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AND the award goes to……

Posted by Zuma in Race Coverage, Zuma Date: March 23, 2008 at 1:56 pm

Boys and Girls,

Did you know that there are several awards that are given out to mushers?

Each year, you can read about the awards and what a musher needs to do in order to win the award.  That information is always listed in the Media Guide.  (Look in the Press and Media tab found on the front page of our website.0

I am sure you are wondering who won the awards this year!  I’ve copied the list of awards from our press release (also found in the Press and Media section of the website.)  Let’s cheer for the mushers and congratulate them on winning the awards!

Lots of Tail Wags,

Zuma

PenAir Spirit of Alaska Award- Presented by Danny Seybert (PenAir Chief Operating Officer) is a beautiful framed mask depicting the spirit of the “team”.  This year’s recipient was Lance Mackey form Fairbanks Alaska.  Mackey also received $500 credit for travel or freight.

GCI Dorothy G. Page Halfway Award- Presented by Gary Samuelson (GCI Nome Alaska) to Dee Dee Jonrowe from Willow Alaska who was the first musher to arrive in Cripple Alaska.  Dee Dee received $2,500 in gold nuggets and a beautiful trophy.

Millennium Hotel Anchorage Alaskan First To the Yukon Award- Presented by Brook McGrath (Millennium Alaska Food and Beverage manager) to Lance Mackey who was the first Musher to arrive in Ruby Alaska.  While in Ruby, Mackey received a seven course meal.  Tonight Mackey received an additional $5,000 in one dollar bills as the “after dinner mint” for his efforts.

Wells Fargo Bank Alaska Gold Coast Award- Presented by Loren Prosser (Wells Fargo Bering Sea Community Bank President) to Jeff King from Denali Alaska.  King was the first musher to arrive in the Gold Coast community of Unalakleet. He was awarded a beautiful trophy and $2,500 in gold nuggets.

Nome Kennel Club Fastest Time from Safety to Nome Award- Cim Smyth from Big Lake Alaska was able to complete the trek from Safety to Nome in 2 hours and 11 minutes. He received $500 for his efforts.

2008 Iditarod Most Improved Musher Award- Was awarded to Warren Palfrey, from Yellow Knife Canada.  Palfrey completed his first Iditarod in 2006, finishing in 60th position.  He finished the 2008 Iditarod in 26th position.

Rookie of the Year- The Rookie of the Year Award has been sponsored by Jerry and Clara Austin of Nome Alaska since 1980.  The 2008 Rookie of the Year was William Kleedehn from Carcross Canada. He received $1,500 and a trophy for his efforts.

Fred Meyer Sportsmanship Award- This award includes $1,000 in Fred Meyer Gift Cards and was awarded to Ray Redington Jr. from Wasilla Alaska.

Chevron Most Inspirational Musher Award- Jennifer Freking from Finland Minnesota received the honors which included a trophy and $1,000 worth of Chevron gas.

Golden Clipboard Award- The 2008 Golden Clipboard was awarded to the community of Nulato Alaska.

Golden Stethoscope Award- Awarded to the veterinarian deemed most helpful on the trail by the members of the Iditarod Official Finishers Club was awarded to Dr. Paul Nader D.V.M.

Alaska Airlines Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award- is based on specific criteria to determine who has best demonstrated outstanding dog care through out the Race while remaining competitive.  The 2008 recipient was 4 time Iditarod Champion Jeff King. King received a lead crystal cup on an illuminated wooden base and two free round trip tickets to anywhere on the Alaska Airlines system.

The City of Nome Lolly Medley Golden Harness Award Winner- Originally presented by the late Lolly Medley, Wasilla harness maker and one of two women to run the second Iditarod in 1974.  The award honors an outstanding lead dog, chosen by the mushers. This year’s recipient was Babe an 11 year old member of Ramey Smith’s team from Big Lake Alaska.  Babe has completed eight Iditarods and led her team to a 3rd place finish in 2008. Ramy Smyth is the son of the late Lolly Medley.

Northern Air Cargo Herbie Nayokpuk Memorial Award- Presented to the musher chosen by staff and officials as the person who most closely mimics “Herbie” in his/her attitude on the trail. This year’s recipient was William Kleedehn.  He received a free freight allotment on Northern Air Cargo, $1,049 in cash and a trophy.

Wells Fargo Winner’s Purse Award- Was awarded to the 2008 Iditarod Champion, Lance Mackey.  This year’s award was $69,000.

Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Official Truck Award- Was awarded to the 2008 Iditarod Champion, Lance Mackey.  Mackey received a 2008 Dodge Ram Laramie “HEMI” 4/x/4 quad cab pick up.

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The Musher’s Purse

Posted by Zuma in Explore Alaska Date: March 17, 2008 at 6:53 am

libby.jpgLibby Here!

Are you wondering how much money the winner got? How about the rest of the finishers? What other awards did mushers get?

The 2008 Champion, Lance Mackey got $69,000 and a NEW TRUCK.

That sounds like a lot of money. You should think about how much it costs to run a kennel for a full year. Make a list of everything you’d have to buy, everything from food, to vet bills, to supplies. Research the cost of items like musher clothes, dog sleds, supplies for the dogs, and other expenses, fuel to drive the dog truck from place to place or even how much it costs to run the dog kennel and take care of the humans that live there, too. After making your list, do you still think the winner gets a lot of money compared to what it costs to be a musher? Why do you think someone decides to be a musher?

The ‘Purse’ is the collected amount of money that goes to the racers. At the end of February, the exact purse payout is decided on and announced. Every musher who finishes the race gets a piece of the prize money.

These are all little details for you to think about when you think about the mushers in the race.

You can read more about the prize money (the purse) and the other awards that mushers get by going to the following website: Click to read more.

Article in the For Teachers New Article section of the website.

Zuma’s Article (Scroll to find the article!)

You can read about the awards at the Press and Media section of the website. Click Media Guide and look on page 19. You can read about this year’s awards and winners in the press release in the media section.

It is funny to think about a musher’s purse, don’t you think?

Just spinning some ‘de’tails’!

Libby

7 Comments

School Visit

Posted by Gypsy in K-9 Reporter Gypsy Date: March 16, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Hi Everyone,

Hope you have enjoyed the race this year. I sure did. I learned so much about racing. I’m sure what I have learned will help me reach my goal to be a lead dog.

I want to tell you about a special treat I had on Friday. My human took me to Birch Hill Elementary to meet 4 classes of 2nd graders. These 2nd graders have spent the past month learning all about the Iditarod. They have done some really neat projects like following mushers on the trail and having an Ikidarod. They showed me the special sleds they used for their race. A parent had made them and they looked great. I was also impressed at the questions they asked. You could tell the teachers had done a really good job teaching about the race.

I didn’t go alone. Both my humans came with me and my grandma Lyra was also there. It was good having my grandma around. She has done a lot of school visits and told me what I was going to need to do. I haven’t been around a lot of little humans (called students) and was a little nervous. Grandma Lyra told me that students are great and that they would really like me. She was right. The big humans (called teachers) were also really friendly. They took me for walks and gave me big pats and hugs. They even had water bowls set out for us. That was really nice because we got really thirsty.

One of the human teachers, Mrs. Gorelick, and her student teacher took us around the school before the students came, and Lyra and I got to meet all the other teachers and the lead dog human (called principal). They also helped us bring in the sled and other equipment. We brought booties, and harnesses, the sled, a snow hook, sled bag, etc. so the students could see what they looked like.

