The current standings of the women that we chose to follow are Karin Hendrickson in 24th place and currently at the Nikolai checkpoint. Rachael Scordis is in the 55th position and has made it to the Rohn checkpoint. Jen Seavey is following close behind in the 57th position and also has made it to the Rohn checkpoint. LET'S GO GIRLS!
To keep a close eye on what is happening go to:
http://iditarod.com/race/race/currentstandings.html
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Women We are Following
Rachael Scordis ~Our first choice
Rachael Scdoris
Bend, OR, USA
Rachael Scdoris, 24, was born in Oregon and graduated from Redmond High School in 2003. She says her occupation is sled dog racer and tour operator. Rachael was born with Congenital Achromatopsia, a rare vision disorder. She is colorblind and her acuity is 20/200. She is extremely light sensitive. She is a member of the Central Oregon Resources for Independent Living and the United States Association of Blind Athletes. Rachael was honored by the Women's Sports Foundation in New York City as one of the top women athletes in America. She served as Captain of her high school track and cross country teams. Rachael has been mushing since she was three years old and finished her first Iditarod in 2006. She says, "I love everything about dog mushing--working with dogs in the outdoors, the competition, and the ability to use all of my past experiences to improve my team. The Iditarod embodies all these things." Rachael enjoys "anything outdoors not involving a ball."
Learn more at Rachael’s website: www.rachaelscdoris.com
Jen Seavey
Jen Seavey
Seward, AK, USA
Jen Seavey, 22, was born in Montana. She grew up on large cattle ranches in Montana and New Mexico. She says she's been working with animals her whole live and started training horses when she was six years old. She didn't grow up around sled dogs and didn't know any mushers, but "when I was in first grade, I decided that I was going to move to Alaska and run the Iditarod." Her dad made her a sled out of a milk crate and some old skis. She harnessed her German shepherd in a horse halter and made him tow her around. "When I was 18, I stumbled upon an ad on the Internet for handlers at the Seavey's Iditarod Racing Kennel. After a couple of phone calls, I decided that college would have to wait, and I bought a one-way ticket to Alaska. I met my husband, Dallas Seavey, when he picked me up at the airport. I handled for the Seavey kennel for two winters and worked as a tour guide in the summers. Dallas and I now spend our summers in Anchorage running the WildRide Sled Dog Rodeo." Her hobbies are horsemanship, dog training and writing.
Karin Hendrickson
Karin Hendrickson
Chugiak, AK, USA
Karin Hendrickson, 38, was born and raised in California. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1991 and has lived in Idaho and Colorado working as a teacher and college student. She now works in Environmental Regulation here in Alaska, where she moved in 2003 to run dogs. "My mom had been coming to Alaska to volunteer for the Iditarod since 1998, long before I knew a thing about sled dogs or how they would take over my life. In 2002, she talked me into coming up to volunteer. I returned to volunteer again in 2003 and that is when I knew my future. I sold my house and everything in it, quit my job and headed North. I spent two years learning the ropes and paying my dues as a handler. I loved the lifestyle and running dogs - then I got to run a race (the 2005 Tustumena 200) and that got me hooked even worse. For the last couple of years I've been working on building my own kennel and racing my own dogs. Now I have a small kennel of talented young dogs, and it is time to shoot for the Iditarod." Before dogs, she says she used to telemark ski, rock climb, white water kayak, train horses, hike etc. Now, she says between working full time and training, she barely has time to sleep. Karin is married to Varan Hoyt.
Learn more at Karin’s website: www.blueonblackdogs.com
Rachael Scdoris
Bend, OR, USA
Rachael Scdoris, 24, was born in Oregon and graduated from Redmond High School in 2003. She says her occupation is sled dog racer and tour operator. Rachael was born with Congenital Achromatopsia, a rare vision disorder. She is colorblind and her acuity is 20/200. She is extremely light sensitive. She is a member of the Central Oregon Resources for Independent Living and the United States Association of Blind Athletes. Rachael was honored by the Women's Sports Foundation in New York City as one of the top women athletes in America. She served as Captain of her high school track and cross country teams. Rachael has been mushing since she was three years old and finished her first Iditarod in 2006. She says, "I love everything about dog mushing--working with dogs in the outdoors, the competition, and the ability to use all of my past experiences to improve my team. The Iditarod embodies all these things." Rachael enjoys "anything outdoors not involving a ball."
