adding that the sport is worth the $20,000-a-year commitment.

Mushers can't afford to not treat their animals well," he said.

Mackey said he has seen interest in the sport increase.

You don't need any qualifications," he said. All you really need is dedication for 365 days a year and be able to relate to your dogs."

Discovery Iditarod Trailer

2008-09-21T19:49:00.000-04:00

Mackey named toughest athlete

2008-09-17T21:16:00.002-04:00

Image via Wikipedia Clipped from the Fort Mill Times

(Published September 17, 2008)
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Defending Iditarod and Yukon Quest champion Lance Mackey has been voted the toughest athlete in an online contest.

The Fairbanks musher prevailed over 32 other athletes in the "CamPain '08" contest conducted by the cable TV channel Versus.

Mackey got the most votes in each of five rounds that culminated in his victory this week.
In the final round, Mackey beat Team Hoyt, a triathlon duo of father Dick Hoyt and son Rick, who has severe brain damage.

Mackey has twice been for an ESPY Award in the Best Outdoor Athlete category. He didn't win, but he and wife Tonya were lavished with gifts at the star-studded awards ceremonies in Los Angeles.

He also placed second to golfer Tiger Woods in a Sports Illustrated toughest athlete list earlier this year.

Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod to air on Discovery Channel

2008-09-16T20:26:00.002-04:00

Image via Wikipedia Clipped from FresnoBee.com

The race is on: The six-part series "Toughest Race on Earth: Iditarod" begins at 10 p.m. Oct. 14 on the Discovery Channel. The series provides a look into one of the harshest races in one of the most beautiful and challenging places on the planet: The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Across frozen rivers, barren tundra, mountains and thick forest in freezing temperatures, this grueling 1,150-mile race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, puts mushers and their dog teams through the ultimate test of human and animal teamwork and endurance.

The series was filmed in March.

21 Mushers Enter on Opening Day for 2009 Yukon Quest

2008-09-07T09:48:00.001-04:00

Image by Yukon White Light via Flickr Clipped from Mushing.com

August 12, 2008
Press Release
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
For Immediate Release: August 12, 2008

WHITEHORSE, YT & FAIRBANKS, AK – As of Monday afternoon, a total of 22 teams have officially
entered the 2009 Yukon Quest. 21 Entries were processed this past Saturday on Opening Day, and both
Whitehorse and Fairbanks offices saw several mushers come by in person to enter the race. Reigning
Champion Lance Mackey and 1984 Champion Sonny Lindner joined the field of mushers that include
Alaskan veterans David Sawatsky, Wayne Hall, Brent Sass and Jon Little. Yukon veteran Kyla Boivin as
well as several rookie mushers registered in the Whitehorse office.

A strong showing of 9 rookie entrants including 4-time Iditarod Champion Martin Buser and Jamaican
musher Newton Marshall, the first Jamaican to ever enter the Yukon Quest, will make for an interesting race.
“It is an impressive line-up already,” shared Stephen Reynolds, Executive Director of the Yukon Quest in
Canada, “if we started today, it would be a great race. 21 Entrants on Opening Day is a good sign and we are
pleased with today’s turnout. We certainly appreciate all the mushers’ efforts to sign-up on Opening Day and
we look forward to more mushers joining us for the 2009 Yukon Quest in the weeks and months ahead.”

The Opening Day Early Incentive prize will be drawn Friday August 15th to allow time for any post-dated
mail-in entries to be received. The musher whose name is randomly drawn from all Opening Day entries will
have their $1,000 Entry Fee refunded.

“This is one of the strongest Opening Day registrations the Yukon Quest has seen in many years,” continued
Reynolds, “and a good indication of how the off-season changes are encouraging mushers to run the Yukon
Quest. We even had two teams racing to be the first to sign-up, and I can’t remember that ever happening
before.” Brent Sass in Fairbanks and a representative of the Jamaica Dog Sled Team in Whitehorse both
camped out in the early hours of Saturday morning, before either office opened. “We didn’t prepare
ourselves for a race to sign-up,” admitted Reynolds, “and both mushers went home thinking they were first to
enter.” But the mushers agreed to flip a coin at the Start Banquet to determine who will be first to draw their
starting number. “What a great ‘problem’ to have,” said Reynolds, “mushers competing to enter the Yukon
Quest!”