I did 2 presentations. There were two classes at each one. The students asked questions that my humans answered. They showed the sled and some of the students got to stand on the runners and pick up the sled to see how heavy it is. They seemed surprised that it was so light and that they could pick it up. Then my human put a bootie on me. I don’t wear booties often and am still not use to them. I tried to get it off by shaking it and biting at it but it stayed on until my human took it off. No one told me that I had to have those things on my feet. Then my human put a harness on me. I was a little confused because they didn’t take me for a run. My human explained that it was on for the students to see how it fits and what it looks like. That was okay. Having my harness on was much better than having booties on.

Then it was time for the students to go back to their classes. My humans cleaned up and we packed up to go home. I was really tired and slept most of the way.

I want to thank Mrs. Gorelick for inviting me to visit the school. My humans, grandma Lyra, and myself had a great time and enjoyed meeting everyone. Keep up the great work you do and study hard.

Happy trails,

Gypsy

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How old are the Dogs?

Posted by Libby in K-9 Reporter Libby, Race Coverage Date: March 15, 2008 at 7:15 am

Libby Here!

What is the average age of the dogs? Are they retired after a certain age? These are questions that a lot of you have asked.

Well, students, do you think I’m going to tell you my age? Some of us don’t like to tell those details, (hee hee!)

A musher doesn’t always tell us how old a dog on their team is but here is information to keep in mind.

Dogs can run in the race as soon as they are trained to do so, which means that there are young dogs on the trail. Dogs keep running in a musher’s team as long as they are healthy and as long as they still love to race. That means there are ‘old’ experienced dogs on the trail. It also means that mushers can have a mixture of young dogs (2 or 3 years old) and older dogs (about age 4 -8) on the team.

Often some of the dogs on a team have been in Iditarod before, so some of the dogs have the Iditarod Trail experience. Like our mushers, we have veteran and rookie dogs on musher’s teams. (Veterans= those that have done this before, rookies= those doing it for the first time) Sometimes a musher runs all young dogs, who have not run in Iditarod before as part of training a future team. When a musher chooses the dogs for the team, the dogs that are the healthiest and the most well trained make the team. The team is put together to match or to go along with the musher’s goals.

Like with humans, canines retire, too. Retirement comes at the age that best meets that individual dog. Often retired dogs live out the rest of their lives as family pets or get to roam in the musher’s kennel as a retired lead dog of the kennel. I know of some mushers who have special areas in their kennels for the retired dogs. Retired dogs often live for many, many years, most likely always remembering how awesome it was to run with their musher.

To sum up the question, when a musher picks the dogs for the team, the age of the dog is not the main factor. It isn’t about age, it is more about healthy well trained dogs. It is about looking at the experiences the dogs have had during training. It is about past race experience. It is about looking at the traits of the dogs. It is about a musher picking the dogs that best meet the goals the musher has for the race.

Just spinning some de’tails’!

Libby

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5 Comments

The Musher’s Purse

Posted by Zuma in Race Coverage, Zuma Date: March 14, 2008 at 4:00 am

Hello Boys and Girls,

A lot of you have written asking about the purse or the prize money that mushers get when they finish the race.  That is a very important question.

First, you should remember that there are awards that are also given out to the mushers.  To read the complete list of awards, go to the home page of Iditarod’s website.  Then click on the Press and Media tab.  Click on Media Guide and read page 19.  You can learn about the awards and why the award were created or what each award represents.

The ‘Purse’ or the payments the mushers get for finishing is not exactly the same each year, which is why the information about the exact purse isn’t released until right before or even during the race.  Here is a chart to help you understand the amount of money the finishing mushers receive for arriving in Nome.

The prizes are awarded at the Nome Finisher’s Banquet.  That banquet is held the Sunday after the first musher’s arrival in Nome.  There is a final musher banquet held a couple of days later for the mushers who don’t make it to the Finisher’s Banquet because they are still on the way to Nome.

