Mushing News Round Up (Oct 15)

Another week has passed (and then some) and I am finally done with training at work... at least until March when we do it all again (yeah, don't ask me why I thought scheduling training to start the week after I get back from Nome was a good idea). Once again, I am sure I've missed a bit on the mushing news circuit - especially since there were a lot of races to sign up for - but here are some highlights I snagged while being completely distracted with work.

The Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race - that runs from Kasilof, AK to Homer, AK and back - announced tonight that registration will open on November 1, with the random drawing on November 3. They also announced that they will be posting updated rules soon, suggesting some changes were coming to the official race rules.

Mushers have been excited to announce which mid-distance races they have signed up for. This is especially exciting for teams that are trying to qualify for their first long distance races. One such musher, Eric Kelly, plans to run the Iditarod in 2020, and has signed up for - what he hopes are - his final two qualifiers.


Alaska and the Yukon aren't the only places that are seeing fall training in full swing. Northern Norway has also found cooler temperatures. The Finnmarkslopet race shared this beautiful training photo on their social media pages. The race opened registration earlier this fall, and so far no teams from North America have appeared on the roster. Last year, you may recall, four-time Iditarod Champion Dallas Seavey ran the race and placed third. Seavey stated at the time that he would probably not be back to the race for several years as it was an expensive endeavor and he needed to build up the funds and team - however Seavey has yet to register for any race for next season... and he's been spending an awful lot of time in Europe.


SPKennel - home to Yukon Quest Champions Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore - is in winter prep mode. They shared a blog post a few days ago about how they prepare for freeze up... or, rather, fix the mess the dogs make during the summer months. Moore is once again signed up for the Quest, and Zirkle has signed up for the Iditarod, as well as a few other mid-distance races.

Jeff King's Husky Homestead social media crew are killing it these days with the puppy pic updates. I have to say that Zig's litter is probably the prettiest litter I've seen in a long time coming out of a very competitive Racing Kennel. Sled Dogs that race aren't typically chosen or bred for their looks, but their athleticism. It'll be a few years to see what these pups will do out on the trails, but for now they are breaking the internet.


In a somewhat surprising announcement this past week, the UP 200 race announced that they were increasing the purse winnings for the 11th-15th placed teams. The announcement gave credit to the mushers who suggested the change. Who knew there were races out there with boards willing to listen to the mushers?!


Okay, so, Jeff King doesn't have the monopoly on cute puppy picks. Ryne Olson's photo this week was a huge awwwwwww as well. Who DOESN'T want a basket full of puppies?!


And mushers continue to share photos of their training runs. Iditarod musher Misha Wiljes shared a photo of "on by" training yesterday. This is very important, not so much the head on kind that they were doing in the photo - but just passing in general. Sled Dogs need to be aggressive racers, but also polite. The last thing a musher wants is a tangle (with another team, or just within the team itself). Slower teams MUST give a faster team the right of way - unless they are in the final stretches of the race known as "No Man's Land" which begins one to two miles before the finish line. The slower team slows or even stops to let the other team pass. Typically the command the advancing team gets is "on by". That way the leaders know that they are to continue and not stop with the other team, and the team dogs know that they are to pass and not try to take a chunk out of one of the other team's dogs. This typically works with little incident, but just like with humans sometimes the dogs forget their manners. This is why training is so very important.


Lastly, Wade Marrs is jumping into the arena of winter sled dog tours. Until then he is opening his property up to kennel tours until the snow flies. Marrs is a competitive Iditarod musher who - until recently - served as the Iditarod Official Finishers' Club's (IOFC) spokesperson to the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC). This summer it was decided that the IOFC representative could not be a current racer, so Wade Marrs was forced to step aside. Marrs found himself in the middle of the Iditarod Doping Scandal last March when it was brought to his attention at the official start of the Iditarod that his dogs had tested positive for the same substance that Dallas Seavey's team had - just in smaller doses. Marrs' fiance took to social media after seeing Wade safely down the trail to call out the inappropriate communication by the ITC's Doping specialist and alleged that he threatened Marrs with outing the findings if Marrs did not stop his support of Dallas Seavey. Like Seavey, Wade Marrs has not signed up for Iditarod as of yet, and has not gone public with any plans he has for this season's biggest race.