John Schandelmeier hired as Yukon Quest Alaska Trail Coordinator

2008-09-07T09:05:00.002-04:00

Image via Wikipedia Clipped from Mushing.com

August 12, 2008
Yukon Quest Press Release

The Yukon Quest’s Alaska Board of Directors recently hired John Schandelmeier as the Alaska Trail Coordinator. John will take the lead role in improving the Yukon Quest Trail within Alaska.

The Alaska Trail Coordinator will oversee and coordinate the breaking, marking, proofing and sweeping of the Yukon Quest Trail from Fairbanks to the US border, and will be working closely with the long-standing Alaskan trail-breaking volunteers and local communities to help put in the best possible trail for the 2009 Yukon Quest.

John has been deeply involved with the Yukon Quest for over twenty years and recently accepted the newly created Alaska Trail Coordinator position in early August. This new position was developed in response to concerns expressed by mushers following the 2008 race, and John’s acceptance of this new role is a huge advantage for the Yukon Quest and our mushers.

John has been around the Yukon Quest for more than 20 years running his first Yukon Quest in 1986. Since that time, John has run the Yukon Quest 16 times…and is the only musher who has started more than 10 times and never scratched. He has finished every one of the 16 Yukon Quest races he started!

John has finished in the Top Ten 14 out of 16 times, was the Yukon Quest Champion in 1992 and 1996, was awarded the coveted Veterinarians’ Choice Award in 1994 and 1996 and was voted by his fellow mushers to win the Sportsmanship Award in both 1997 and 2003.

John’s Yukon Quest record (16 starts – 16 finishes – 14 Top Tens – 2 Championships (1992, 1996) is very impressive by anyone’s standards!

Only Dave Dalton (18 starts – 14 finishes – 6 Top Tens) and Frank Turner (24 starts – 18 finishes – 13 Top Tens – 1 Championship) have started more Yukon Quest races than John Schandelmeier, but for consistent performance and a perfect finishing record over many years, John may well be considered the most successful Yukon Quest musher in history.

John is also well recognized as an excellent sled dog race organizer having created the Taiga 300 sled dog race, and as one of the best ‘trail men’ in Alaska having put in the Copper Basin 300 trail many times and more recently breaking and marking trail for the Gin Gin 200 sled dog race.

The creation of this new position and John’s hiring are good news for the Yukon Quest, “We are very excited to have John working for the Yukon Quest in the role of Alaska Trail Coordinator. His knowledge and expertise with the Yukon Quest and setting sled dog race trails in general will help us address some perennial challenges with our trail and will ensure that we have the best possible, and a well-marked, trail for our mushers and their dogs,” said Tania Simpson, Managing Director of the Yukon Quest in Alaska.

The Canadian Rangers break and mark the Yukon Quest Trail within the Yukon Territory, and their service to the Yukon Quest is extremely valuable and deeply appreciated by the organization. Adding the Alaska Trail Coordinator’s role to the Yukon Quest will ensure that the best possible trail is in place in advance of the 2009 race across the 1,000 mile trail. While John’s expertise will focus on the Yukon Quest Trail in Alaska, his help will also be sought to make improvements over the entire 1,000 mile Yukon Quest Trail through to Whitehorse.

John is looking forward to his new role with the Yukon Quest, “It is great to see the Alaska Board of Directors and the organization’s commitment to ensuring that a good trail is in place for the 2009 race. I am looking forward to working with the volunteers and local communities of Two Rivers, Central, Circle City and Eagle to incorporate their knowledge and experience to make sure that we put in the best possible trail for the 2009 Yukon Quest.”

For more information about the race please visit: www.yukonquest.com

No ESPY for Mackey, but maybe a movie?