The Purse:

1st     Lance Mackey            $69,000

2nd     Jeff King                    $65,100

3rd     Ramey Smyth           $61,400

4th     Ken Anderson            $57,800

5th     Martin Buser              $54,400

6th     Hans Gatt                    $51,100

7th     Mitch Seavey               $48,000

8th     Paul Gebhardt             $45,000

9th     Kjetil Backen                $42,000

10th   Sebastian Schnuelle    $39,200

11th    Zack Steer                   $36,600

12th   Cim Smyth                   $34,000

13th   Rick Swenson               $31,500

14th   Jessie Royer                 $29,100

15th   Dee Dee Jonrowe         $26,900

16th   Gerry Willomitzer        $24,700

17th    Ed Iten                          $22,600

18th    Ray Redington, Jr.      $20,600

19th    Aaron Burmeister       $18,600

20th   Jim Lanier                    $16,800

21st    Aliy Zirkle                     $15,000

22nd   Silvia Willis                   $13,300

23rd   John Baker                    $11,600

24th   Sigrid Ekran                  $10,000

25th   Hugh Neff                      $8,500

26th   Warren Palfrey             $7,100

27th   William Kleedehn          $5,700

28th   Matt Hayashida            $4,300

29th   Ed Stielstra                    $3,000

30th   Melissa Owens              $1,800

Total Top Thirty                      $874,700

Remaining Finishers @ $1,049 each (est) $43,009

Total Purse $917,709

I hope you take time to talk about the purse and the prize money that the mushers get for finishing the race.   Think about how much it might cost to run the race and how much each musher wins.  These are great topics for you to discuss!

Lots of Tail Wags,

Zuma

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What happens at a Checkpoint?

Posted by Zuma in K-9 Reporter Libby, Race Coverage Date: March 13, 2008 at 3:59 am

Libby Here!

Are you wondering how long the checkpoint breaks are?  When you follow the race and watch the Internet for information, you can ’see’ how long a musher stays in a checkpoint.  Looking back at the race  information, you can see, some stay short amount of times, some stay longer amount of times.

A musher stays in a checkpoint as long as their race schedule and their dogs decide they should be there.  Each musher thinks about a race plan way before the race starts.  The dogs are trained to run a certain amount of time and then to rest a certain amount of time.  During the run time, there are stops for quick rests and quick snacks.  During the rest times, there are times for longer dog naps, bigger meals, and often cuddle time under dog blankets.

So, the answer to the question about how long checkpoint breaks are is this:  They are as long as the dogs and mushers need them to be because of their training schedule. 

Pictures on the Internet or Insider video often show what goes on in Checkpoints.  You can see the vets busy examining each dog, mushers cooking meals for the dogs, and dog’s having long naps. Sometimes you can even see pictures of mushers sound asleep.

If you were running a long race, would you have a rest - run schedule?  Would you run fast at times?  Slow at other times? What would your schedule be like and what would you do during your breaks?  Write about your thoughts!

Just spinning some de’tails’!

Libby

8 Comments

Getting Lost. Don’t Let it Happen to You!

Posted by Zuma in K-9 Reporter Libby, Race Coverage Date: March 12, 2008 at 4:05 am

Libby Here!

Listen to this great question!  “Do they ever get lost?”

The Iditarod Trail is a marked trail.  People on snowmobiles—  or  snowmachines  which is what they are called in Alaska, travel the race trail before the mushers and make sure that the trail markers are in place.  The markers are sticks with a florescent paint, often orange, on the tip of the markers so that at night, the musher can see them when the musher’s headlight flashes on the trail marker.

I hope you can watch some Iditarod Insider video clips because they often show what the markers look like.  There is also an interesting clip in the 2006 archived videos called: Behind the Scenes - Trail Stakes, which is in the behind the scenes part of the videos. (02/24/2006)

No one wants to get lost, but sometimes the wind and snow can hide markers or hide the trail.  Sometimes in the dark, a musher misses a trail marker.  Most of the time, the musher and the team find their way back to the trail because they notice they aren’t seeing any trail markers.

 Anyone can get lost.  It is something that can happen. 

