However, with the drama going into week 3 (if we could the week where Dallas was simply known as Musher X in the story), the media has begun to find other things to focus on. Fans are a little less angry. And the mushers... the mushers...
Well, most of the mushers are not following Dallas's plea for a boycott of the last great race.
This should come as no real surprise. The Iditarod is the top echelon of the sport these mushers throw a lot of money into training. There's no US National Mushing fund teams can get a little help from. They rely on sponsorship from individuals and businesses. Most big sponsors want to see results to make the investment look worthwhile. Top name means the brand is scene more, and is associated with excellence. It's why Dallas Seavey and J.J. Keller are such a good partnership, one that sees Dallas giving motivational speeches nationwide every year. Mitch Seavey has Young Living. Jeff King was the Cabela's musher until Animal Rights activists managed to ruin a good thing there (ironic considering). Red Paw, Eagle, Dr. Tim'ss and other high performance dog foods also have mushers they support. These sponsors want results. You don't get results if you don't run.
It's also "helpful" that the deadline to withdraw from the race and get a full refund passed before the positive drug test came to light. The petition written and signed by many of the Iditarod Finishers Club requested not only that the ITC release the name of the musher whose team tested positive, but also that the refund deadline be postponed until November. We know the ITC gave in to the first request, but have seemingly ignored all other requests by the mushers. We have no more transparency since Monday's release of the musher's name, and the mushers are out $4,000 if they withdraw.
Aside from Dallas Seavey, only two other mushers have withdrawn since the announcement - both citing the ITC's handling of the "doping scandal" as reason behind their pulling out. Laura Neese was first, and while she did not come out in full support of Dallas, she did cite concerns about the ITC's leadership. Jason Mackey announced Thursday that he, too, was dropping out of the race due to being "sick of the politics". Mackey is also charged with third-degree theft after he allegedly took four dog crates that belonged to another musher when he was in Nome, and he never returned them. After allegedly ducking phone calls for months, musher Al Eischens said he had "no choice" but to file a police report. A hearing is set for the first part of November.
More mushers have come out in support of both Dallas AND the ITC - saying now was the time to unify, not divide. This is most likely not what Dallas had in mind when he spoke out against the ITC and their recent decisions. Top names like Aliy Zirkle and Wade Marrs both said that they believed that Dallas was smarter and had more integrity than to knowingly use a banned substance - especially when he knew a drug test would happen at the finish. However, neither one feels the ITC maliciously went after Dallas and that they planned on running Iditarod. Other mushers have spoken in favor of Dallas, but have not spoken one way or the other on the Iditarod, but are still listed on the Iditarod roster.
Only one musher has said their decision is still up in the air - unsurprisingly that musher is Mitch Seavey. While some have shared surprise that Mitch didn't just pull immediately, it'd be remiss to point out that Mitch is deeply connected to the Iditarod in ways his son can't be. Mitch watched his father and the other Iditarod Trail Blazers come together with Joe Redington to get the race off the ground. Can't help but think the loyalty to the race (not the ITC, as Dallas pointed out the ITC is not the Iditarod) weighs heavy on his mind as does his loyalty to his kid.
Dallas' brother Danny made the point in an interview with fellow musher and journalist Blair Braverman that it wouldn't matter if the top 10 mushers all pulled out, and the ITC board were all fired, there would still be an Iditarod. The race is bigger than a few top names. Volunteers and fans and mushers are here to stay.
Also staying put are all of the Iditarod's sponsors. For once, scandal isn't scaring anyone away - for now. Though some have told the media that they are "monitoring the situation" for now, all of their money is staying put. This is good news for the race in general. The Iditarod recently lost a major sponsor in Wells Fargo due to Animal Rights Extremists pressured the bank into stopping sponsorship. Sound familiar? Kinda hard not to think they had a hand in the latest bout of negativity within the race.
There are still questions that the ITC needs to address. Full transparency in sports - especially when it's the health and safety of the sports athletes - is of great importance. The ITC is hoping the attention will die down, but my personal hope is that the mushers continue to push for answers. Not just Dallas shouting with righteous indignation over how they handled this, but the other mushers who deserve to know just what happened. Dogs were drugged, the ITC has no proof their musher did it - are they still investigating? It might make everyone breathe a little easier if they actually seemed to want to find out how the drug got in the dogs system. Right now with their inaction to investigate, it just seems that they still believe Dallas Seavey to be to blame, even when they say they don't believe it to be the case.
We need answers.