2008-07-19T21:29:00.002-04:00

Image via WikipediaClipped from: Anchorage Daily News (adn.com)

ACTION! Warner Brothers, Disney are both interested, musher says.

By CHRIS FREIBERG
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Published: July 19th, 2008 01:02 AM
Last Modified: July 19th, 2008 02:11 AM

FAIRBANKS -- Usually, the number two is good to champion musher Lance Mackey.

Twice he has won the two biggest races in mushing -- back-to-back -- the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

And Mackey hoped that voters might grant him an ESPY award this year, the second time he's been nominated for the honor.

"It would look great on the trophy shelf, but I'm not counting on it," Mackey said from Las Vegas, where he was preparing to travel to Los Angeles for the ceremony broadcast Sunday on ESPN.

Mackey, who has won the Yukon Quest for the past four years and won both the Quest and the Iditarod in 2007 and 2008, is one of five nominees for the Best Outdoor Athlete award.

And while lucky numbers usually smile on Mackey, it didn't happen this time.

Scott Smiley, an Army captain who climbed Mount Rainier after losing his sight in Iraq, was the winner, chosen through online voting at www.espys.tv.

The other finalists were:

• Skeet Reese, 2007 Bass Anglers Sportsmans Society Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year;

• Marathon swimmer Skip Storch;

• Mountain climber Dave Hahn, who has scaled Mount Everest 10 times.

On his second trip to the ESPY awards, Mackey planned to take more time to relax and enjoy the trip, though he called it his "duty" to meet seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

Many people have compared the two Lances over the years. Both beat cancer and returned to their respective sports to become champions.

"I don't think there's much comparison," Mackey said. "He does all the work, while my team does most of the work in my sport."

Mackey also will meet what he described as a "well-known" director next week to discuss the possibility of making a movie about his accomplishments.

"Warner Brothers and Disney both are interested in some sort of movie," he said.

The Fairbanks musher has already begun training for next year's races, and he believes his team is capable of three-peating back-to-back Yukon Quest and Iditarod titles.

Still, he remained humble about his accomplishments.

"I just want to say thanks to the fans who follow the sport," Mackey said. "Without them I'd still be sitting in a small town in Alaska instead of being in L.A. with the big dogs."

Last year, Mackey lost out to Dean Karnazes of San Francisco, who ran 50 marathons -- one in every state -- in 50 days, including the Mayor's Marathon course in Anchorage.

Mackey loses out on Espy award, again

2008-07-18T22:04:00.002-04:00

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeClipped from KTUU.com

by John Carpenter
Thursday, July 17, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Lance Mackey can win the Yukon Quest. He can win the Iditarod. In fact, he can do both in the same year, in consecutive years.

But Mackey can't seem to win an Espy Award, at least not in the last two years.

Mackey found himself again nominated this year for an Espy in the Best Outdoor Athlete category. For the second straight year he lost out on that honor.

Capt. Scott Smiley, an Iraq War veteran blinded in a suicide bombing who climbed Washington state's Mount Ranier, won the award Wednesday.

The Espys are scheduled for broadcast Sunday on ESPN.

GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERY CHANNEL SERIES CHRONICLES ONE OF THE TOUGHEST RACES ON EARTH

2008-07-11T23:04:00.001-04:00

Image via WikipediaClipped from: The Discovery Channel

-- Premiering October 2008, IDITAROD (wt) Shows a Musher’s Preparation is No Match for Mother Nature --

SILVER SPRING, Md., July 10, 2008 – Discovery Channel continues its exploration into and chronicling of the fascinating world around us with the groundbreaking series IDITAROD (wt). The world premiere of this original series is slated for October 2008. This historic 1,150 mile sled dog race over some of the world’s most beautiful – and most challenging – terrain was documented from beginning to end through the eyes of the men and women who dared to take on the monumental challenge.

In this six-part series, viewers will get a rare look into one of the harshest races on the planet – The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Across frozen rivers, barren tundra, mountains and thick forest in freezing temperatures, this grueling race from Anchorage to Nome puts mushers and their dog teams through the ultimate test of human and animal teamwork and endurance.