I hope you never get lost, but I am guessing a couple of you have gotten lost before so you know the feeling!  I have even gotten lost before, mostly because I wasn’t listening to my human or paying attention.  In the real world, anyone can get lost! If you move to a brand new school, you might get lost at school.  Maybe you’ve been on a car ride with a family member and the driver has gotten on the wrong road and gotten lost.  Getting lost happens. 

My best advice is if you get lost, stay calm and think carefully using your common sense.

Because getting lost happens, take a few minutes today and talk about plans that you can make if you are ever lost.  Think about what you should do to stay safe.  Make a plan and talk about your plan with your family. 

Getting lost happens, so let’s try to figure out ways to not get lost, but if we do, to stay safe.

Just spinning some de’tails’!

Libby

9 Comments

What do Mushers Do?

Posted by Zuma in K-9 Reporter Libby, Race Coverage Date: March 12, 2008 at 3:14 am

libby2.jpgLibby Here!

Lots of kids want to know, “Do mushers get a chance to eat, bathe, and sleep?”

Everyone has to eat and sleep in order to stay healthy. Keeping clean helps, too!

When a musher arrives at a checkpoint, the first thing the musher does is feed and care for the dogs. When all of the chores are done, the musher can start to think about taking care of the musher!

When a musher gets to a checkpoint, the musher gets their supply bags that have been sent to the checkpoints before the race starts. In these supply bags, the musher has packed the items the musher needs at the checkpoints. (more dog booties, dog blankets or jackets, food for the dogs, extra batteries, and any thing the musher thinks will be needed.) The musher’s meals have been packed and frozen in the supply bags, too. The meals are in air tight zip lock bags. The musher food can be dropped in a pot of boiling water to defrost and reheat it or be heated in a microwave if there is one in the checkpoint building. Mushers eat lots of good foods, the same kinds of foods they would be eating at home if they weren’t racing.

Getting sleep comes after the chores are done and the musher has eaten something. How much sleep a musher gets depends on the time it takes to do chores and the musher’s race schedule. When the musher wakes up, the musher does chores before leaving for the trail. Sometimes mushers do the chores and naps along the trail in between the checkpoints, by parking the team, building a fire, cooking for the dogs and the musher, and taking a nap together.

Taking a bath isn’t necessary for the mushers to do. If a musher is on a 24 hour mandatory lay over at a checkpoint, a musher could take time for something like that if there was a place to wash up, but that lay over is a good time to get longer musher sleep, and taking a bath is less important than sleep.

In checkpoint buildings, there is the opportunity to wash hands and faces, though. To keep from catching any illness going on during the race, staying free from germs is important.

Do you get enough sleep? Do you eat the right kinds of food? How often do you bathe? How often do you wash your hands during the day? What do you do to try and stay healthy? These are good things for you to think about!

Just spinning some de’tails’!

Libby

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Skwentna Checkpoint Number 2 by Sanka W. Dog

Posted by Zuma in K-9 Reporter Sanka, Race Coverage Date: March 11, 2008 at 9:34 pm

Skwentna - Checkpoint #2

By Sanka W. Dog

You can’t believe how exciting and noisy it is to have 96 dog teams come through a checkpoint. As the race goes further down the trail, it spreads out but in the early checkpoints of Yentna Station, Skwentna and Finger Lake, all the teams are still pretty close together. I’m lucky to know about this because my handler actually worked at Skwentna as a communications volunteer.

Skwentna has a population of 75 people in the winter and 250 people in the summer. It’s located on the Skwentna River. There aren’t enough children in the community to have a school so the kids who live here are home schooled.

The first team into Skwentna arrived at 20:49 (remember, that’s military time). The workers are waiting down on the frozen river, watching for the light of a headlamp to come around the bend of the river about a half mile away. The team stops under the WELCOME TO SKWENTNA banner where they are greeted by the checker and the communications worker. The dogs are counted and the arrival time is recorded. If the musher is going to stay, s/he parks the team, sets a snow hook at each end of the dogs and then spreads straw out for the dogs to sleep on. The musher collects the drop bags, draws some hot water then return to the team to give them water and take their booties off. Shortly there after, the musher will cook the dogs a nice meaty meal. After the dogs are taken care of, the musher most likely will go up to the cabin for some hot food and rest.

