I do not have the list of all the mushers--there are 27 last I saw. Aliy Z drew bib 13--she is not superstitious about that number and considers it lucky, BTW. She will start in the middle of the pack and have about a half hour's differential to make up at one checkpoint/rest stop. Her team of twelve has a mix of three rookies and four old timers who have made this race 4 or 5 times. Both Olivia/Nacho (life long mates at SPK) and The Late Very Great Quito are well represented with their descendants. Junior and Violet, two Olivia daughters who greatly resemble he, are providing a lot of experience along with two powerful boys from other litters. It is going to be bitter cold--they say -49 with some wind chill at the start! This is generally harder for the mushers than the dogs. Their enemy is heat and above 32 starts to give them overheating problems. The CB is generally cold and previews some of the same conditions as the western end of the YQ/YQ300 coming along next month.
There is also a lower 48 race in progress, The Gunflint 2020 in Montana. A couple of the Reddingtons and Laura Neese, an I'rod and YQ vet, are in it. Trackleaders also has a tracker going on it. That is a super website, BTW, as they track most of the major sled dog events and many other competitions as well.
Most of the lower 48 races are the 'staged' type. This means times are taken from checkpoint/stop to the next one and added together to determine the winners. They are not one long continuous dash like the I'Rod and the YQ and a few in Scandinavia but the total distances can be into several hundred miles. Some European races are also run this way. So there are several different types of sled dog races.
The 'big ones' that are 1000 miles --more or less--or similar kilometers, the mid-distance at roughly 3-500 miles or equivalent and the staged races, and then the sprints or short races of a few to maybe 20-50 miles where sheer speed is the only way to get there first. Most dogs are best suited for one type or another and very few distance dogs sprint or vise-versa. The Fur Rondy event in the Anchorage area just before the Iditarod has a number of those.
I am most invested in the distance races, the big ones and the mid-distance qualifiers. To enter both the Iditarod and the Yukon as a rookie, mushers have to complete some of the mid-distance ones to validate experience and ability to take on the real marathons. Some choose not to go beyond the mid-distance races, also. I still respect and admire them as some of those shorter races are real bearcats--terrain, weather conditions etc.
Anyway the season is underway and I am amped about it.
I swiped this photo off FB but like the feel of taking off into the sunrise. Fast smooth runs to all those on the trail today!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment on any post. All will be moderated so as to prevent spam and any flaming or inappropriate comments but friends and visitors are welcome to have their say! I value your input very much.