And on that note I'm off to bed. Did I miss anything big in the mushing news scene? Let me know in the comments below.

Forty mushers sign up for the Yukon Quest events

As predicted by insiders, the Yukon Quest rosters are healthy ones. 22 teams, including seven rookies, signed up on the first day for the 1,000 mile race. 18 teams, half of them rookies, signed up for the 300 mile mid-distance race. Familiar faces in both. Names like Aliy Zirkle and Hans Gatt are among the top names in the YQ 300. Over on the thousand miler side, Allen Moore looks to go for another title, and Brent Sass has returned to racing choosing the race he's previously won.

Not on the list, of course, is Hugh Neff. Neff has been suspended from racing either Quest race this year due to the findings of the necropsy of a dog that died on his team this year in the race. Hugh appealed the decision, but it was upheld in June. Neff must sit out this year's race, and must run the 300 to re-qualify for the 1,000 mile Quest. His dogs will run in 2019, however, as his wife Olivia has signed up for the 1,000 mile race. Olivia's grandfather helped create the Yukon Quest, and she has worked hard to be able to run her "family's race". (She is shown as Olivia Webster on her roster as that is her maiden name - per FBNMQuest on Twitter - and that is what is on her passport used to cross the Al-Can border. Who knew?!)

Considering the dismal number of sign ups currently on the Iditarod roster, one can't help but wonder if those names on the Quest's list that haven't signed up for Iditarod are in silent protest over the past year's drama. While some mushers like Quest and Iditarod veteran Rob Cooke have been vocal about not planning on running both races (he lives in Whitehorse and prefers the Quest), others have not given a reason for why their name does not appear on both like in year's past. That being said some are signed up for both. Aliy Zirkle and Matt Hall the most notable to date. The Iditarod sign up window does not close until December, time will tell if their roster of 30 grows any larger.

Mushers have until January 4, 2019 to sign up for the 2019 Yukon Quest races.

Mushing News Weekly Round Up (Dec 8)

With the advent of social media, it's a whole lot easier for fans to immerse themselves into the mushing world. It's also easy to miss a lot of the interesting and newsworthy stuff as it seems to become overloaded in the weeks leading up to race season. Training reports begin as the leaves fall from the trees, and then almost over night the snow hits the rosters are finalized and we're in the middle of race season.

So a new feature here on Reitter's Block starting this week is a sort of weekly round up of news, and interesting stories from the mushing community. These will be selection that caught my eye, and in no way everything that happened within the week.



In response to the Iditarod Trail Committee's announcement on December 1 about their plan to come up with a standard of "Dog Care" for kennels to be eligible to compete, Iditarod Veteran Wade Marrs took to his website to share his thoughts. While, overall, Wade is supportive of the idea - he wanted to voice some concerns he had. It is equally a response to another kennel that has created a lot of drama since October when they decided to try and promote themselves as the kennel/people all mushers wish they could be like.

SP Kennel (Home of Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore) shared an adorable update on their trio of pups. It's not really news worthy, but it's adorable, and there's video. What more does a mushing fan need than a puppy cam?!

Monday brought the amusing with the report that Jeff King was auctioned off during the Talkeetna Bachelor Auction, and brought in a whopping $4,600! King is thought to be the first Iditarod Champion (and certainly IS the only 4-time Champion) auctioned off at the event. Known as one of the larger than life mushers, it should come as no surprise that Jeff was up for something like this. But it was still amusing to read. Much better than the articles showing the mushing community up in arms.

