Weekly Mushing News Round Up (Aug. 3)

Rob Cooke's team of Siberian Huskies at the start of the 2018 Iditarod.

We've entered into August, the final month of summer for most of Alaska; the last hurrah before training season truly begins for many sled dog teams statewide. While the summer has been sparse with news out of kennels, there was a boom this week. The Yukon Quest sign ups begin tomorrow with a big kick off on both sides of the border, and that has the mushing community buzzing with excitement. Where the Iditarod sign up seemed quiet, and the roster is still just at 30 names, it is expected that the Quest will outshine in its hoopla this year.

Puppies continue to be the name of the game this week. Many of the summer litters are quickly turning to dogs, and mushers proudly show off their pups on social media. Sarah and Travis at Turning Heads Kennel are no exception.... and they have some good looking pups that will no doubt turn into good looking super stars in the next two to three years.

Matt Hall at Smokin' Aces Kennel is looking to sign up for the 2019 Yukon Quest tomorrow morning, but the last few weeks he's been focused on putting in a new dog yard. Matt shared some of his progress on social media over the weekend.


Iditarod musher Lev Shvarts took to social media on his Team Ollie page to place a want ad for a handler for the winter season. Many kennels need help to keep the teams conditioned - just because the snow flies it doesn't mean that mushers don't have lives/jobs outside the realm of dogs. They have to find a balance to make everything work, and that typically means opening up their kennel and home to handlers (think of them as glorified interns). Many get their start in this way and work their way up to having their own dogs and kennel and racing teams through handling for other established kennels. If you're interested, it looks like the job is still available.

Four-time Yukon Quest and (consecutive) Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey made headlines again, and it's positive. Lance, as you may know, has not given up the dog life, but he has increased his need for speed and has turned a lot of his attention to car racing. While he does plan to race this season in the sprint and mid distance sled dog races, Mackey also has plans for NASCAR. That's right NASCAR. The Daily News-Miner out of Fairbanks, Alaska reported on the mushing legend this week. At some point, Mackey may have to make the difficult decision to choose one passion over the other. In some ways he may have already made his move, as he's sold off a lot of his equipment and long-distance team dogs. That being said, Mackey has been very vocal in his fight against animal rights groups like PETA who want to see the sport of mushing destroyed.

Lance Mackey's team at the start of the 2018 Tustumena 200, January 27.

The Iditarod Trail Committee announced their fifth and final new board member on Monday. The ITC selected Alaska's chief of the National Transportation and Safety Board, Clint Johnson. Johnson runs the investigations of all plane crashes in Alaska among other duties. He is admittedly not familiar with the sport, other than having attended the starts of the Iditarod and Rondy races, but says he is willing to learn about the culture the sport entails. With Clint's experience one has to wonder if there aren't significant plans for changes within the Iditarod Air Force coming with this addition to the board. The Iditarod Air Force is the volunteer group of pilots that transport equipment, people, dogs, etc. to and from the check points. They are the ones who assist in returning dogs back to Anchorage to be handed off to the handlers (these were previously called dropped dogs, dogs who for whatever reason needed to stop racing and go home before the race is over, they are now designated as "returned dogs"). There have been a few mishaps in the last couple of years, one of which resulted in dog deaths, and in the Iditarod's history there have been several planes that have crashed (non-fatal, but no less terrifying). One has to think that he will be giving some guidance on how to improve a system that after 46 years may need fresh ideas to keep flying.

Black Spruce Kennels, owned by Jeff and KattiJo Deeter, made news this week via Penny Hoarder with their kennel being highlighted as an off grid haven. Jeff is one of the youngest mushers to run Iditarod, running his rookie year back in 2008 at the tender age of 19. After taking ten years off to find his calling, Deeter returned to Iditarod running this past March and doing rather well. Jeff is once again signed up for the Last Great Race, and was one of two mushers to win their entry fee back during the June 30 sign up BBQ.