Learn more at Rachael’s website: www.rachaelscdoris.com
Jen Seavey
Jen Seavey
Seward, AK, USA
Jen Seavey, 22, was born in Montana. She grew up on large cattle ranches in Montana and New Mexico. She says she's been working with animals her whole live and started training horses when she was six years old. She didn't grow up around sled dogs and didn't know any mushers, but "when I was in first grade, I decided that I was going to move to Alaska and run the Iditarod." Her dad made her a sled out of a milk crate and some old skis. She harnessed her German shepherd in a horse halter and made him tow her around. "When I was 18, I stumbled upon an ad on the Internet for handlers at the Seavey's Iditarod Racing Kennel. After a couple of phone calls, I decided that college would have to wait, and I bought a one-way ticket to Alaska. I met my husband, Dallas Seavey, when he picked me up at the airport. I handled for the Seavey kennel for two winters and worked as a tour guide in the summers. Dallas and I now spend our summers in Anchorage running the WildRide Sled Dog Rodeo." Her hobbies are horsemanship, dog training and writing.
Karin Hendrickson
Karin Hendrickson
Chugiak, AK, USA
Karin Hendrickson, 38, was born and raised in California. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1991 and has lived in Idaho and Colorado working as a teacher and college student. She now works in Environmental Regulation here in Alaska, where she moved in 2003 to run dogs. "My mom had been coming to Alaska to volunteer for the Iditarod since 1998, long before I knew a thing about sled dogs or how they would take over my life. In 2002, she talked me into coming up to volunteer. I returned to volunteer again in 2003 and that is when I knew my future. I sold my house and everything in it, quit my job and headed North. I spent two years learning the ropes and paying my dues as a handler. I loved the lifestyle and running dogs - then I got to run a race (the 2005 Tustumena 200) and that got me hooked even worse. For the last couple of years I've been working on building my own kennel and racing my own dogs. Now I have a small kennel of talented young dogs, and it is time to shoot for the Iditarod." Before dogs, she says she used to telemark ski, rock climb, white water kayak, train horses, hike etc. Now, she says between working full time and training, she barely has time to sleep. Karin is married to Varan Hoyt.
Learn more at Karin’s website: www.blueonblackdogs.com
Current Standings of the men we are following
Blake Matray is currently in 64th place out of 65 mushers and is located at the Rainy Pass checkpoint. Martin Buser is in 19th place and is at the checkpoint Nikolai. Dallas Seavey is in 18th place and also located at Nikolai. If you would like to learn more about the route and checkpoints, please go to http://iditarod.com/race/route.html
The men we are following in the Iditarod:
Blake Matray- this is who we want to win!
Two Rivers, AK, USA
Blake Matray, 41, was born and raised in Illinois. A 1990 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado he has a degree in English. "I started mushing dogs in North Dakota in 1995. I bought two Siberian husky puppies from Iditarod musher Brad Pozarnsky and it snowballed from there. In 2000, I moved to Two Rivers to accept a pilot position with the Alaska Air National Guard. Away from the Guard, I'm the Executive Director of the Sled Dog Fund, Inc, a non-profit organization I founded in 2007 with the help of my wife, Erin, and my neighbors, Walter and Deb Lanigan. The Sled Dog Fund, Inc. uses racing sled dogs to raise funding for the support of children with disabilities and their families." Blake is a member of the Two Rivers Dog Mushers and Ducks Unlimited. He and his wife maintain a kennel of 29 AKC Siberian Huskies and 5 Alaskan Huskies and he entered the 2009 Iditarod with the hope of finally making it to Nome. When he isn't training of working, Blake enjoys hunting, fishing and kayaking.
