"My favorite book!"

I've gushed about my all time favorite children's book multiple times. Danger The Dog Yard Cat was my favorite book to read when I was small. Libby won the Iditarod in 1985, and this book came about 5 years later. Libby won the year I was born, and I was a huge fan of all things Iditarod. To have the first woman win the year I was born meant I was instantly a huge fan of Libby. She was one of my sports heroes as far back as I can remember.

I had the audio tape that went along with the book (it's now on CD, I need to get me a copy!) and I wore the book and the tape out. I knew the book by heart, and could sing the songs without the music. I was obsessed. Danger looked like my cat, Scooter, and Mudshark was an interesting crosseyed dog. That these characters were all "real" (though the story is pretty near made up) made the story that much more fun.

I think every child from my generation living in Alaska had a copy of this book (as well as others written by Shelley Gill, one of the best children's authors EVER), it's so popular it's still in production 25 years later. If you have a youngster (past 2nd grade it's too easy a reading level) this is definitely a book worth having in your personal library!

Zirkle channels her inner Libby Riddles on Iditarod run

Aliy Zirkle turned heads this evening when just nine minutes after running into the Iditarod checkpoint of Rohn, she headed out on her way to the little town of Nikolai. Zirkle will most likely find a place to camp along the trail, away from the hustle and bustle of a busy checkpoint. Zirkle left even with the storm warning coming to the area along the Kuskokwim River, which has many long time fans and media to think back to the race's first lady champion: Libby Riddles.

Still, Zirkle's and Riddles' runs are also drastically different. While Zirkle is taking the chance prior to her 24 hour layover, Riddles did so out on the Alaskan coast just miles away from the finish. Zirkle got out ahead of the storm, Riddles went through it. And Zirkle's storm is a storm warning, Riddles didn't have trail markers to follow because they blew away.

Riddles won with her gutsy move, it will be days before we will see if Aliy's strategy pays off, but one look at the tracker shows a host of past winners on her tail. Jeff King and Mitch Seavey are gaining, and at least one - Seavey - also plans to stop before heading into the next checkpoint. And there's still the 24 hour layovers where the clock is basically erased, and it's every team for themself afterwards. And we're not at the half way point of Cripple yet.

Iditarod FAQ - 2012 Edition - Part 2

To read part 1, click here.

The race has come a long way since Dick Wilmarth won the first Iditarod in 1973 in twenty days (just shy of THREE WEEKS). The race now takes, on average, nine days before the winner is declared. Wilmarth in the inaugural year ran the unknown trail to win his one and only Iditarod, due to controversy (rumors still fly that he cheated somehow) and a lack of desire, Wilmarth never ran another race. Third in that race was Dan Seavey, who will be the only musher from the first race to run in the 40th anniversary race. Dan is the first of a three generation Iditarod racing family, his son Mitch won the Iditarod in 2004, and three out of four of Mitch's sons have run the Iditarod and hold their own records.

Dallas Seavey at the start of Iditard 37.

In 2000, Dan ran in the same race as Mitch and Mitch's oldest, Danny. They made the record for the first 3 generation family to run in the same race. In 2005, Dallas Seavey became the youngest musher to finish the Iditarod, he turned 18 the day before the race (in other words it'll come down to minutes and seconds in order for someone to take that record away from him). In 2011, Dallas won the other long-distance race in Alaska - the Yukon Quest and went on to place fourth in that year's Iditarod. Dallas hopes to beat Rick Swenson's record of youngest musher to win the Iditarod in the next two years.

Rick Swenson became the youngest musher to win the Iditarod at age 26 and would go on to win four more. Swenson is the only five time champion in the forty year history of the race, and continues to run the race and participate in the Iditarod Trail Committee board meetings. He has not given up on winning the all elusive sixth win. Swenson also played a part in Dick Mackey's one second win. In 1978, Mackey and Swenson went head to head into Nome. Both men went all out to get their team to the finishline. Mackey collapsed as his team crossed under the Burled Arch, while Swenson ran his sled under. It was determined by the Race Marshall that Mackey had won because the "nose of the first dog" determined the win. It was not a sled race, it was a dog race.