Who are the workers at Skwentna? The checkpoint is located at the home of Joe and Norma Delia. Joe is the postmaster. Iditarod sends 3 communications. The river crew comes in from Tacoma, Washington. The Skwentna Sweeties come from Eagle River, Alaska.

Everybody has a very important role in making the checkpoint work. Two “comms” people send race information up from the river to the cabin where the 3rd comms person sends the information to race headquarters in Anchorage via satellite computer connection. They can also communicate on a fixed cell phone and satellite phone. Pretty high tech! The river crew lays out the straw bales for each team, alphabetizes and organizes the drop bags so mushers can find them easily. They heat river water for the teams. River crew members also park each team (it takes a lot of room and organization to park 96 teams). Two members of the River Crew work as checkers and record official times of arrival. Everybody really loves the Skwentna Sweeties - they provide the hospitality. They cook great meals for all the workers and the mushers.

My handler said that the best part of working the Skwentna checkpoint was to see all the awesome dogs, telling them all “good dog” and petting as many as possible.

When you work a checkpoint, everyone has to work as a team. It’s just like the dogs and musher going down the trail - everyone has to work as a team. Remember the true meaning of TEAM. Together Everyone Achieves More.

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47 Comments

Remembering Goals

Posted by Gypsy in K-9 Reporter Gypsy Date: March 11, 2008 at 3:30 pm

Hi Everyone,

What an exciting time in the race.  The winner will be in soon.  Who do you think will win? It’s going to be a close race all the way to the finish.

Anyway, I thought this would be a good time to bring up setting and achieving goals again. (If you just started reading the Zuma blog during the race, you can read about goal setting by going to K-9 Gypsy reporter and go to the goal setting articles that were previously posted.)  What do you think leaders Lance Mackey’s and Jeff Kings goals were when they started the race?  Do you think it was to win?   What kind of plan do you think they had to meet their goals?

Not everyone’s goal is to win.  I’ve had several comments the past few days from readers who have been disappointed that their musher isn’t in the lead.  Most mushers are in the race for the personal goal of finishing the race.  If they have run the race more than once, their goal may be to finish this race faster than they finished in the past.  So If your musher is in 50th or 60th or 70th place, don’t be worried or think they aren’t doing well.  They may be meeting the goal they set for themselves. 

If you are following a musher, I’m sure you have done some research on him or her.  Did they say what their goal may be.  If not, what do you think their goal is?  Is it to win?  Is it to finish?  Or something else? 

Mushers decide early what their goal is going to be.  Then they make a race plan.  This plan is usually made several months before the race.  This plan includes, when they hope to be at certain checkpoints, how long they will rest, when and where they will take their 24 hour mandatory stop.  Once the plan is made, they will decide what and how much to pack in each drop bag.  The drop bags going to the 24 hour rest checkpoint will have more supplies in it than a drop bag going to a checkpoint that the musher isn’t planning on staying long at.  So the plan affects all parts of the race and is very important.  

What could keep a musher from reaching his or her goal?  Think about some of the things you have learned during the race.  Could weather or trail conditions affect the goal?  Illness?  Injury?  What else?

How are the goals you made for yourself coming along?  My goal to be a leader on my team is going slowly.  I have been running as a swing dog and I have learned so much.  Remember, I wanted to make my goal by next fall, so I’ll just keep showing my human what I have learned and hopefully, I’ll get to try lead really soon.

Hope you continue to enjoy the race.  Remember when the winner comes in, the race is not over.  There are many mushers still on the trail hoping to reach their goals.