Learn more at Blake’s website: http://www.sleddogfund.org/
Martin Buser - our second choice
Big Lake, AK, USA
Born in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1958, Martin became fascinated with sled dogs while still a teen. He came to Alaska in 1979 to enhance his knowledge of care and training of sled dogs. He began working and training with long-time Alaskan mushers Earl and Natalie Norris and ran his first Iditarod in 1980. Martin, wife Kathy Chapoton and sons Nikolai and Rohn (both names after Iditarod checkpoints, reside in Big Lake, Alaska where the family owns and manages Happy Trails Kennel. Both boys are attending college. Martin spends a large percentage of his personal time speaking with youth on the humanitarian care of animals and the spirit of the Iditarod. A favorite celebrity of the children of Alaska, Martin treats them with surprise visits from his dogs during many of these appearances. Martin runs the race each year with his dogs to test the success of their breeding, training and physical endurance. He regards his racers as true competitive athletes and prides his team on their longevity and spirit of competition. Says Martin, "I run the Iditarod to prove that my dogs, bred, trained and raced by Happy Trails Kennels, are the best amongst the world's long distance athletes." Martin's 2002 team currently holds the record for the Fastest Iditarod by completing the race in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds. As tribute to his treatment of his racers, Martin was awarded the coveted Leonhard Seppala Award in 1988, 1993, 1995 and again in 1997 for the mot humanitarian care of his dogs. The award was named for the most famous Alaskan musher who ran the longest and most dangerous stretch of the 1925, 674-mile diphtheria serum run from Nenana to Nome, which saved hundreds of lives. Following Martin's 2002 victory, the process for his becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States was completed under the burled monument. Upon completion of the 2005 Iditarod after a woodworking accident four days prior to the race start resulting in the amputation of part of his finger, his fellow mushers awarded him both the Sportsmanship and Most Inspirational Awards. Martin is a member of the Explorer's Club. His hobbies are carpentry and woodturning.Learn more at Martin’s website: http://www.buserdog.com/
Dallas Seavey- a favorite of ours due to his young age
Seward, AK, USA
Dallas Seavey, 21, was born in Virginia and his family moved to Seward when he was five. He is a third generation musher who grew up helping his dad, Mitch, the 2004 Iditarod champion, train his racing teams. In 2005 Dallas became the youngest musher in history to run the Iditarod. He also wrestled for Sky View High School and spent one year training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He is a High School State Champion, a Jr. National Champion, and was on the 2005 Jr. World team. This will be his third Iditarod and the first time he has raced with his own dogs. He is part owner/manager of WildRide Sled Dog Rodeo in Anchorage. Dallas and Jen Podzemny, who is also running the 2009 Iditarod, were married in April of this year. Dallas says that he enjoys wrestling, hunting, fishing and training his lead dogs.
Two Rivers, AK, USA
Blake Matray, 41, was born and raised in Illinois. A 1990 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado he has a degree in English. "I started mushing dogs in North Dakota in 1995. I bought two Siberian husky puppies from Iditarod musher Brad Pozarnsky and it snowballed from there. In 2000, I moved to Two Rivers to accept a pilot position with the Alaska Air National Guard. Away from the Guard, I'm the Executive Director of the Sled Dog Fund, Inc, a non-profit organization I founded in 2007 with the help of my wife, Erin, and my neighbors, Walter and Deb Lanigan. The Sled Dog Fund, Inc. uses racing sled dogs to raise funding for the support of children with disabilities and their families." Blake is a member of the Two Rivers Dog Mushers and Ducks Unlimited. He and his wife maintain a kennel of 29 AKC Siberian Huskies and 5 Alaskan Huskies and he entered the 2009 Iditarod with the hope of finally making it to Nome. When he isn't training of working, Blake enjoys hunting, fishing and kayaking.
