Veterans, mentally, already are miles up the trail
ANCHORAGE — Never before in the history of long distance sled dog racing have so many competitive mushers been packed into one room. There were 96 of them assembled for the day-long, pre-race musher meeting on Thursday, and the room buzzed with energy — some of it rookie nerves, but mostly just plain excitement to race on the part of the veterans.
All the potential front-runners said some version of the same theme: I can’t wait to get on the trail because this is the best team I’ve run in years.
It’s a standard line, and they all mean it; and for most of them, it’s actually true. The race each year fields a deeper pool of canine talent and the mushers come more prepared than ever.
Mitch Seavey, the 2004 champion, said he’s rarely been this excited to get the hoopla behind him and just be on the trail with his dogs. It’s a good bunch, tested and proven in a decisive win in the water-logged Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race. Look for Seavey to be strong this year.
He wasn’t alone in having that sparkle in his eye.
Other mushers looking to move to the front early (and they’re not surprises) are Ramey Smyth, Ray Redington and John Baker. Baker did relay to me that his number one handler, 10th place 2007 finisher Tollef Monson, had to bow out this year to help take care of his family. Baker still has a second-string team of dogs in the race, piloted by Ben Gerard of France.
Some, such as fan favorite Louis Nelson of Kotzebue, may have extra motivation to race more aggressively. Nelson, 65, said this will be his last Iditarod — not because he’s feeling his age, though. He said he’s spent too much time with the dogs and at camp instead of being at home with his wife. He wants to pass the baton to one of his sons, Robert, 39. Robert Nelson is a rookie this year. They’ll be joined on the trail by Darin, 38. I asked Darin who’s going to finish first between them and he didn’t hesitate, pointing at his father. He also shook his head and said he warned Louis not to announce his retirement since he’s bound to feel the pull to return.
Kjetil Backen, returning to represent Team Norway after a strong third place showing in 2004, said he’s got a very solid unit with dogs he raced all winter supplemented with a few from two-time champion Robert Sorlie and one from Bjornar Andersen. Pointing out the vagaries of the trail and the mysterious and sometimes elusive camaraderie of the dogs and driver, Backen said he would know by Nikolai if he had a team capable of winning. Then, he said, the work would really being. He’d still have to race another 700 miles against other teams that are also peaking.
The musher meeting is loaded with chores and routines that seldom change over the years. Mushers autograph the mail caches that they’ll carry to Nome. They pick up gear from sponsors such as Cabela’s, Wells Fargo, Anchorage Chrysler and GCI. Then begins a series of discussions, closed to the public, about the trail ahead, race rules, veterinary care and general logistics. It’s a chance for the race officials and mushers to talk back and forth and iron out details before the Iditarod gets under way.
Next up is the musher’s banquet Thursday night, where they will pick starting positions. Friday is a down day — nothing is scheduled — which gives everyone one day to make last-minute preparations before Saturday’s 10 a.m. ceremonial start in Anchorage and Sunday’s 2 p.m. restart in Willow.
One driver needing some serious last-minute help was Joe Garnie of Teller, Alaska. Garnie is a trail tough veteran known for his excellent dogs. Something went wrong with his food drops, which got delivered to the wrong location. Meat in the drop bags melted and spoiled. So he was scrambling Thursday to get more meat and ship it out to checkpoints.
Schandelmeier pumped about Denure’s race
Zoya Denure has a team of 16 dogs without a significant weak link, said her husband, John Schandelmeier. Denure, herself, is now fully recovered after a bad fall on Paxson Lake (near the couple’s home) during the Copper Basin 300 sled dog race. She’d suffered a bad concussion, but they were so busy getting her ready for the Iditarod that neither one realized how bad it was, Schandelmeier said.
Denure completed the Klondike 300, got her food drops done and was part way through the Tustumena 200 at the tail end of January when she got ill on the trail and had to scratch. Doctors later told her she needed time off from training to recover, which she took, and she’s back on track. While Denure rested, Schandelmeier kept the dog team trained up. He said he took them on a non-stop 80-miler recently and the team was fast and enthusiastic. Now it’s up to Denure — and most of the other rookies — to learn what it’s like to race dogs farther than 300 miles. Few have, beyond William Kleedehn, who’s got 11 Yukon Quests to his credit.