It wasn’t just spring because the calendar said so, there were other signs of spring in Nome on Saturday,. The sun rose at 9:01 then set at 9:19 providing more than 12 hours of daylight. The low temperature was 10 above and the high reached 28, both being well above average. The day was bright, the sun was warm and by sled dog standards it was almost summery. Add one more sign of spring – the Red Lantern musher crossed the finish line to finalize Iditarod XXXVIII.

Celeste Davis on the trail at Willow

Celeste Davis, bib 58, and her team of nine dogs led by Thelma and Turbo came off the Bering Sea onto Front Street and crossed under the burled arch at 8:06 pm (22:06) in complete daylight. A large crowd of town’s folk, Iditarod staff, volunteers and race fans greeted her enthusiastically. It’s quite rare to have all of the teams into Nome before the Sunday evening Finisher’s Banquet. The norm is to honor those who have finished by the time of the banquet on Sunday then hold another banquet to honor those who come in later. Guaranteed though, every finisher is honored with a banquet.

Davis, who lives in Deer Lodge, Montana has posted the fastest Red Lantern time ever. After leaving the Willow start at 3:52 pm (15:52) on March 6th, she ran up Front Street in Nome and under the burled arch at 8:06 pm on March 20th for a time of 13 days, 5 hours, 6 minutes and 40 seconds. To compute a team’s race time, the two mandatory 8 hour rests and the required 24 hour layover are subtracted from the total elapsed time between start and finish.

The previous record Red Lantern time belongs to David Straub who earned the lantern crossing under the burled arch in 2002 with a time of 14 days, 5 hours, 38 minutes and 12 seconds. Coincidentally, that was the year that Martin Buser claimed the fastest Iditarod time ever. That record still stands but Martin is no longer the only musher to finish in less than 9 days. Lance Mackey and his team of speedsters led by Rev and Maple are also in the record books with an 8-day finish – but only by 51 seconds. It’s hard to know exactly what all went into the 2 best winning times and the 2 best Red Lantern times in race history happening in the same year. Was the trail in 2002 rumored to be terrible, were there lengthy bare sections in the burn, were the tussocks brutal? In contrast to the information provided by the Iron Dog Snowmachine racers, the trail was actually fast and good for the dogs. Martin Buser said prior to the race, when the trail is bad for the snowmachines, it’s great for the dogs. Buser hit the nail squarely on the head!

There are two lanterns that are significant in Iditarod. There’s the Red Lantern that’s awarded to the last musher to cross the finish line in Nome. It represents perseverance and stick-to-itiveness in the mushing world of Alaska. The Red Lantern dates back to 1953 when it was first awarded in the Fur Rendezvous. The second lantern, the Widow’s Lamp dates back to the days when freight and mail were hauled by dog team across Alaska. A kerosene lamp was lit and hung outside the roadhouses along the trial. Not only did the lamp helped the driver to find his destination at night but it also signified that drivers and teams were somewhere on the trail. When the musher reached his destination, the Widow’s Lamp was extinguished. In keeping with this tradition, the Widow’s Lamp is lit in Nome and hung on the burled arch as the first musher leaves the restart at Willow. It remains lit until the final team reaches Nome.

While Iditarod has only one champion, every musher who either attempts the race or finishes the race is a winner. Iditarod is a very personal journey filled with barriers that are turned into hurdles, obstacles that are converted to opportunities and problems that result in solutions. After crashing in the Gorge and sustaining a broken nose and concussion, Red Lantern winner, Celeste Davis, is the epitome of perseverance and stick-to-itiveness. Congratulations to Celeste and Lance and to everyone who finished between them. Congratulations also to the 16 mushers who attempted to conquer the trail and live their Iditarod dream in 2010.

Born to Run,

Sanka

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Salem & Jeff King 2006 Champions

Jeff King spoke at the Iditarod Winter Teacher’s Conference on Friday. He’s the winningest musher of all times and has four Iditarod victories to his credit. He shared stories about his rookie trip from Anchorage to Nome in 1981. It took him 15 days to cover the route and he finished in 28 place. He didn’t run Iditarod again until 1991 when he finished in 13 days, taking 12th place. Jeff has made the trip from Anchorage to Nome 20 times, has won 4 and placed in the top ten all but 4 times. What a record that is! It was a surprise to everyone in the room when he announced that this Iditarod would more than likely be his last. He plans to run other races but wants to retire from the Iditarod at the top of his game rather than run his final race knowing that he had run one to many.

