By Herb Brambley, Finalist for 2010 Target Iditarod Teacher on the Trail
New Jersey is a long, long way from Alaska, but that isn’t stopping Kim Darst from competing in the Iditarod Dog Sled Race, which is over 1000 miles long and goes from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. Kim isn’t much over five feet tall, but she is one determined ball of fire. Kim has been preparing for this year’s race for two years. As a matter of fact, she qualified for this year’s race by competing in the Can/Am 250 in Fort Kent, Maine, and the Seney 300 in McMillan, Michigan.
You might wonder how long it takes to drive from New Jersey to Anchorage, Alaska. You can look on Google Earth to find out, or just ask Kim. It took her 8 days. She had to stop and take the dogs out of the truck every 3 or 4 hours. That sounds like a lot of back breaking work to me. Each dog weighs between forty and fifty pounds and she was stopping every 3 or 4 hours for 8 days. You do the math. How much weight did they lift if they had 22 dogs in the truck? It’s a good thing she had her trusty assistant Pita Jean along. Pita Jean is another dynamo, with a keen sense of humor. You have to be about half crazy to be a handler she said. She got her lip stepped on putting a dog back in the truck. Ouch! I bet that felt good.
Kim is a helicopter pilot by trade. She owns her own helicopter school, and in the off season teaches piloting skills. So, from April through September, she is buzzing around the friendly skies of New Jersey. From October through March, Kim’s life is training her dogs. In the past, Kim has been forced to do mostly dry land training around home, where she has a forty mile training run. This year though, she made a few connections and was able to train in Michigan and Minnesota, where they have snow quite a bit earlier than in New Jersey.
How did Kim train in New Jersey? Well, it wasn’t easy. She hooked her dogs to quads. Her 40 mile trail system crosses 19 roads, which can be very dangerous. Fortunately, Kim sometimes had someone watching the crossing for her. She trains her dogs 5-6 days per week as long as it’s below 40 degrees. Kim is using the tools that are available to her, even though they are not equal to what other mushers have. She’s not making excuses to give up. What a great role model for girls and boys everywhere!
Financially, Kim is on her own. She doesn’t have any big sponsors like some of the other mushers. Although, she has had some people donate some money. “Sponsors are hard to get,” she said. She has requested sponsorship from dog food companies in close proximity to her home town but so far has only received disappointing form letters with the big, “NO.” I asked Kim about going to schools and doing presentations. She said she would welcome the opportunity. What a great learning opportunity this would be for students in the Middle Atlantic States where dog sledding is, for the most part, absent from view.
Kim’s goal this year is to get to Nome with a happy, healthy dog team. And, what about the future? Kim said she is taking it one year at a time. But we’ve heard that from mushers before. If I can tell anything about this New Jersey ball of fire from talking to her, it’s that she’s not a quiter. I’d put my money on Kim being back at the starting line ready to go. Go Kim!!!
