We Have a Starting Order!

At the banquet last night, the mushers were called to the stage one at a time in the order in which they signed up for the race.

Ken Anderson Comes to the Stage

They walked to the ceremonial mukluk, reached their hand in and drew a chip out.  At least it looked like a chip - I'll check with Angie about what it really was when I see her today.

Martin Buser reaches in....

They then walked to the podium, gave a little speech - mostly to thank their sponsors and announced their number to the press and audience.

Dallas Seavey gives his thanks...

The exited the stage and went into the "chute" where fans could wait to get autographs.

Autograph Chute

It was a really long process!  They started drawing about 7:30 and didn't finish until nearly ten.

Spot number one is reserved for a ceremonial musher, so Ray Redington Jr. will be the first out of the starting chute in position #2.  This year's ceremonial musher is Dave Olson of Knick who was one of the original Iditarod trail busters.  Dave Olson has finished the Iditarod four times himself!   Ryan Redington, Ray's brother, drew the last starting number.  It's somehow fitting that in the 40th anniversary, the Redingtons will start and end the opening ceremonies!

Some people I'm sure you are wondering about:
Jeff King - #10
John Baker - #11
DeeDee Jonrowe - #17
Lance Mackey = #18
Dallas Seavey - #34
Ken Anderson - # 39
Jan Steves (with Angie's dogs) - #40
Martin Buser - #41

Their starting numbers are also their bib numbers for the race.  So the sign-up numbers don't matter anymore!

You can check out all of the starting numbers on the Iditarod Home Page - it's linked from my Moodle Page - but here it is again:

http://iditarod.com/race/musher-listing/

The People of Alaska Thank 3A

Last night was the Musher's Banquet, where the mushers reach into the ceremonial mukluk to draw the starting numbers for the race.

I couldn't believe how many people were there!  It was crazy!  Each musher has a table where he or she sits with family and major supporters.  Then there are lots of tables filled with fans!  We counted 162 tables with about ten people at each table!

I am very proud to say that 3A was well represented at the banquet!  The twenty-five centerpieces we sent for the banquet arrived and were placed on the tables.  Just between you and me, our centerpieces were all set on the main tables in the front of the podium.  Mushers John Baker, DeeDeeJonrow, Dallas Seavey, Pat Moon, Hank DeBruin, Jim Lanier, Justin Savidis, Jaimee Kinzer, Matt Failor, and Cim Smyth all had our designs on their tables!  It was so cool!

Matt Failor with his centerpiece!

There are a ton more pictures of the centerpieces I'll show you when I get home!

When we took pictures of each centerpiece we explained who we were, why we were taking the picture and that our students had mailed the centerpieces from Baltimore.  Every single person was so impressed with your artwork and said to be sure to thank you!  They really appreciated you work!

Way to go guys!!!

Celebrity Sightings

As if seeing Ken Anderson, Martin Buser and Rohn Buser in one day wasn't enough....

Wednesday evening we were invited to a reception by John Baker's family.  John Baker, as you know is the current Iditarod champion and record holder for the fastest race time.  He is also the first native Inupiat to win the race.  His lead dogs in that race were Velvet and Snickers.

Here's is the link to his website:  http://www.teamjohnbaker.com/

Here is an article from a few days ago about his upcoming race:  http://www.usatoday.com/sports/action/story/2012-02-28/iditarod-champion-trains-dogs-in-isolation/53291052/1





With John Baker

John's message to everyone is "Dream, Try, Win."  Dream something big - work really hard and and set you goal - then meet your goal and win!

And then, as we were leaving the hotel where the reception was held, guess who was coming to check in?

With Lance Mackey

Lance Mackey is a four winner of the Iditarod and a four time winner of the Yukon Quest!  

It is amazing to me how humble and down to earth all the mushers we have met are.  They are so willing to stop and talk to you, pose for a picture, and always thank you for your support.  They are a perfect example of the Gilman Five!