Salem in lead for the 2010 Ceremonial Start

Jeff has a very famous lead dog named Salem. Had it not been for Salem, Jeff’s 4th victory in 2006 might not have been. One of his wheel dogs came loose from the gangline and was running out in front of the team. King stopped the team and stomped the snow hook into the trial. He took treats and walked out toward the lose dog. This dog had a playful streak and as soon as King would get close, he’d run off a few yards. All the time, King is saying, “Come boy, come, here boy, come on…” Well the team thought Jeff was calling them so leaning into their tugs, they pulled the hook and trotted toward Jeff who had just caught the loose dog. When they reached King who was holding the captured wheel dog, they trotted right on by expecting him to jump on the runners. With the dog in his arms, Jeff stood helplessly as the team continued down the trail and disappeared over the crest of a hill. Jeff was calling, “SALEM STOP! SALEM WHOA!” Carrying the captured dog, King made his way to the crest of the hill to find his team waiting on the other side. Now there’s a lead dog that listens to and follows commands. If Salem hadn’t stopped the team, Jeff would have had a long walk to the next checkpoint and quite likely would not have won the race. Salem hasn’t run Iditarod since 2006 but has been training puppies. Jeff ran Salem in lead for today’s ceremonial start.

Jeff King steers the sled with a gee-pole

King used a gee-pole set up to guide his team 11 miles from 4th & D in downtown Anchorage to the Campbell Airstrip. There’s a long sturdy pole lashed to the side of the sled which the musher uses for steering and support. Two sturdy skis are attached to the gangling behind the wheel dogs. The musher is pulled along by the team while standing in bindings on the skies behind the wheel dogs but in front of the sled. One of Jeff’s daughter’s was riding the runners of the sled. It’s a most unusual set up that originated from the gold rush when dogs were scarce and miners had to propel their loaded sleds themselves. Jeff used this old method of steering the sled in the 2009 ceremonial start also.

Well there you have it, the latest scoop on Jeff King and his Iditarod Career. Will Jeff earn another Iditarod victory and join Rick Swenson as the winningest Iditarod mushers. Only time will tell.

Born to Run,
Sanka

Bosca - once a bully, now a friend

Now days, there is much concern about bullying in schools, on the play ground, in Physical Education class and even in the dog yard. All age groups can be the target of a bully – puppies, yearlings, two-year-olds, adults and seniors. I want to share a story about bullying in the Just Guts Dog Yard.

When I was a little puppy, just off the plane from Alaska to Wisconsin, most of the dogs were wondering who this tiny little dog was who now lived in the puppy pen and was getting so much love and attention from the humans. I sized up the other dogs that were close to the puppy pen. There was Blackjack – BIG, Black and seemed pretty nice. There was Bootleg – BIG, Black and seemed friendly. There was Bosca – BIG, Wolf-like and barked even when I looked at him. On my first venture out of the puppy pen under the watchful eye of Handler, I trotted on over to Blackjack who flopped over on the ground and let me bite his ears and his tail. Ditto with Bootleg. Those guys were so friendly – I like them right away. I loped over toward Bosca where I was greeted by vicious growling, lunging and barking. I hightailed it out of there! Gee, what did I ever do to him? Then I heard Handler scold Bosca for bullying. What?

Buddy Blackjack

What is a bully? A bully is somebody or somedog who leaves others out on purpose. A bully wants to harm others. A bully says unkind things to others. Bullying often involves lopsided power and strength along with abuse or negative actions. Ask yourself these 3 questions to make sure your behavior isn’t bully like, 1) Do I hurt others by what I say, 2) Do I make others feel afraid and 3) Do I leave others out of games, sled pulling and other activities? If you answer yes to any of those questions, then your name could be Bosca and you should change your ways.

What should you do if somebody or somedog is hounding you or making you feel afraid? Do what I did – walk or trot away and don’t look back. Tell an adult, a bigger dog or your handler or your musher. And just like Blackjack and Bootleg were to me, be a friend to others. A really good strategy is to avoid the bully – I can tell you, when I was socializing in the dog yard, I just avoided Bosca. I never went over to visit him unless Handler or Musher took me there. It took a while but finally Bosca realized I was nothing to be afraid of – there was no reason for him to be insecure because of little Sanka. By the time we were pulling the sled just a few months later, Bosca and I were good friends.

New puppy Smoke

Bullying is not okay! From this story, you know what bullying is and what to do to stop bullying. I was so thankful that Blackjack and Bootleg were friendly toward me, I made sure that I returned the kindness when little Smoke joined our kennel. I hope you’ll do the same!

Born to Run,
Sanka