Dick Mackey also hosts a family with three generations of mushers. Along with Dick two of his sons are also Iditarod Champions. Rick Mackey won in 1983, and younger son Lance Mackey has won an impressive four consecutive wins. Lance is the only musher in history to win four in a row. Lance started his winnings on the Yukon Quest before doing both races in a single year. In 2007, it all came together. Interestingly enough each Mackey won their first Iditarod with the lucky number thirteen for their bib number. Lance Mackey's step-son Cain Carter ran the Iditarod in 2011.

It's not an easy feat, winning the Iditarod (or even running it!), only 19 mushers have ever won. To repeat the feat is even more difficult. It's said there are more people who have successfully climbed mount everest or gone into outer space than there are mushers who were able to finish the race. The Iditarod is the great equilizer. There are no handicaps, there are no "easier courses" for the ladies. Men and Women compete together - one of the few sports that allows this. During the height of the feminist movement in the USA in the 80s, this was especially interesting to those outside of the race. For those running? It was just another day in Alaska.

Susan Butcher with lead dog Granite.
Photo by Jeff Shultz?

The first lady to finish the race was in 1974 when Mary Shields completed her race. It wouldn't be until 1985 until a woman would win. Libby Riddles defied snow storms and nay-sayers when she, surprisingly, was the first to cross the finishline in Nome. However, the next year's winner, Susan Butcher would be the face of mushing women for the sport well into the 90s and 2000s. Butcher is the only woman to win four Iditarods. She changed the sport of mushing by the way she trained and the care of her dogs. She was a fierce rival for Rick Swenson - who was frustrated with the low blows being directed at him for "letting a woman beat him." Through most of Susan Butcher's career the slogan around Alaska was "Alaska: Where men are men, and women win the Iditarod."

Susan Butcher took a break from racing at the height of her career in order to raise her family. In the early 2000s Alaska was rocked hard with the news of Susan's dianosis of Leukemia. Susan fought and beat it the first round, but on another check up it was discovered the disease had come back with a vengence. Susan succumed to the illness on August 5, 2006. The next year, she was declared the Iditarod's honorary musher. The first Saturday in March was declared Susan Butcher day in 2008, and Figure Skating Icon and Olympic Champion Dorothy Hamill - long time friend of Butcher's - was on hand to help dedicate the day.
Only a handful of mushers have won the race more than once, with only six teams winning four times or more. Along with Swenson, Butcher and Mackey, are also Jeff King (the world's "winningest musher"), Martin Buser and Doug Swingley. Swingley is the only American from another state to have won the Iditarod. Swingley's popularity dwindled while he was still at his peak due to the fact that he was very unsportsmanlike towards his competitors and even the state of Alaska. He retired after two disappointing races - one where he froze his corneas, and another where his team became ill and did not finish well. He raises horses in his Montana ranch.

The only other "outsider" to win was part of Team Norway. Robert Sorlie is a two time champion, and is much beloved by the Mushing and Alaskan community. Unlike Swingly, Sorlie was gracious to all, and it was a huge effort on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific to help Team Norway travel to Alaska each year. With the economy the way it is, and the purse for the Iditarod much smaller (and the entry fee higher), Team Norway has been missing the last few years. Sorlie has not run a team in several years, but in 2012 Sigrid Ekran will be back to run the dogs.

Interestingly enough, even though the Iditarod is Alaskan in most every sense of the word, only three Native Alaskans have ever won the Iditarod. Two in the early days of the race, and finally in 2011 John Baker became the third to be crowned champion. Baker is also the first Inupiat to win. Baker came in and broke the fastet time record (held by Martin Buser from his win in 2002), the new record to beat is 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, and 39seconds.

Check back for more Iditarod posts soon! Have questions? submit them in a comment on any blogpost or email me!