Happy Trails Kennel

With Four Time Champ - Martin Buser

On Wednesday afternoon, we got to visit Happy Trails Kennel which is Martin Buser's kennel.  The kennel is sending three teams out this year.  Martin will be running his 29th race, his son Rohn will be running his second race, and their handler, Matt Failor will be running  team of yearling dogs just for the dogs to have fun and practice!  Rhon is feeling good about his chances for this year - he says he won the Jr. Iditarod on his fourth try, the Kusko 300 on his third try, so he figures he should win the Iditarod on his second try.  Maybe it's just wishful thinking on his part!

"Martin's Dogs"

The Buser family and the staff of the kennel were so warm and welcoming as they invited us in.  We got a chance to visit and play with the over 100 dogs they have in their kennel. 

I wish I wasn't allergic!

The yearling dogs and younger dogs that Matt will be running are housed on the left hand side of the kennel.  Rohn gets the "bad dogs" and has become partial to them.  The "good dogs" and the more experience dogs become Martin's dogs!

 Matt

Rohn took us into the trophy room to show us the kennel's trophies.  Martin has won the Iditarod four times!  The kennel is most proud of the four Humanitarian Awards that Martin has won.  That award is presented to the musher whose dogs show the best care and attention and are judged by the vets at the end of the race.

The glass trophies are the Iditarod Humanitarian Awards

Martin asked us we had seen Rohn's "Little Trophy."  Rohn won the Kusko 300 in January.  He beat his dad and Lance Mackey in the race! 

Rohn's Kusko 300 Trophy

Rohn Buser

Martin took us inside their sled shop where all three racers have built their own sleds for the race this year.  He spent a lot of time talking to us about the gear they have to take and how they plan for things along the trail.  The Busers use a lot of science to help them prepare for the race.  They have a whole science lab where they work with and monitor the dogs to see how they can help improve their success in the race.  He stressed over and over again that it is all about keeping the dogs happy and healthy.  You are only as fast as your slowest dog, so he likes to focus a lot of attention on helping all of his dogs reach their highest potential.  They do a lot of work to ensure their equipment makes life easier for the dogs - they experiment with different types of polymer runners for different locations on the trail, a two part sled that allows the center of gravity to be better distributed for the dogs, special harnesses that allow the dogs to pull the most efficient way while allowing the dogs to pick their own path along the trail..... and much, much, more!  It was pretty amazing!



Martin explains his equipment - including doggy leg warmers!

Just the day before we got there, someone had left two puppies at Martin Buser's Kennel.  Apparently, they were found in an open area nearby being picked on by some ravens.  Someone rescued them from the ravens and left them at Happy Trails Kennels assuming that Martin knew how to take care of them.  I'm happy to report that both of the puppies have found new homes with teachers from our group!  One will be staying in Alaska, and one is going to a new home in Boston!

Puppy Love!



More From the Vet Checks

Still Waiting for the Vet

One of Angie's Dogs Waiting

Jan Steeves loads her dogs back into the truck! They are all done!

Checking the dog's legs.

The vets check the dogs at each and every checkpoint.  Sometimes it is very late at night and everyone is very tired, so the vets have a quick way to remember what to check for.  They call it the "HAW and L" principal.  It works like this:

H = heart and hydration - check the heartbeat, are they hydrated

A = appetite and attitude

W = weight

L= legs and lungs

Karin Hedrickson arrives!

Giving a dog a shoulder to get out of their box!

Head Vet hard at work

Reading the microchip

Kirk Barnum (from Idaho) arrives to have his dogs checked

Next stop.... Martin Buser's Kennel!!!

Headquarters!

We made it to the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasillia today!

It was a pretty busy day at the Headquarters.  Mushers were coming in to turn in paperwork and have their vet checks. 

We went in to the headquarters to look at the little museum that was there..... here are some of the highlights:

Official Trophies - the winners get a smaller version of each.  These large ones stay at headquarters and are engraved with each winner's name.