Happy trails,

Gypsy

25 Comments

Poetry by Students

Posted by Zuma in Race Coverage, Zuma Date: March 10, 2008 at 3:40 am

Hello Boys and Girls,

I’m getting awesome and incredible email and comments from students and race fans! It is great to hear from all of you. Keep reading and writing! You are going to get better grades in school because you are working so hard! I am very impressed!

I wanted to share this poem by Celista with you and challenge you boys and girls to write Idita- poetry. Send me your poetry by pasting it in the comment section.  We’ll share a few poems or even some short stories with our readers. So get writing!

Lots of Tail Wags,

Zuma

Onion

I am white like the winter snows

My eyes are brown and so is my nose

My name is Onion and I’m a sled dog

On the Iditarod Trail, I walk and I jog

With my brothers and sisters

I don’t have a care

I look just like a teddy bear

——-Calista

WA Virtual Academy, 2nd grade

32 Comments

Mandatory Rest

Posted by Gypsy in K-9 Reporter Gypsy Date: March 9, 2008 at 2:51 pm

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are still enjoying the race as much as I am.  How are your favorite mushers doing?  Thanks for all the comments you’re leaving on the blog.  I really enjoy reading them. 

I have been looking at the update page and I noticed that mushers were staying at certain checkpoints for long periods of time.  Then I noticed boxes to the far right of the race update page and saw little boxes that said 24 hour and 8 hour.  I decided to do some research and found rule #13 called Mandatory Stops in the musher’s rules.  Mushers are able to rest anywhere along the trail.  Mandatory Stops are rests that they must take. They have to be taken at a checkpoint and the mushers must sign in and out to start and end all mandatory stops. 

Mushers are required to take 3 mandatory rests during the race.  The first one is a 24 hour stop.  It can be taken whereever the musher feels would be the best for the dogs.  It looked like most mushers took this rest in either McGrath or Takotna.  I’ve heard both places are nice and have good food. They both seem like really good places to take a long rest at.  Mushers take this time to rest their teams, rest themselves, fix any equipment that needs fixing, and trade stories with each other.  During this rest, the starting differential is figured into the time the musher must stay at the checkpoint.

The next rest is an 8 hour stop that must be taken at one of the checkpoints on the Yukon River. Many mushers take this stop in Cripple or Ruby.  That’s right after a couple of long runs and it’s a good time for a longer rest. 

The last Mandatory stop is another 8 hour rest that must be taken in White Mountain.  White Mountain is 77 miles from Nome.  This will be the final rest for most of the teams. 

Most mushers have already taken both their 24 hour and 8 hour on the Yukon River.  In the next day or so, the front runners will be at White Mountain.  Watch to see if the order the mushers come into White Mountain is the same order they get to Nome in.  If the race is close, this will be a time the mushers will plan a strategy to either stay ahead or get ahead.

I’m off to check the updates to see how everyone is doing.

Happy trails,

Gypsy

34 Comments

More About Dogs!

Posted by Zuma in K-9 Reporter Libby, Race Coverage Date: March 8, 2008 at 10:41 pm

Libby Here!

How many dogs are allowed for each sled and musher?

Each musher can start the race with 16 dogs.  When arriving in Nome, each musher must have at least 6 dogs pulling the sled.

Not every dog that starts the race gets to finish the race.  Most of the time, there are little details that help the musher and the vets make these decisions about which dogs race on and which dogs stay behind in checkpoints.  Dogs that are left behind at checkpoints, (this is called ‘dropped’ dogs) get the best vet care while waiting to ride in the bush plane with their own personal pilot, a member of the Iditarod Air Force.  They take their plane ride to Nome or to Anchorage, depending on where they were ‘dropped’.  The musher has made arrangements a head of time for the dogs to be picked up and cared for during this time.

When you see on the Internet that mushers have dropped dogs, don’t worry about the dogs.  Most of them are very healthy.  As I said, tiny details like a slight muscle sprain, a cough, or the fact that they just didn’t seem to be working as  team member,  are reasons some dogs are ‘dropped’.  All of the dropped dogs get excellent care and soon forget how sad they are that they don’t get to finish the race.

