Sheep Mountain, Northern Lights, and Paul Johnson Memorial

Judy Starting SM150

The 2011/2012 season has been a good one for the Lara-ke team: 5th and 22nd in the Sheep Mountain 150; 9th in the Northern Lights 300, and 3rd in the Paul Johnson Memorial 450.  And even better, we had fun while doing it.

2011 SM150 - GURO STARTING

Our race season started out with the Sheep Mountain 150.  Handler, Guro Eidal, and I both fielded good teams in the race.  It was Guro's first and only race since she had to return to Med school in Norway in January.  The SM150 trail is not an easy one with lots of steep climbs and downhills, a bit of overflow and water crossings, wind, and (this year) soft trail.  For a rookie running her first race, Guro did great, finishing 22nd in a field of 48, even better than our goal of top 50%.

 GURO'S TEAM CLIMBING

My team did slightly better, finishing 5th overall.  I was really pleased with the team and happy that Hermi and Tundra ran most of the race in lead. Teva, of course, added her touch of veteran experience to the front end but the two youngsters pulled most of the load for the race.  Climbing those big hills, I was wishing at times that I was still a youngster too.  

Mari and Judy with the View

Mari did a super job handling for Guro and I during the SM150, earning her chance for fame and fortune at the Northern Lights 300.  Our season plan had been for me and Mari to run the Copper Basin 300 and then me run the Quest but lots of factors led us to change that plan (including an aborted start of the CB300). So in late January Mari took a team of 16 to the NL300.  She had 13 really good dogs and then three who were questions marks; three of the A team had to stay home for various reasons.

The NL300 started in Big Lake at Martin Buser's kennel, headed north to Willow and then to Yentna about a 100 mile run.  Since we had missed out on the CB300 run, we decided to have her camp the first leg which meant she would not be completing with the top guns who would run straight through.  After a six hour rest at Yentna, her second run was roughly 75 miles to Finger Lake where they took another six hour rest.  She dropped some of the question mark dogs at Finger Lake  and then was able to make two solid runs back to Yentna and then to the finish in Big Lake placing 9th in a field of 28. Pretty dang good.  

Running the 300 a few weeks before the inaugural Paul Johnson Memorial 450, set the team up perfectly so they were very well prepared to take this next step up in race mileage.  The PJM450 was started by the Johnson family of Unalakleet to honor and celebrate the life of their brother and uncle Paul Johnson who died unexpectedly in the fall of 2011.  Paul, and Iditarod finisher,  and his brothers had been discussing a 450 mile race from UNK to Nome for many years.  Soon after his death, the family decided the time had come to do it.  Brothers Middy, Harry, and many others in UNK quickly collected sponsors and made the plans necessary to put it together.  For our team, the opportunity was perfect since I had decided that running the Yukon Quest (1000) was not feasible this year for a variety of reasons and  I was very happy to support a new race.

We had a big challenge just getting to the race as weather would play a big factor in our transportation plans.  As sponsorship for the race  my employer, Brice Inc, provided transportation to and from the race with the Kodiak Quest, a plane similar to a Karavan.  Gordy, our pilot, was very careful about flying the plane in safe conditions, and so we left a day later than planned due to weather.  Still, we arrived in Unalakleet in time for the pre-race meeting and well ahead of some teams whose commercial flights were nearly cancelled.  

Unalakleet is one of my favorite Alaskan villages.  It is endowed with beautiful scenery and wonderful, friendly people.  Mari and I were hosted by Tera Cunningham and her writer husband Matt Roesch.  They live in a two story home which overlooks Norton Sound and the Bering Sea. You really can (almost) see Russia from their windows.  We brought them a taste of Fairbanks in the form of Lulus' bagels and North Pole coffee and Mari played with Ayuu their three year old, a precocious and very smart kid.  While we enjoyed the inside comforts, the dogs were staked out cozily in front of the sea wall.  

Tera and baby

The race start, originally scheduled for 10am Wednesday, was delayed to 4pm due to the late arrival of several teams.  Northern Air Cargo had been scheduled to arrive Tuesday morning with three dog teams - Deedee, Jaimie's, and Gerry's - as well as the food drops and sleds for Aaron B and Scott S.   Wind is always a factor to be accounted for in Unalakleet, whether you are flying or mushing the Iditarod and NAC's flight was delayed due to wind.  The driver meeting started at 7pm Tuesday and the flight had still not arrived;  would five out of the eleven teams be unable to start?  We all wondered as positions were drawn.  Fortunately, before the end of the drivers meeting Deedee got a call from her husband confirming that NAC was loading the plane which would arrive about 11pm that night.  Phew. Race On.

The start location was also moved due to extremely warm temperatures  the days before the race which filled all the low areas surrounding Unk with water.  Flexibility would be key to the success of the race.  After living with -40 to -50 for six consecutive weeks, the good people of Unalakleet welcomed the warmth, even if it meant a bit more effort to put the race on.

So with the help of Matt and Mari, the team and I traveled to the race start several miles out of town, just beyond Middy's dog lot.  At the mushers meeting I had been (honored) to to draw fourth after John, Deedee, and Gerry - based on age :(.  Unfortunately, my elder position did not help much and I drew the last starting position, number eleven.  With such a small field it would not make much difference for trail conditions and in a way helped me since it was easy for me to figure out my position relative to others during the race.  To get the dogs out through town we hooked them up to Matt's snowmachine and followed his Suburu.  This was the first time I had hooked a team to a snogo and have to say I enjoyed the comfort.  Next year, I may retire the ATV as soon as the snow flies.

Race start

Eleven teams did not take much time to launch and I quickly caught up and passed  Aaron B's team who I knew would be traveling slower early in the race.  I passed several other teams before we settled into our spot on the trail.  The run to Kaltag went very well with Teva and Weasley up front; I marveled at how we managed it so smoothly with no pauses, tangles,  or time losses.  I set the pace at the pace Adams would trot consistently and let the team do their thing.  Given a fresh team, I had thought we might do the 80 miles in 8 to 9 hours, but the trail was soft so the speed was slower and the run took 10 plus hours.  No problem though, the dogs rested well in Kaltag and we ran the return trip after a five hour rest.  Pebbles and Hermi would lead this led, adding a bit more speed to team.

Arriving back in UNK

The dogs looked great coming into UNK after two consecutive ten hour runs;  that is more than I generally ask from my dogs so I was pleased to see how well they handled it.  All were eating and no owies were apparent.  We rested another five hours.  My plan was to run all the way to Koyuk.  .... to be continued.