Date: September 21, 2006 at 11:33 am
KASILOF, Alaska — Whiteouts are the norm along the largely treeless Bering Sea Coast, where cold, heavy air roars out of the hills in an urgent rush for the low-lying shore. But one particular storm in 1991 – a nasty, howling tempest – did more than simply sculpt new drifts across the landscape that year, it carved its way into the souls of the people who lived through it.
That storm ended a number of careers and boosted others, caused some people to lose hope while refining the hearts of a few. It forever changed the history of the sport, marking Rick Swenson – one of two who trudged blindly ahead into the storm’s maw – as the race’s only five-time champion, an honor he has held for the past 15 years.
Read More »
Date: September 5, 2006 at 3:43 pm
KASILOF, Alaska — Note: For a lot of reasons, I am reluctant to write too much about my own dog team and the limited success I’ve had racing Alaskan huskies. I’m not that interested in writing about myself, unless it helps illustrate something about the sport from an insider’s point of view. But I recently was preparing notes for a talk at a sled dog symposium about how I race with a small kennel of dogs, and I thought those notes might be interesting to readers.
I came off the ice-cold Kuskokwim 300 last year thrilled with my team. We’d held together nicely and chased Jeff King, Mitch Seavey and Ramy Brooks hard to the finish. Once again, I was fourth place in a sled dog race. I have a way of finishing fourth or fifth in most races. When I groused a little about that to DeeDee Jonrowe at the 2007 Iditarod signup picnic, she barely paused before replying, “There’s a whole lot of mushers who wish they had that ‘problem.’”
Read More »