And, just today, Monica Zappa took to Facebook to announce that the 2018 Iditarod will be her last "for a while" as she needs to go off on new adventures. Iditarod will be far less colorful without her neon colors out on the trail. So when you see her run down the trail this March, cheer extra hard for her!

Speaking of Facebook - my favorites on the social media round up:

Copper Basin 300 dominated by Girl Power!

Ryne Olson of Two Rivers, Alaska at the ReStart of Iditarod 44.
Olson is the first woman to win the Copper Basin 300 in 16 years.

The 2017 Copper Basin 300 has become known as one of the most difficult in race memory - and it hasn't officially ended yet, but a champion has been crowned. Ryne Olson of Two Rivers, Alaska, is the first woman champion in 16 years. Coming in second was Paige Drobny, another newer musher to the scene. Third place looks to be well known veteran of the trails Michelle Phillips. This is believed to be the first time women have taken the top three spots in a well-established mid-distance race (or any dog sled race).

Olson is somewhat of a newcomer to the scene, she's steadily built up her kennel after leaving SP Kennel - run by Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore - to pursue her goals to become a competitive musher. Not surprisingly, Ryne has taken what she learned from the current top rated female musher and gone the distance. While many believe Nicolas Petit to be the odds on favorite to win, the outcome was not meant to be. Snow storms blew in over the weekend, causing a soft trail which most believed caused the race to slow. Petit's early lead created issues for the team as they were constantly breaking trail, ultimately seeing the team scratch (end the race early). Another well seasoned veteran of mid and long distance racing, Sebastian Schnuelle also scratched today - citing the vehicle collision with his team last month as a big factor in the health and strength of his team. Schnuelle scratched from the CB 300 and has withdrawn from the Iditarod due to his concerns for his team.

The race is not finished, the tracker shows at least 20 teams still headed for the finish line. But for now the victory is seeing a resurgence of lady mushers taking control of one of the toughest races in the competitive season. With less than a month away from the Yukon Quest, and under two months for Iditarod, fans and commentators alike are talking of a girl power fueled championship. This hope may be a tad premature, but it's definitely an exciting conclusion to this year's Copper Basin, and makes things interesting going forward - not just for 2017, but for the years to come. Aliy Zirkle's got company.

Roster of 18 to run the Yukon Quest

The Yukon Quest, a thousand mile sled dog race that starts in Alaska and crosses into Canada, begins tomorrow morning at 11am. The roster includes 13 veterans and 5 rookies. Several of the veterans are known by even the most casual fans. Reigning champion Allen Moore is back to try to win another championship. Hugh Neff is back in the race, as well, with his laughing eyes team. Two time winner, John Schandelmeier is also back in the race trying for another title. John's taken a backseat - at least in the limelight - to his partner Zoya Denure who was considered an up and coming women's musher a few years ago. Denure is at home with their two daughters, so John is taking the helm for this race.

With the weather being unseasonably warm the last few weeks in Alaska, small changes have been made to this year's race. Instead of starting on the Chena River where they traditionally start, they will be running through the streets of Fairbanks before meeting up with the river later on down the trail. River conditions were cited as the reason behind the change.

The concern of trail conditions and heat will no doubt be the talk of early race discussion. Though most of South Central Alaska is mainly ice (if that) the Interior and Yukon areas have had a little better luck in keeping some snow on the trails. The weather forecast is also looking more favorably on the race as temperatures are dropping to closer to normal temperatures. But, it's anyone's guess how the race will play out weatherwise.

With the weather being so weird for this time of year, many of the races that one would use to gauge who the front runners are were cancelled. This leaves room for a lot of guess work and discussion as to who to choose for any sort of bets or predictions.

But here's my limited knowledge top three:

1. Allen Moore - not only is he the reigning champion, he and wife Aliy Zirkle have one of the best kennels in the 1000 mile race business right now. He won the Quest with his team, and she turned right around and came in second in the Iditarod (second time in as many years). This year Allen won the Copper Basin 300, which was one of two races that went on this season. It was a good bit of racing, and in the end he came out on top. No doubt his team will bring their A game once again.

