74 Year-Old Musher Schools Puppies On The Iditarod Trail
“Musket” groaned as Iditarod musher Dan Seavey, 74, hiked the husky to its feet.“C’mon,” Seavey said. “It won’t be so bad once we get going.”The dog blinked. Straw, spread on the snow as bedding, clung to its fur.“They’re in their nice warm bed. How would you like to be jerked…
Sled Dog Race This Weekend – Stanley Dog Rendevzous
It’s dog sled racing time. As the Iditarod heats up in Alaska, local Idahoans can head up to the Third Annual Stanley Dog Rendevzous this weekend from March 10-12. The race will feature three mushing categories and one skijoring class. The mushing classes consist of 20, 40 and 60 miles….
Mush-a-holics: How to Follow Iditarod 2012 Without Falling Into Trap
Contested in remote, inaccessible places, long distance dog mushing is a hard sport to follow.Often, it’s hard to tell who’s actually leading a race due to the idiosyncrasies of start-time adjustments, mandatory layovers, trailside camping, and general musher sneakiness. And the unknown is part of the sport’s appeal.Nowadays, with mushers…
Turlock Veterinarian to Share Iditarod Experiences
How’s this sound for a vacation? Paying your own way to the frigid Alaskan wilderness. Spending a week to 10 days in temperatures that can drop to well below zero, and examining the dogs that come flying into checkpoints every so often.Turlock veterinarian Doug Marks has done that, volunteering at…
Zirkle Leapfrogs Neff to Lead Pack Out of Rohn
A wall of bad weather kept planes out of Rainy Pass for much of Monday, but the storm didn’t stop the dogs on the first full day of racing in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.Mushers sailed through one of the most notorious stretches of trail and reported terrific conditions…
Aily Zirkle Snags Lead as Snowstorm Hits Iditarod Trail
With a winter storm warning posted for the upper Kukskokwim River valley, former Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race champion Aily Zirkle from Two Rivers in the Alaska Interior Monday night sped through the Rohn checkpoint and dashed out onto the trail to Nikolai to grab the lead in the…
2011 Iditarod champ says he couldn’t quit on Native people
It took John Baker 16 tries to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He had to think long and hard about coming back to defend his title.The 49-year-old Inupiat musher from northwest Alaska has become an icon of sorts for Alaska Native youth, and he said he couldn’t retire…
Staying warm on the Iditarod Trail with Russian Tea
The lake here at the Finger Lake Checkpoint along the Iditarod has come alive. Chatter between the lodge and volunteer Iditarod pilots on the VHF radio is fast and furious as the ten or so race checkers who will inhabit our lake for the next few days fly in with…
‘Iditapuppies!’ Plus: Pete Kaiser’s Conservative Strategy
Teams are piling in. They are either parking to the left or right of the trail and are guided into parking spots by volunteers. Not all teams are listening equally well.While Mushing Mortician Scott Janssen was telling his dogs to “go the other gee,” Mitch did a top notch parking…
Minnesota Musher Wins 250-mile Can Am Crown
Quebec musher Mario Racine held onto his lead in the Can Am Crown 250 for 230 miles until Ryan Anderson overtook his team on the final leg between Allagash and Fort Kent.Anderson went on to claim his first Can Am Crown win and bragging rights as the only musher to…