Mushing Social Media Round Up returns!

 It's been a while since this blog has done a "round of" of mushing news/social media posts, but it's back by popular demand (well, semi-popular, some of y'all have asked!) This will by no means be an exhaustive search of each and every kennel out there, but just a taste of what's being shared on a week to week basis (or about that). If you find something interesting, or if you're a musher/race director who wants to spread some news - contact me! We'll all work together to keep up with each other during the busy summer.

So let's take a look at what the world of Mushing Socials has been up to lately.

First, and possibly most importantly, you have have heard the new rules for traveling with animals across borders thanks to the CDC. This has been a very hot button topic within the mushing community as it would make things more difficult for teams traveling through Canada to get to the Lower 48 or Alaska. Races are now in jeopardy for some teams, and the young dogs and new puppies doing tours on the Alaskan Panhandle are looking at being stranded because they won't be able to travel easily. Many mushers in Canada AND the US have spoken out. 

 

Jr. Iditarod sign ups are in full swing and they had two more mushers sign up over the American holiday weekend.

Speaking of Iditarod... THE Iditarod made a few announcements this week. The big one being today (Tuesday, July 9). As you might know, the fame Burled Arch that stands over the finish line in Nome broke apart this spring (thankfully AFTER the race had come and gone). Soon after it was made known that Iditarod finisher and skilled craftsman Ramey Smyth would have the honor of creating a new arch (every 25 years or so a new one seems to need to be made). Now the Iditarod has announced how fans and supporters can join in and raise funds for the arch.

Girdwood's Forest Fair took place this past weekend and "history was made" as the parade to kick off the event was led by a team of sled dogs driven by fan favorite Hunter Keefe. Hunter is part of the team of mushers who run the Girdwood Sled Dog Tours and is having a fantastic summer. (Also amusing is dogs are not permitted to enter the "fair" so to have them lead the parade gave many a good laugh.)

Jr. Musher Thale Randall did something he hadn't done before, he raced the Jr. Mount Marathon race in Seward on the 4th of July. He placed extremely well as a rookie. Thale's dad is running the Iditarod as a rookie in 2025 and his sister has made a name for herself on the junior circuit. The family resides with their sled dogs in the Interior and own Rock on Racing Sled Dogs kennel.

Matt Failor announced that his tour company isn't just dogs anymore, they are now offering ATV tours as well! You can even combine and create a package of both dog and machine. Failor and crew run an excellent establishment that gets high praise from tourists and locals alike.

Dallas Seavey gave an update on the seriously injured dogs from his team (snowmachine incident in November, and homicidal moose on the Iditarod). You may want some kleenex.

As stated, this is by no means all that was posted this week on social media, it's just a sampling. Check back next week for the next round up!

If you like what you see and want to support my addiction (I mean HOBBY) of following these races and stalking (I mean cheering on) the mushers, you can buy me a slice of pizza (that really goes to paying for my internet/web expenses).

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: