Date archives: January 1, 2009

Phoenix – Female, 50 lbs. Age 13½. Leader. Retired since 2007. (Newt x Legs) She is by far the best dog I have ever run. Phoenix finished her first Iditarod at 3½ and then finished 8 consecutive top 20 Iditarods in lead every time. She has 4 Last Chance Sweepstakes…

This is the second of a series of articles about the use of metal runners in sled construction. In this issue I will talk a bit about choices for connecting your stanchions to the runners and the types of materials used to construct them.This is the second of a series…

Unconventional secrets of an Alaskan Iditarod ChampionMushing Magazine is happy to be the first to give readers an inside glance at Mitch Seavey’s new book: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way! The book covers everything from dog training to nutrition to mental toughness – all relayed in Mitch’s…

Years ago, on a remote island in South East Alaska I had the opportunity to work in a logging camp. Holy smokes, those loggers were tougher than wolverines! They loved hard work, and were always upbeat and full of character. I often reflect back to those loggers when my wheel…

In 1989 a notion took place in my mind, a notion that had been brewing for quite some time. It had to do with kids and dogs and healing hearts, minds and souls. It had to do with putting something back together that had been torn apart… And about the…

“The relationship you have with the dogs, individually and as a team, is far away the most critical element to everything about the whole dog sledding experience.” Statements like this one, along with a plethora of anecdotes and stories, were a common occurrence during the time that I spent interviewing…

In these days of precision tooled and machined sleds, the hand crafted dog sleds by legendary Edward Moody have not only stood the test of time but are still sought out by mushers looking for a more traditional sled.Edward Moody was a product of the New England mushing tradition and…

Last month’s article on dietary strategies for distance racing revived the age old relationship between high fat diets and performance in racing sled dogs.In a way it’s like re-inventing the wheel; it may seem like a futile practice, but each time we do this we refine our understanding of the…

Mountain Climber Turned MusherWith a second place in last year’s La Grande Odyssee in France, Swiss musher Emil Inauen has sights set on that race and the Wyoming Stage Stop Sled Dog Race this year.Emil Inauen started working with sled dogs in 1991 in Canada where he was working for…

I am told that it costs $20,000 plus to run the Iditarod, and 10-$12,000 to run the Yukon Quest. What are the real costs of the Quest and the Iditarod and where do we spend it? Here they are; in way everyone can understand. All costs were determined using the…