I know I’d be sad if I trained for something and then didn’t get to do what I trained to do.  But the decision to leave a dog in the checkpoint is made because mushers and vets want to make sure the dogs stay healthy. 

Can you think of something in your own life that you might train for and how you’d feel if after training you didn’t get to do what you trained to do?  That sounds like a great topic to write about in your journal!

Just spinning some ‘de-tails’!

Libby

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What about the Dogs?

Posted by Zuma in Explore Alaska, K-9 Reporter Libby, Race Coverage Date: March 7, 2008 at 8:36 am

Libby Here!

Do the same team of dogs do the whole race?

This is another great question.

Yes. The team of dogs that a musher has selected and have passed their medical exams are the only dogs that can be in the race.

The musher starts with his selected team of dogs and cannot add different dogs to the team once the race begins or once they’ve selected their team.

Almost always, mushers DROP, or leave dogs at checkpoints along the race route and finish with less dogs than the musher starts with on the day of the restart.

The dogs that are left in checkpoints are usually very healthy but they are left at the checkpoint for a number of reasons. (You can read more about that at the Veterinarian Center found in the Learn About section of the website.) Dogs left at checkpoints get the best of care by veterinarians.

There are veterinarians at all of the checkpoints and as the teams arrive in the checkpoint, the dogs get checkups. Mushers carry a little vet book, too, to keep track of information about their dogs. The vets look at the book, read about the dogs, and write information about the dogs in the notebook.

Dogs that are left or ‘dropped’ in a checkpoint have quite an adventure. While waiting for their flight out of the checkpoint, the vets take care of them. They get lots of rest on straw beds. They get great meals and lots of loving care. Soon, the Iditarod Air Force arrives to pick up these special passengers. The dogs fly in the planes to Nome or Anchorage to meet their families.

When a musher finishes the race in Nome, the dogs with the musher are the same dogs that left the restart with the musher.

Just spinning de’tails’!

Libby

14 Comments

On the Right Trail

Posted by Zuma in Race Coverage, Zuma Date: March 6, 2008 at 6:45 pm

Some of my best friends are on the Iditarod Dog Sled Trail right now.  I am so proud of them.  My human sees my feet moving in rhythmic harmony as I dream of running next to a famous lead dog like Lance Mackey’s Larry or Jeff King’s Salem.  We really love to run and get so excited at the thought of putting on a harness and licking the wind. But we have a really important job to do when we are on the trail:  we have to guide our musher all the way to Nome!Luckily, there are trail markers along the route that make it a little easier to stay on the right path.  We look forward to each of these signs because we know we have made the right choice.  Dogs on the trail have to make a lot of good choices if we are going to responsibly bring our musher to the finish line.  One of the choices we sled dogs have to make is to get enough rest while on the trail.  This means that we shouldn’t waste too much time worrying about what other dog teams are doing when we should be sleeping.  This is a good lesson for some of the young humans who would rather stay up late watching television or playing video games.  It is hard to pay attention in school if you are not getting enough sleep.  We also need to eat right while on the run.  The right amount of fat and calories is so important to keep us healthy.  The type of exercise we do means that we use up a lot of our body’s energy and fluids. I hope that you are drinking lots of clean fresh water and eating healthy foods to keep your body strong too.  We sled dogs need to keep our humans in great shape!

Keeping our musher on the right path is a big job for dogs like us.  Trail markers may point out that we are heading in the right direction, but there are many conditions that could make it hard to find our way.  This is when it is so important that we trust our musher.  Sometimes we have to work together and trust one another.  It is also important for you to trust who is leading you on your path.  Are you making good choices?  Is the decision you make today going to help you reach your goal?  Is someone or something leading you down the right path?  When you run with the right team, you can make it all the way to the burled arch in Nome!

Lots of Tail Wags,

Zuma

PS  A special hello and thanks to teacher Linda Kal Sanders for sharing ideas with me!

41 Comments