2. Brent Sass - some may know him for his work on the first season of Ultimate Survival Alaska (it's a good show, by the way), but most who follow the sport know this up and comer is done waiting his turn. He's had top three finishes. I haven't paid much attention to his team this year so far, but something in my gut tells me he'll be one to watch for the Quest.

3. Hugh Neff - who doesn't love the Cat in the Hat? Neff breathes the Quest. He's won it before, and he's always in the mix. There's no indication that he can't win another one. It will come down to who wants it, not just musher - but team. No one seems more in tune with their dogs than Hugh.

#Iditarod 41 - Tonichelle's Top Ten

A member of Snowhook Kennel at the
start of the Tustumena 200 earlier this
year. They are running in the Iditarod.

I'm late to the game - not because I've lost interest, but because working for a top team makes life a little hectic these days (can't imagine why). Iditarod is just 5 days away. We're going up again to do the start and restart (volunteering on Saturday, and then I'm working Sunday for the boss).

Please note that this is just my personal opinion. This does not reflect on any team/musher. I do work for some of the top dawgs in the sport, but my admiration goes beyond that kennel. I have grown up adoring so many of these amazing mushers and teams that I am not biased by just one person who may or may not sign a check every month for me. ;)

Seriously, though, I work for a great family of mushing legends. I can't say I'm not biased towards them, but at the same time - I've always liked other mushers more. Since knowing and working for the Seavey family I have grown to admire them far more than I would have if I'd just continued as a spectator (though I was a fan of Dallas well before I started working for him).

All this ramble to say - I am doing my very best to remain objective. The top ten may not be my top 10 favorites (though a lot of them are). I am just hoping that I don't jinx anyone with my picks. I'm pretty good at jinxing folks, so I'm crossing my fingers this doesn't end up killing a lot of teams' runs for the win.

Tonichelle's Top 10

1. Aliy Zirkle - she has been steadily climbing the ranks as one of the big time contenders over the last few years. She nearly had it last season, Dallas beat her in the very last push. She barely lost the Yukon 300 a few weeks back, and Allen - her husband - won the Quest with their A team. The team she's running in the Iditarod. The loss last year was a bittersweet one. Aliy's not going to want that feeling again. She's hungry and she's got a great team going.

2. Dallas Seavey - in most sports they say the first time defending your title is always the hardest. Even the most prepared begin to doubt their abilities and chances. I am not doubting that Dallas will put in just as smart and effort as last year. Last year he had a band of misfits take him to the prize. This year he's got mainly a new team, his star dogs from the championship team have been retired. We haven't seen much of Dallas this season - he opted not to run in the other races, instead sending his handlers out to do a few races. His team just won the Jr. Iditarod at the hands of Jr. Iditarod rookie Noah Pereira. Pereira barely beat out Seavey's younger brother Conway for the win.

3. Mitch Seavey - Mitch is taking much of the same team as last year to Nome this year. The only reason the team didn't hit Nome first last year was due to Mitch being suckered in to push the team too early. They ran out of gas before the coast. Mitch's team is completely capable of taking it all the way. They just have to know when to go, take the opportune moment and go. Wait it out, and then... GO. It's not like Mitch doesn't know what it takes or how to win. He did it in 2004, and his team surprised him at the Tustumena200 this year. It can happen, and this year looks very good.

4. Ramey Smyth - He came out of nowhere and almost threw a wrench into Dallas and Aliy's run last year. His team was far back in the back due to a stomach illness, but once they were over that there was no stopping them. They made up for lost time in a hurry, but ran out of trail before they could catch the leaders. I remember being on the phone with Dallas' brother Danny when Smyth made his move. There was dead silence on the other end of the phone, and then an "Uh, oh.... well..." I expect him to do well again this year, too.

