It’s official, at least as official as any announcement of this type gets in distance mushing: Doug Swingley has called it a career.
“I’m retired,” the four-time Iditarod champion said by phone from his home in Lincoln, Mont., on Thursday, Feb. 21. “I’m living the life of Riley. I’m done. Melanie (Shirilla) and I are into [...]
Lance Mackey staved off a strong challenge from his neighbor, Ken Anderson, and hung on to win his fourth Yukon Quest in a row.
Anderson got within four minutes of Mackey as the two wound their way down the Yukon River into Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, in the wee hours Wednesday. But catching up that late in [...]
A little analysis from a distance
It’s down to the wire for Lance Mackey and Ken Anderson in the 2008 Yukon Quest International.
Once the big news “blackout” between Dawson City and Pelly Crossing was over, word began leaking out about lost trail and the obvious duel between reigning three-time champion Mackey and Anderson in the suddenly [...]
By the time the Iditarod restart gets under way on Sunday, March 2, some 96 mushers should be on the trail, which means there will be more than 1,500 dogs loping and trotting northwest from Willow, on the same trail and within three hours of each other. (It’s enough to make you feel sorry for [...]
The Iditarod Trail Committee’s Iditarod XXXVI Dog Handler Certification Class has been moved to the Fairview Community Center located at 1121 E 10th Ave. (between 9th and 10th street on Karluck St) in Anchorage. The class will begin at 10:00 am Saturday, Feb. 16th. It will move to the Fairview Lions Park located [...]
Anderson chases Mackey out of Eagle
By day four of the 2008 Yukon Quest, it appeared that Lance Mackey was once again in the driver’s seat, a position he’s become increasingly comfortable with since he first won the race as a rookie in 2005. He’s won the last three. Just looking at the numbers of dogs, [...]
Mackey, Anderson jockey to front
Before the 2008 Yukon Quest started, mushers were speculating about which team was going to challenge three-time defending champ, Lance Mackey. Dan Kaduce was among those mentioned as a contender, along with Brent Sass, Hugh Neff and Ken Anderson. By day one of the Quest, Kaduce obviously was the first to [...]
The Alaska Sports Hall of Fame recently announced that Joe Redington Sr. and Rick Swenson were inducted as members of the Class of 2008.
Other Athlete inductees include Carlos Boozer, Utah Jazz forward and National Basketball Association All Star, Trajan Langdon, the first Alaskan to play in the NBA and Mark Schlereth, three-time Super Bowl champion.
Joe [...]
Past champ, analyst to lead the way for Scdoris
Joe Runyan is training dogs this winter in the Kenai Peninsula’s Caribou Hills, far from his home in the Lower 48, expecting to once again drive a team in the Iditarod after a 14-year hiatus.
This time, the former champion will work as Rachael Scdoris’ visual interpreter, covering [...]
Races leading up to Iditarod are adventures in themselves
Martin Buser’s wife, Kathy Chapoton, coined it perfectly in a blog during the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race. She renamed the race the “Kusko-swim.” In a race where weather and location combined into a perfect miserable storm, mushers found themselves wading up to their hips in ice [...]