Learn more at Blake’s website: http://www.sleddogfund.org/
Martin Buser - our second choice
Big Lake, AK, USA
Born in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1958, Martin became fascinated with sled dogs while still a teen. He came to Alaska in 1979 to enhance his knowledge of care and training of sled dogs. He began working and training with long-time Alaskan mushers Earl and Natalie Norris and ran his first Iditarod in 1980. Martin, wife Kathy Chapoton and sons Nikolai and Rohn (both names after Iditarod checkpoints, reside in Big Lake, Alaska where the family owns and manages Happy Trails Kennel. Both boys are attending college. Martin spends a large percentage of his personal time speaking with youth on the humanitarian care of animals and the spirit of the Iditarod. A favorite celebrity of the children of Alaska, Martin treats them with surprise visits from his dogs during many of these appearances. Martin runs the race each year with his dogs to test the success of their breeding, training and physical endurance. He regards his racers as true competitive athletes and prides his team on their longevity and spirit of competition. Says Martin, "I run the Iditarod to prove that my dogs, bred, trained and raced by Happy Trails Kennels, are the best amongst the world's long distance athletes." Martin's 2002 team currently holds the record for the Fastest Iditarod by completing the race in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds. As tribute to his treatment of his racers, Martin was awarded the coveted Leonhard Seppala Award in 1988, 1993, 1995 and again in 1997 for the mot humanitarian care of his dogs. The award was named for the most famous Alaskan musher who ran the longest and most dangerous stretch of the 1925, 674-mile diphtheria serum run from Nenana to Nome, which saved hundreds of lives. Following Martin's 2002 victory, the process for his becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States was completed under the burled monument. Upon completion of the 2005 Iditarod after a woodworking accident four days prior to the race start resulting in the amputation of part of his finger, his fellow mushers awarded him both the Sportsmanship and Most Inspirational Awards. Martin is a member of the Explorer's Club. His hobbies are carpentry and woodturning.Learn more at Martin’s website: http://www.buserdog.com/
Dallas Seavey- a favorite of ours due to his young age
Seward, AK, USA
Dallas Seavey, 21, was born in Virginia and his family moved to Seward when he was five. He is a third generation musher who grew up helping his dad, Mitch, the 2004 Iditarod champion, train his racing teams. In 2005 Dallas became the youngest musher in history to run the Iditarod. He also wrestled for Sky View High School and spent one year training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He is a High School State Champion, a Jr. National Champion, and was on the 2005 Jr. World team. This will be his third Iditarod and the first time he has raced with his own dogs. He is part owner/manager of WildRide Sled Dog Rodeo in Anchorage. Dallas and Jen Podzemny, who is also running the 2009 Iditarod, were married in April of this year. Dallas says that he enjoys wrestling, hunting, fishing and training his lead dogs.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Weather on the trail
As you know by now, there are many hidden dangers when running the Iditarod. Moose on the trail, ice and weather conditions to name just a few. The weather plays a significant role in the strategies each musher uses to run the race.
To track the weather conditions that the mushers and dogs are dealing with and to help you make your prediction of how each musher will proceed to complete the race, follow the link below.
http://www.iditarod.com/race/weathercenter.html
Have you ever wondered what exactly goes through a mushers mind before and during the race? Weather is definatley a concern, but what else? Follow this link to find out...
http://iditarodblogs.com/news/2009/03/09/bruce-lee-2/
To track the weather conditions that the mushers and dogs are dealing with and to help you make your prediction of how each musher will proceed to complete the race, follow the link below.
http://www.iditarod.com/race/weathercenter.html
Have you ever wondered what exactly goes through a mushers mind before and during the race? Weather is definatley a concern, but what else? Follow this link to find out...
http://iditarodblogs.com/news/2009/03/09/bruce-lee-2/
The Great Race Begins
Last Saturday, March 7th marked the start of this years Iditarod race. There are sixty-seven racers competing to win the race. To check the current standings please follow this link
Current Standings http://www.iditarod.com/race/race/currentstandings.html
As of the typing of this post the current standings are:
1st place ~ Sebastian Schnuelle, reached Nikolai at 11:29am
2nd place ~ Hugh Neff, reached Nikolai at 11:30am
3rd place ~ Paul Gebhardt, reached Nikolai at 12:03pm
As you can see it is a VERY close race between Sebastian and Hugh...what will happen next?
Only one musher has scratched so far. Bob Hickel made it as far as the Finger Lake checkpoint before scratching.