5. Cim Smyth - Let's face it, the Smyth brothers have the market for that final push speed. So many mushers lament that they wish they knew the secret on how to get those dogs to go into that final gear and go all out to the finish line. I've seen the magic first hand, and Cim is well capable of going and getting the title. It's about time someone in the Smyth family take the prize.

6. John Baker - Another former Iditarod Champion. A repeat just wasn't in the cards last year. Baker's advice he gives to all mushers is race to win. If you aren't running to win, you never will. John is one of those silent types. His persona reminds me of the addage "slow and steady wins the race." Not that Baker's slow, far from it, he's just totally calm in his approach.

7. Jake Berkowitz - He pulled a Mitch Seavey last year and cut his hand badly which ended the race early for him. He's had a fantastic race season this year, and placed 4th in this year's Quest. Berkowitz suffered a devastating loss when his dog General passed away suddenly during the race (but not because of it, according to Jake's blog it was an undetected issue that would have come to light no matter what). He'll be running in General's memory, no doubt.

8. Jeff King - After hanging it up several years ago, Jeff found his mojo again and returned to the sport he has dominated for most of his life. Jeff scratched several checkpoints from Nome after his incredibly young team quit on him. He stayed with them, shielding them from the brutal wind, until race officials went out to check on him. He officially scratched and they brought he and his team to safety. Jeff has let it be known he's here to be competitive, and his kennel is working hard to get him back into the top. I have high hopes for King this year.

9. Aaron Burmeister - Like Jeff, Aaron recently came out of retirement to race again. Burmeister gave his top team to Dallas a couple years back. The team Dallas took to Nome last year had a lot of Burmeister's dogs (and King's). Go figure. Aaron's team gave a valliant effort last year, I have no doubt he can pull off a top 10 again this year.

10. Jodi Bailey - I had to think long and hard on where and who my top ten, and this may be my most biased pick of the top ten, but Jodi gets a nod. Dew Claw Kennel is steadily rising in the ranks as a kennel to watch. Jodi's husband just had a Top Ten finish in the Quest, and she did very well in the Yukon 300. Last year she ran down Lance Mackey to beat him in the Iditarod. Not too shabby. I'm not saying she's a lock for the top 10 (to do that she'd have to jump 13 places from last year), but I have high hopes for this team.


You may wonder why I left off some of the big names - like DeeDee Jonrowe, Paul Gebhardt, Martin Buser, and Lance Mackey - and the reason is simple... I know they can make the top 10, but I'm just not sure of their chances this year. The field is so competitive. Any one of them could take Baker's place, or Bailey's, or Burmeisters. Ray Reddington, Jr. is also another spoiler for top 10. Travis Beals is one of the rookies that could blow the top ten wide open if his team so chooses to make that leap.

Overall this highly competitive field is going to be amazing to watch and I have a feeling it's going to be a nail biter to the end.

It's a Rookie Invasion?

With the deadline to register just a couple days away, the 2012 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race looks to be a field of rookies. So far the official roster has thirty mushers, nineteen of which are rookies. With Hans Gatt retired, and Sebastian Schnuelle taking a year off, the two top named veterans are former Quest and Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey and fan favorite (as well as consistently strong competitor) Hugh Neff. Mackey is the only champion to win both the Quest and Iditarod in the same year (his first Iditarod winning year, 2007). Neff was poised to take the Quest title last year but the death of a dog and horrible weather conditions forced the musher to scratch.

Other notable Quest Veterans in this year's race are Allen Moore, Sonny Lindner and David Dalton.

The biggest news, however, to come out of the musher roster is a team of Eastern European kennels have joined together to travel and compete in the race. All rookies, it's bringing a new and exciting element to the second most popular race in Alaska - and the only sled dog race that travels across the border into Canada making it a one of a kind event in North America.

2011 Quest Champion, Dallas Seavey, is not currently on the roster. No word if he will compete in the Quest this season or not. Seavey is part of an Iditarod mushing dynasty (third generation) as well as the youngest to complete the Iditarod and win the Quest.