Humbled by Iditarod 2007, Jason Barron aims to keep his focus

A year ago, Jason Barron was about as excited as a musher can be about his dog team, and his chances, as the days ticked down to the start of the Iditarod. He’d just had some convincing wins in Montana. He was proud of his dogs. He felt like he could beat anyone. That joy evaporated about a week later. Downcast, weather-beaten but still characteristically talkative, Barron reflected at Grayling - still hundreds of miles from the finish - about how his once ferocious team had crumbled into a small group of dogs lacking heart.

He recently described that team like this: “I was as vulnerable and as weak as I’m ever going to be. It was like I’m the starship Enterprise and just got the crap shot out of me and I’m limping in on impulse power to get repairs.” (Amazingly, that weak and vulnerable team still crossed under the burled arch in 14^th place. It’s a testament to Barron’s skills.)

The last four years of Barron’s Iditarod career has been yo-yo-like - 12^th, 30^th, 8^th, 14^th - but the trend is positive if you factor in his first three races, 34^th, 42^nd and a scratch. Just about every multiple Iditarod racer improves every year, and Barron is no exception. He’ll enter this year as one of those expected to finish well within the top 20. But his attitude is night-and-day from last year. He’s chastened and humble. This year, he’s also fighting to keep his focus on his own race, and he’s bucking a major trend. He questions the current mantra among mushers that you must put at least 3,000 miles on your team to be competitive.

Barron won the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in Duluth, Minn., in January. He describes his team as having more young talent than ever. “But I won’t be part of the Oklahoma land rush; I’m not racing Paul (Gebhardt), Lance (Mackey) or anyone else. I’m just going to have fun with my team and see what happens. In the Beargrease, I was in physically last place the entire race, and took the lead in the last leg and a half. I instructed my handlers not tell me what everyone else was doing. I needed to run my team the way they need to be run. It doesn’t make any sense to change what you do based on what others are doing.”

In the past he has reacted right in the middle of the Iditarod to what he’s seen around him, and it has failed. He said his focus in 2008 will be on consistency in speed and distance, and to let the chips fall where they may.

He didn’t say how many training miles his dogs have, but noted, “It’s the lowest miles I’ve ever had since I started training this kennel.” What’s up with that? That sounds counter-productive in this era, which began when Team Norway arrived in 2002 and began winning with super-conditioned dogs capable of long runs at moderate speeds, broken with comparatively short rests - smashing the unwritten rule of “equal run, equal rest.”

There was a time, not too long ago, when mushers felt good about starting the Iditarod with 2,000 miles on their dogs. Now they feel the need to have ever-longer training runs. The reason is sound: A dog team that can travel a little slower than it is capable will trot along for hours and stay physically fit and mentally strong. And the only way to get these amazing athletes to slow down (just a little) is to convince them that every run is going to be five or 10 hours long. It’s a great approach, and Team Norway needs to be congratulated for raising the technique to a high art. But Barron said he believes there’s an Achilles heel to the current trend. That is, teams are now taking much longer than they used to take to cover familiar ground. Run times in the last few years are distinctly slower than they were in the late 1990s. He noted the time it takes to go from Kaltag to Unalakleet as an example. A time of nine-and-a-half hours was considered very good about 10 years ago. Now, the fastest times are about an hour longer. He believes the pendulum may eventually swing back to the days when, say, Doug Swingley was burning up the trail at high speeds and resting a little longer.

Barron thinks top racing dogs can be uncorked on extra-long distances during the Iditarod and maintain speed without first practicing super long runs over and over again in the months leading up to the big race. The dogs, he said, are genetically capable of doing the job. “If you use it up in training, they’re less likely to do it (in the race),” he said “A lot of people, me included, have been putting on too many miles.”

All of that is mere speculation, uttered well before the teams hit the trail for the 2008 Iditarod. But it sure hints at Barron’s mindset. Watch his run times and how he rests his team.

One thing is for sure, Jason Barron is not boasting about his chances this time around. It makes you wonder: If pride comes before a fall, as it did last year for him, what does humility come before?