Snow Owl Sled Dog Tours announced the names of their newest sled dog team members with some super cute photos of, you guessed it, PUPPIES! And this is doubly awesome because the litter names are inspired by the Addams Family. Uh, sign me up!


Iditarod musher Lisbet Norris is throwing her hat in the ring for the 2019 Yukon Quest, this will be her rookie run. She was excited not only to share that news with followers of her page but also to show off her awesome dog truck rig. Unlike the Iditarod, handlers are allowed to help their musher within certain check points on the Quest, and with her new rig, she's able to safely run "the other thousand mile" race.

Beckie Hacker - who dreams of one day running the Iditarod and is working towards that goal - proudly showed off her new leaders in a quick update on her social media pages.

Mary Helwig had a little bit of frustration this morning as she found that one of her retired pups had decided to go into landscaping.... in her newly landscaped yard. Needless to say the pup seems pretty dang proud of himself, and she is without a lot of nice flowers and veggies.

Iditarod 43: Bring on the Rookies!

With about 20 (I may have miscounted) rookies in this race, let's take a look at some of the more (in this blogger's opinion) interesting and exciting teams.

Let's start off with the "returning rookies" these are mushers that have run in previous years but scratched before the finish line in Nome. You are a rookie until you complete an Iditarod. So that means you can run 20 Iditarods and still be considered a rookie if you never finish.

Cindy Abbot is one such musher who was only going to run the race once - but a freak crash on the trail left her stiff and sore for days. She finally couldn't handle the pain any longer and was forced to scratch. When flown back to Anchorage she was checked out by doctors and it was noted that she'd broken her pelvis! Last year she tried again, but unfortunately saw trouble on the difficult, snow barren trail, and once again had to scratch. One wonders if she can make it this year with trail conditions being just as bad as last year's (and completely new for the first half of the race) but she's a determined person. I wouldn't count her out.

Lev Shvartz chose last year to be his rookie year, and it didn't go well. Like many teams - veteran and rookie - Lev ended up scratching in Rohn. This year the Gorge and Burn are out, so the trail is relatively safer for sleds and mushers. Lev was my choice of rookie last year, and I have no doubt that Shvartz can make it to Nome this year.

Philip Walters is a middle school band teacher - so right there I think he's pretty awesome. Walters runs dogs out of Snowhook Kennel owned by Justin and Rebecca Savidis (they're the ones with the super cool dogbox with the silhouette of the howling dog on each door). Walters won't really be competitive, but he's using his run to shed light on how important arts are for education. He's helped with the Iditarod curriculum as well.

Heidi Sutter is another teacher turned Iditarod musher this year. She and her hubby run KMA Kennel (and you can guess what KMA stands for). Heidi will be easy to spot as she is BRIGHT PINK hair. Heidi is a great advocate for the sport - she is incredibly active on social media - and brings a positive presence to the races. She says she's using this Iditarod to train her team for the 2016 Yukon Quest. Very excited to see how she does in her rookie year.

Alan Stevens is running a Buser team - most likely puppy team - so that makes his team interesting in and of itself. He's helping train Martin and Rohn's next batch of superstars.

Yuka Honda is a Janitor who lives in the Yukon Territory of Canada - but was born and raised in Japan. After graduating university she moved to Canada where she was a dog handler, then she saw the Iditarod on television and decided she wanted to race. She moved to Alaska to learn the ropes before moving to her home in the Yukon. She has a kennel of 25+ sled dogs. She's not a total stranger to 1000 mile races, she competed in the Quest in 2012.

Ben Harper is one of the more exciting rookies this year - he's running Redington dogs - but in his short time in Alaska he's been a top musher on the "junior circuit" coming in the top 4 of each of his Jr Iditarod runs. This will be a telling rookie year, and just the stepping stone for what looks like a very successful career in the sport.

One week until the Musher's Banquet where the bib numbers will be drawn!