"This new series truly defines adventure programming," said John Ford, president and general manager of Discovery Channel. "Viewers will once again travel back to Alaska, one of the toughest places on earth, where they will see the sheer will and determination it takes for men and women to compete in and complete this 1,150 mile race. The stories of these competitors deserve to be told and we are proud to do it."

Mushers from around the world convene in Alaska each March to run the "Last Great Race on Earth." Some prepare all year for this legendary race while others fit in training around their full-time jobs. Some are carrying on a proud family tradition while others are first generation mushers. Discovery Channel will follow returning race veterans and rookies alike to see, through their eyes, what it takes to compete not only against each other but also Mother Nature.

The Iditarod Trail was originally used as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps and eventually all he way to Nome. Mail and supplies went in and gold came out – all by dog sleds. Mushers became legends. In 1925, part of the trail became a life-saving highway. Mushers and their dog teams were called upon to bring serum to epidemic-stricken Nome and save the town from Diphtheria that had overtaken it. The Iditarod is a commemoration of those brave and legendary mushers and their faithful dogs.

IDITAROD (wt) is produced for Discovery Channel by Original Productions. Thom Beers and Phillip Segal are executive producers and Jeff Conroy is co-executive producer. For Discovery Channel, Paul Gasek is executive producer.

Yukon Quest Announces Head Vet for 2009 Race

2008-07-07T21:18:00.001-04:00

Image via WikipediaClipped from Mushing.com

July 7, 2008
Press Release
Dr. Kathleen McGill announced as 2009 Yukon Quest Head Veterinarian

For Immediate Release: July 3, 2008

WHITEHORSE, YT & FAIRBANKS, AK – The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is pleased to
announce that Dr. Kathleen McGill has accepted the position of 2009 Head Veterinarian. Dr. McGill returns
to the Head Veterinarian position following the retirement of Dr. Vern Starks who was Head Veterinarian for
the 2008 and 2007 Yukon Quests.

Dr. McGill lives in Columbus, Ohio where she ran two small-animal veterinary clinics. She has a deep
passion for all animals and sled dogs in particular, combining her professional veterinary expertise with time
on the sled when she lived in Colorado and ran a recreational team of Malamutes and competed in weight-
pulling events. Dr. McGill has served on the Yukon Quest Veterinary Team six times in the past seven years,
and served as Head Veterinarian for the 2004, 2005 and 2006 races.

“Having Kathleen back as our Head Veterinarian is a real plus for the Yukon Quest organization and the
2009 race,” said Stephen Reynolds, Executive Director of the Yukon Quest in Canada, “her experience on
the trail, as a previous Head Veterinarian and with the great Veterinary Team that Dr. Starks assembled over
the past two years gives our Veterinary Program excellent continuity and her return will bring immediate
familiarity for our mushers, race personnel and volunteers.”

The Yukon Quest Head Veterinarian is responsible for all aspects of canine care leading up to, during and
following the race, which starts February 14, 2009, in Whitehorse, Yukon; from the information provided to
mushers throughout the fall, to the Pre-Race Vet Checks, along the entire 1,000 mile trail and via the Post-
Race drug testing and Veterinary Program wrap-up.

Dr. Starks announced his decision to focus his time on non-Yukon Quest activities this winter, and Dr.
McGill was recently offered the Head Veterinarian role for the 2009 race. “I am excited to be coming back as
Head Veterinarian and am looking forward to working with the incredible team of professionals on the
Yukon Quest Vet Team. Excellence in canine care is one of the fundamental principles of the Yukon Quest
and the Vet Team ensures that every sled dog is properly cared for throughout the race; leading that team is a
serious responsibility and an honor and I am anticipating a great 2009 Yukon Quest,” shared Dr. McGill in
response to her recent acceptance of the 2009 Head Veterinarian position.

Opening Day for sign-ups for the 2009 Yukon Quest is Saturday August 9, 2008.