Please refer to the link above to check the status of your favorite musher!
Current Standings http://www.iditarod.com/race/race/currentstandings.html
As of the typing of this post the current standings are:
1st place ~ Sebastian Schnuelle, reached Nikolai at 11:29am
2nd place ~ Hugh Neff, reached Nikolai at 11:30am
3rd place ~ Paul Gebhardt, reached Nikolai at 12:03pm
As you can see it is a VERY close race between Sebastian and Hugh...what will happen next?
Only one musher has scratched so far. Bob Hickel made it as far as the Finger Lake checkpoint before scratching.
Please refer to the link above to check the status of your favorite musher!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Fun Facts about the Iditarod
The Iditarod is a race run each year starting on the first Tuesday in March. The Iditarod always starts in Anchorage and ends in Nome, however the race route alternates between a Northern route and a Southern route in the middle of the trail. This year we will be tracking the race taking place on the Southern route because it is an odd numbered year.
When the Alaskan Huskies are born they are the size of a large potato. It is amazing to think that they will develop so quickly into the fine athletes that they soon become. When they are only six-months old they are harnessed for the first time. As with all new things, it takes the puppies a little time to get used to wearing the harness. Each mushers team consists of sixteen dogs at the start of the Iditarod race. The dogs not only have to get used to the race gear that they will be wearing, but also how to work with their fellow teammates and musher.
Sled dogs definitely work up an appetite! During race season they can consume up to 10,000 calories per day. In order to keep a high level of energy, the dogs are fed a diet rich in fat and protein. The reason for this is that dogs use fats and proteins in the same way that humans use carbohydrates. The total mileage of the Iditarod in 2009 is 1131 miles. This will be completed by the winning musher and his team within 7-14 days. These dogs are true athletes when you think that this could be compared to humans running 42 marathons back to back!
Some notable mushers are:
Lance Mackey 2008 Iditarod Champion
Jeff King has won 4 Iditarods during his career
Rachael Scordis the first blind musher to ever complete the race
Libby Riddles the first women musher to ever win the Iditarod
There are lots of other notable achievements, these only name a few!
The idea of the Iditarod , was conceived by the late Dorothy G. Page to celebrate Alaska's Centennial Celebration. There were two shorter races first, starting in 1967 and 1969, until it finally developed into the race we have come to know today in 1973. In 1978, the first Jr. Iditarod race was run...after learning a bit more about the strength and stamina needed to participate in this "Last Great Race" would you ever consider running in the Jr. Iditarod?
When the Alaskan Huskies are born they are the size of a large potato. It is amazing to think that they will develop so quickly into the fine athletes that they soon become. When they are only six-months old they are harnessed for the first time. As with all new things, it takes the puppies a little time to get used to wearing the harness. Each mushers team consists of sixteen dogs at the start of the Iditarod race. The dogs not only have to get used to the race gear that they will be wearing, but also how to work with their fellow teammates and musher.
Sled dogs definitely work up an appetite! During race season they can consume up to 10,000 calories per day. In order to keep a high level of energy, the dogs are fed a diet rich in fat and protein. The reason for this is that dogs use fats and proteins in the same way that humans use carbohydrates. The total mileage of the Iditarod in 2009 is 1131 miles. This will be completed by the winning musher and his team within 7-14 days. These dogs are true athletes when you think that this could be compared to humans running 42 marathons back to back!
Some notable mushers are:
Lance Mackey 2008 Iditarod Champion
Jeff King has won 4 Iditarods during his career
Rachael Scordis the first blind musher to ever complete the race
Libby Riddles the first women musher to ever win the Iditarod
There are lots of other notable achievements, these only name a few!
The idea of the Iditarod , was conceived by the late Dorothy G. Page to celebrate Alaska's Centennial Celebration. There were two shorter races first, starting in 1967 and 1969, until it finally developed into the race we have come to know today in 1973. In 1978, the first Jr. Iditarod race was run...after learning a bit more about the strength and stamina needed to participate in this "Last Great Race" would you ever consider running in the Jr. Iditarod?
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