Favorite Sled Dog Books

So I got an email from some random person asking if there were any good Iditarod books out there. The short answer is - yes there are - though most seem to be more sled dogs in general written by Iditarod super stars. However, reading a few is a fantastic way of getting into the spirit of the race.

Danger the Dog Yard Cat, written by 1985 Iditarod Champion Libby Riddles is a fun children's book about Riddles' cat. The story is a fictional look at Riddles' win on the Iditarod. Obviously the first woman to win the race did not have a tabby cat for a lead dog, but it's cute none the less. Growing up this was my favorite children's book (along with Thunderfeet, about Prehistoric Alaska), not only because of the storyline or the fact that my favorite musher of all time wrote it, but because it came with a wonderful audio cassette with a soundtrack written by Hobo Jim, the story - of course - was read by (who eles) "Danger" himself. It's a great first look into a musher's dog lot, and if you ever doubted that sled dogs were well loved by their caretakers, this book proves that wrong. Libby shows great love in her tribute to her four legged friends - feline and canine.

Author Gary Paulson might be most famous for his tween books like The Hatchet (still one of my favorite adventure novels for any age), but to Alaskans he's the Iditarod author. Winterdance is his semi autobiography and a humorous look at how Paulson trained for his first Iditarod. He gives an "outsiders" perspective on this very Alaskan race and does so with gusto. If you're looking for a clean, family friendly novel - this is not it. There is quite a bit of language - musher's rarely censor themselves - and he leaves no stone unturned. While most of the book is about the magic of the race, Paulson also delves into the brutality of it all from the dangers on the trail to the one unethical musher he comes across in the race. The book, like the race, is joyous and exhausting and not for the faint of heart. I read Winterdance at least once a year (always before the start of the race) to get into that Iditarod mood/mindset.

If novels aren't your thing, and picture books are more your speed then Dogs of the Iditarod will do it for you. The book is by the official Iditarod photographer, Jeff Schultz, and brings the faces of the real athletes of the Iditarod to light. Puppies and adult dogs are the stars of this book and the photos warm your heart (as well as captivate your imagination). Jeff Shultz is one of my favorite photojournalistic styled photographers and I envy him for his position with the Iditarod as the official photographer - that being said I don't think I could handle the extreme weather and temps he faces to get those amazing shots. He's one in a million, that guy, and the Iditarod (and fans) are lucky to have him following the race every step of the way.

Ever wonder what it is that makes a man (or woman for that matter) get the crazy notion that running dogs, and entering the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, is a good idea? Jeff King's Cool Hands Warm Hearts explains it all in the classic Jeff King style. It's humorous but full of heart - much in the same way as Winterdance is, but with one major difference: winterdance is written by an author first, musher second... Cool Hands is written by a champion musher. period. Jeff King is beloved by just about all in Alaska (except maybe fish and game, but that's another story for another day) and you'll know why as you read this book. It's a quick read that I am - so far - truly enjoying. I've not yet finished, but already it's among my favorite athlete autobiographies and definitely worth the add to any book collection.


On a side topic, working at the Iditarod Sales Table at the Millenium Hotel (Iditarod Headquarters this time of year) has brought to light that many don't know what Mitch Seavey's new book, Lead Follow or Get Out of the Way, is about. Many believed it would be an autobiography and have expressed disappointment that it was more technical than anything else - I blame the publisher for this as they don't really warn you with the description they provide on the jacket (or back of the book). This book is part of a series (hence the volume one portion of the title) that Mitch is working on to educate newer mushers as they begin their journey into sled dogs. I've not read the book yet (it's on my to get and to do lists) but knowing the bit I do about Mitch it's no surprising when people tell me that it's dry. Well, yeah, that's kinda who he is. He's not flashy like Lance Mackey, or overly charismatic like Jeff (or even Dallas Seavey), he's just a matter of fact kind of guy. Not that he's got no sense of humor, but with this book he's not about entertaining - but informing. Look for his autobiography towards the end of the book series. Now THAT's the one I'm waiting for.