The Old Trophy



The New Trophy - adopted to honor Joe Reddington after his death

Red Lantern

Junior Iditarod



While we were checking out the exhibits, the mushers were filling out paperwork in the back room.  Look who we ran into:

With Ken Anderson

It was so neat to meet the musher we had talked to online in person!  I think we caught him a little off guard, but he was very friendly and more than willing to talk to us for a few minutes!





Jake Berkowitz Signs in for his Second Race

Outside the headquarters things were hopping as the mushers brought their dogs in for vet checks.  The Vets were checking temperatures, drawing blood, sampling urine, checking paws and legs, teeth and ears.... everything from tip of their nose to the tip of their tales.  One musher, Pat Moon, learned that one of his dogs was pregnant so that dog will not be allowed to run.

Waiting for the Vet

Later I asked Angie about how that works.  What happens if you get a dog to vet check and then the dog can't run, are you out of luck?  She says that you usually bring more dogs to the vet check than you actually plan to take on the race.  You then have some extra dogs in case something happens between now and the start of the race.  You don't actually have to make the final decision to the restart.  Whichever dogs you leave Willow with are your dogs for the race!

The Vet Trailer

More Snapshots from Outside:

Ken Anderson's Truck

Ken Anderson (left) has a dog checked by the vet

Sigrid Ekran's Dog Truck

Sigrid Ekran is from Norway.  She lived in Alaska for awhile and ran the Iditarod while she lived here. She now has returned to live in Norway and has been running races there.  This year she is back to run her third race. 

Sigrid and a pup

Here's the coolest thing.... this is her dog box.  The sides close down and the whole thing loads onto the airplane to bring her dogs to the race. Then she just has to rent a truck to drive them around on! 

Here is a picture of it all closed up:

Isn't that soooo cool?

Zoya DeNure's Truck

This might be Mrs. Rizzuto's new favorite musher.  Her name is Zoya DeNure.  She has a kennel where she rescues and rehabilitates sled dogs.  She used to be a fashion model!

Zoya With Her Lead Dogs - they are girls too!

I'm going to stop here for now... I'll have more from the vet checks in the next post!

What if Your Teacher Ran the Race?

That would be much cooler than just visiting like Mrs. Rizzuto and I are doing wouldn't it?

Well, we have met and have been spending a lot of time with Angie Taggart, a teacher, who did just that!  Last year she realized a dream and goal she has had for ten years, and she ran the race!  She took a year off of school to train and compete and she made it successfully to Nome!  And she has the first time finisher's belt buckle to prove it! 

Angie

She is back in the classroom this year, but her dogs are running!  Nine of her twelve dogs will be take to Nome by her good friend Jan Steves.




Jan Steves with some of Angie's dogs

 I tell you all about Angie now, because we have been pumping her for information for you lately, so you'll be hearing her name come up again and again!

Here's something we asked her about yesterday - about the moose.  Yes, it seems to be all about the moose this year!

As you know, the moose are potentially a big problem on the trail this year.  Many mushers carry a gun in their sled dog in case a moose attacks their dog team - which moose do pretty frequently.  They view the dogs as their natural enemy - wolves, so they are known to tramp through dog teams.

If a musher has to kill a moose on the trail in order defend themselves or the dogs, what happens next?

Well.... the musher cannot just leave the moose on the trail.  They need to move it off the trail the best they can (which must be hard since they are soooooo heavy) and then they must gut the moose.  Yep.  Gut it.  That will apparently preserve the meat and they report it at the next checkpoint where someone else comes back and picks it up.  Apparently this is always the rule in Alaska.  If you kill an animal (accidentally or intentionally), you have to gut it.  There is then a list of people who will come and get the animal and use it as a food source to help people who need the help.

Here's the interesting Iditarod twist to the law....  no other musher can pass the musher while he or she is taking care of the moose.  They all need to stop and let that musher finish and then have their "spot back."

The moose were an issue at the Junior Iditarod.  They actually had one snow machine lead the way and one bring up the rear just in case.

CNN did a video on Angie and her first race.  You can see the clips here:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/03/iditarod.angie.taggart/index.html?iref=allsearch