sandgrubber Posted March 5, 2012 Share Posted March 5, 2012 see, eg http://iditarod.com/ for official coverage http://www.alaskadispatch.com/slideshow/photos-iditarod-2012-begins-sunny-willow has good pictures On Sunday, years of preparation, trial and error, defeat and victory culminated on a frozen lake in tiny Willow, Alaska, about 70 miles north of the state’s largest city, where Iditarod XL was officially under way at 2 p.m. beneath breezy, baby-blue skies and in temperatures hovering around 10 degrees F. Thousands of people from across the state pulled into snow-choked parking lots early Sunday morning, while who knows how many thousands of others watched on glowing computer screens and high-definition TVs beyond. MORE: "Mushers stream out of Willow as the real Iditarod racing gets going" Should temperatures remain low and storms steer clear, mushers and dog teams may be in for another race contested at a blistering pace. Perhaps another speed record will fall, one year after John Baker of Kotzebue shattered the old race record by reaching Nome in just over eight days and 19 hours? Athletes to watch this year include Iditarod legends and upstarts. Everyone knows the fan favorites: two-time runner-up DeeDee Jonrowe from Willow; four-time Iditarod winner Lance Mackey of Fairbanks, who hopes to join Rick Swenson in the elite, five-time champion column. And then there are the Seaveys, another family whose name is as synonymous with Alaska dog mushing as the Redingtons. Dallas Seavey, 25, son of 2004 winner Mitch Seavey, is back along with Dallas' grandfather Dan. He will be leading an elite group of young guns that also includes Ryan and Ray Redington Jr., Rohn Buser, 22, and Pete Kaiser of Bethel, who finished an impressive eighth last year. Many former champs and Iditarod race watchers believe young Dallas, winner of the 2011 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, has a chance at upsetting the veteran field -- a field that’s perhaps as deep and competitive as any in Iditarod history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwynwen Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 (edited) One of the few sporting events that gets any attention in our house ... Anchorage Daily News has good coverage too. photo gallery for day two Edited March 6, 2012 by dwynwen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticpaw Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Another amazing story from "The last great race." http://www.dogtime.com/husky-gets-life-saving-mouth-to-mouth-on-iditarod-route.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticpaw Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 News from Sebastian Schnuelle Wow Nulato is the place to be right now. Teams are piling in on top of each other. Ray Redington, Jake Berkowitz and Peter Kaiser had smoking runs into here. They picked up a bunch of teams. All three of them had a hard time stopping coming into the checkpoint, Ray running by Jakes Team, just for Jake than to pull ahead of Ray again. Dogs are leaping in the air, screaming do go, frothing with desire. THIS is what racing is all about. Dee Dee’s team also looked nice and the checkpoint swelled from no team to 4 teams in 5 minutes. More are piling in as we speak. The 3 musketeers , as I would call Jake, Ray and Pete are on a roll. They made more than 1 hour on most of the other teams which came here earlier. With trail conditions being about the same for all teams, it clearly shows that these 3 have a bit more gas in the tank. I just talked to Jake about his plan, and of course I can not repeat it here…., but I can say as much, that I LIKE it. Those guys ahead better start looking over their shoulder. Jeff and Dallas both took a short rest here, time will tell if they regret that or not. My take is, that both will not stop very long in Kaltag neither, while Aaron, Mitch and John Baker will most likely stay 4 to 5 hours. Aliy has a fairly substantial lead now. Nothing insurmountable, but there is a bit of a gap now. Temperatures and conditions are next to ideal, about 0F and a slight breeze, enough to cool the dogs down in the noon sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandgrubber Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 Another amazing story from "The last great race." http://www.dogtime.c...arod-route.html Great story . . . thanks for posting. I'm amazed that a 9 yr old dog was included in a team. Husky gets life-saving mouth-to-mouth on Iditarod route Friday March 9th, 20120 comments | leave your own comment Scott Janssen saved his dog’s life by giving the collapsed pooch mouth-to-mouth.The Iditarod is known for pushing sled dogs and mushers to their limits, and that is precisely what happened to competitor Scott Janssen and his Siberian Husky, Marshall. On Monday night, while traversing the Dalzell Gorge, Marshall suddenly collapsed on the line. Janssen stopped the sled and ran over to his dog. To his horror, Janssen discovered that Marshall wasn’t breathing. “Boom! Laid right down. It was like a guy my age having a heart attack,” Janssen described. Janssen, known as “The Mushing Mortician” because of his day job as the owner of an Anchorage funeral home, immediately knew that the outlook wasn’t good. “I know what death looks like, and he was gone,” Janssen said of the unconscious Marshall. The sled team’s location at the time of Marshall’s collapse was remote; they were 22 miles out from their next checkpoint at Rainy Pass. Knowing that he was Marshall’s only chance, Janssen tried the only thing he could think of: CPR. Janssen put his mouth over Marshall’s muzzle and blew, trying to get his dog to breathe. After two rounds of mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions, Marshall began to show signs of life. “I was sobbing,” Janssen said, “I really love that dog.” Though Marshall was starting to come to, his condition was still grim. Janssen scooped the dog up into his sled and raced towards the Rainy Pass checkpoint, where the Iditarod veterinarians could better treat the ailing Husky. At this point, it seems that heart arrhythmia is the likeliest culprit. “The vets took a look, gave Marshall an IV, and he’s heading home,” said Janssen’s daughter. Marshall, at 9-years-old, is one of the oldest sled dogs on Janssen’s Iditarod team. He is also a family pet, and Janssen’s wife Debbie praises her husband’s quick thinking. ”He loves all these dogs. He told me he couldn’t imagine Marshall dying in front of him,” Debbie told reporters after the incident. The 2012 Iditarod is Scott Janssen’s second go at the grueling race, which runs the 1,049 miles of dangerous terrain between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. The race is known both for its historical significance and its more controversial past, which includes allegations of animal cruelty and abuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverHaze Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 In these breeds of dogs 9 and 10 year old dogs can still be in peak working condition and you will find the experience these dogs bring to a team are invaluable. Karen Ramstead has 10 year old Crunchie (who has successfully also been shown) on her team, and he is still in the mix and working hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticpaw Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 In these breeds of dogs 9 and 10 year old dogs can still be in peak working condition and you will find the experience these dogs bring to a team are invaluable. Karen Ramstead has 10 year old Crunchie (who has successfully also been shown) on her team, and he is still in the mix and working hard. Have to love a Sibe that does well in the ring and out on the trail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandgrubber Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) In these breeds of dogs 9 and 10 year old dogs can still be in peak working condition and you will find the experience these dogs bring to a team are invaluable. Karen Ramstead has 10 year old Crunchie (who has successfully also been shown) on her team, and he is still in the mix and working hard. Have to love a Sibe that does well in the ring and out on the trail. Was surprised to notice, on in Cassidy's longevity statistics, that 'northern sledding breeds' have higher life expectancy than toy dogs, small terriers, and others of the small breeds we expect to be long lived. http://users.pullman...r/breeddata.htm Some great photos at http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/03/the-2012-iditarod-trail-sled-dog-race/100262/ Edited March 13, 2012 by sandgrubber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticpaw Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Way to go Dallas Seavey. http://www.facebook.com/anchoragedailynews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticpaw Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) Great interview with Karen. http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/iditarod-siberian-huskies-the-classics.html Edited March 15, 2012 by mysticpaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MishB Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Love, love, love this race. Thx for the info guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 are there any Aussies in it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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