2012 winning cover art drawn by local student. So cute! |
On the list of mushers this year are four time Iditarod Champion Jeff King - who just last year was "retired" from racing - and Alaskan favorite DeeDee Jonrowe. Peninsula musher Paul Gebhardt, and 2011 Iditarod runner up Cim Smyth are also competing. Gebhardt just finished the Kuskokwim 300 yesterday in third place and earlier in the season Jeff King won the Sheep Mountain 150. The Junior T boasts a whopping four entrants, including last year's winner Conway Seavey. Seavey's dad, Mitch, is the 2004 Iditarod Chamion and his older brother Dallas won the 2011 Yukon Quest.
Word from the trail says it is in the best condition it's been in years, and the new checkpoints are getting a lot of positive feedback. The one downside is that Clam Gulch, a mainstay for the race, will not be a check point this year. Originally Clam Gulch was a stop, but an announcement was made late last week that there would be changes to the proposed trail. New to the race this year, and going back to the race's roots, is the check point in Homer. Other check points include Oil Well and Freddie's Roadhouse in Caribou Hills - which will serve as the halfway layover. Homer will also have a mandatory layover during both legs of the race.
Vet checks are Friday afternoon, the junior race begins at 9am in Kasilof, the 200 will follow at 11am.
what happened with DeeDee????
ReplyDeleteAccording to DeeDee after the race, Ophelia got lose when DeeDee attempted to pass another musher and the teams tangled. Ophelia is a timid dog and got spooked and took off. After about 10 hours of searching by volunteers, officials, and DeeDee she was found by a family out on CoHo road and they reported it on facebook. So it was a happy ending, but we were all heartsick for DeeDee while she was frantically searching!
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