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Iditarod 40: The Trail. Ruby to Galena

March 8, 2012 by robertforto Leave a Comment

Iditarod 40: The Trail. Ruby to Galena      50 Miles

From Ruby to Kaltag, the next 134 miles is on the Yukon River, passing through Galena and Nulato. In most years the local traffic keeps the river trail hard and fast. This section is well marked because wind and snow can cover the trail very quickly. Checkpoint is usually in the Galena Community Center.

Galena (gull-LEE-na) — Lat.64.44 Long 156.56 — Population 487 — Galena derived its name from lead sulfate ore found in the area, known chemically as galena. The town was founded in 1920 when Natives moved down river from the old town site of Louden because of the availability of firewood. A man could cut 250 cords a winter and sell it for $8 a cord to the stern-wheelers that worked the rivers in the summer. This was the home of Edgar Nollner, the last living musher who carried the lifesaving diphtheria serum along this trail to Nome in 1925. The checkpoint is at the “old” community hall downtown.

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Filed Under: Alaska, Daily Post, Iditarod 40 Tagged With: alaska, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Kaltag Alaska, Nome, Nome Alaska, Nulato Alaska, Yukon River

Iditarod 40: Never too old to run sled dogs

March 8, 2012 by robertforto 2 Comments

Jim Lanier

Even the old dogs can teach a thing or two to the pups. No, I am not talking about sled dogs here. I am talking about the mushers. 71 year old Jim Lanier just won the GCI Dorothy Page Halfway Award for being the first musher to run into the checkpoint of Cripple.

Lanier, running in his 15th Iditarod shows no signs of slowing down. Never have scratched in his last 14 Iditarod attempts, Lanier has entered and finished the race in each of the last five decades the race has been in existence. His goal is to finish this year in competitive fashion and after that; “who knows” he says.

Lanier arrived to Cripple at 1:35 pm Alaska time with 13 dogs. Cripple signifies the halfway point of this year’s Iditarod, the 40th running of the Last Great Race on Earth.

The GCI Dorothy Page Halfway Award is a trophy and $3,000 in placer gold nuggets courtesy of Iditarod Principle Partner, GCI.

The award will be presented again to Jim Lanier in Nome on Sunday, March 18th during the Iditarod Awards Banquet at the Nome Recreation Center.

Way to go Jim! Show those young musher’s how it’s done!

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Filed Under: Alaska, Daily Post, Iditarod 40 Tagged With: Iditarod, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Jim Lanier, MUSH, Nome, Nome Alaska, Sled dog

Serum Run 2011: Sled dogs arrive home

March 15, 2011 by robertforto Leave a Comment

As the mushers and snow machiner’s crossed into Nome, some three weeks after the beginning of an epic journey that started in Alaska on a cold, wind-swept afternoon in Nenana, the home base support staff of this expedition sprang into action.

At about 6:30 PM my friend Paul–who flew to Nome to see his wife finish the expedition and give her a welcomed hug– texted me and said the dogs were loaded up and on their way. The flight should be in Anchorage no later than 8:45-9:00 PM.

Our handler, Austin and I, were already in Anchorage grabbing a bite to eat with our list of people picking up the dogs at the airport firmly in hand–and no sooner than we sat down the calls started to come in. It looked like we were the logistical point of contact.

We arrived, one dog truck and trailer, after another to Everts Air Cargo to await our furry friends. I spoke to the guy at the terminal at 8:50 and he said, “Those dogs aren’t going to be here till 11 at the earliest!”

The wait had begun!

At 11:00 pm or so one of the employees came out and announced: “They’re here! Come pick up your doggies!” and all of us scurried inside.

Being the first time I have done this, I was very impressed by the operation. At the meeting with all the mushers in Nenana before they left all of the teams were given a colored coded roll of flagging tape. We had black-red, red-white, pink-black, etc.

They started bringing the dogs in on the forklifts in big containers that look like dog boxes we use on our trucks. All of the doors had the tape firmly attached trough the holes, some with little noses sticking out.

As the forklift drivers zoomed around bringing in dog box after dog box and the 150 to 300 pound sleds for each musher, the handlers sprang into action after each load was weighed and recorded.

All told the cargo weighed more than 10,000 pounds.

Within minutes we had engulfed the parking lot with dogs too and fro. The handlers were taking the pups from the boxes to their trucks. Many of them giving the dogs a light snack and some much needed water.

I was surprised at how smoothly everything was going as it neared 1:00 AM. As most of the teams were loaded up and the sleds were secured on the tops of trucks and trailers, we were suddenly missing one dog. One of Margret Black’s Siberians could not be found.

We searched high and low in all of the boxes and asked all of the handlers if they had an extra dog. Frantic calls were made to Nome and it was assured all the dogs were on the plane.

All of us live pretty close and we are a tight knit group, so we figured that the Siberian Husky would show up at someone’s kennel when they got home. All of the dogs did have the corresponding color tape for each team on their collars as well. Some of the handlers didn’t know all of the dogs they were picking up personally so they may have had an extra dog without knowing it.

As I searched the dog boxes around the parking lot and as everyone was leaving, Austin was latching down three of the boxes to a trailer that the forklift guys had loaded up about 20 minutes earlier.

I heard a whimper and just assumed it was our dogs that we had just loaded into our truck. Then I heard it again. The missing dog had been found! We hurriedly un-did the straps and “rescued” him/her.

Just like a Siberian! Always the ones to get into trouble!

We loaded him up into the dog box, with his handler-person Scott and headed North to Willow.

We arrived at the dog yard at 3:00 AM and it looked like Scott and his truck arrived shortly before us at the neighbors next door.

I am sure we woke up every one within 2 miles with 30 or 40 dogs returning to their dog houses and the excited greetings from their “friends” that had stayed home.

But hey, this is Willow, the dog sledding capital of the world. Almost all of our neighbors are dog mushers and those few that aren’t–We’ll be done in a little while….

After getting all the dogs back to the familiar sights, sounds, and smells of their dog houses we began our feeding routine.

Austin and I decided it would be best to feed all of the dogs now instead of heading to bed ourselves just to wake up in a couple hours to do it in the morning. Besides, I am sure the Serum Run dogs were hungry. They had just came off a three week adventure on the trail for goodness sake.

All of the dogs looked remarkably well. They were happy to see us and gave us all “hugs.” I could also tell that the one of the puppy’s on the team had become a sled dog on this trip.

Jewel.

Jewel came back from this 700 mile quest and I hardly recognized her. It looked like she had been pumping iron at the gym. Her legs looked like they were twice the size as when she left, striated with muscles and super strong.

The mushers and snow machiner’s should start arriving back home Wednesday and in for a much needed rest before they head back to their “real” jobs and their chores in the dog yard.

The dogs–they are ready to pull again, and again, and again. That’s what they love to do.

As I laid my head on the pillow at 4:00 AM I was thankful to be a part of all of this and as I dozed off I thanked all of the handlers and support guys and gals that helped last night. I know they couldn’t hear me, but they know they are a part of the team too.

 

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post

___________________

Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows

 

 

Filed Under: Daily Post, Serum Run Tagged With: alaska, dog trucks, Nenana, Nome, robert forto, Serum Run, Siberian Husky, sled dogs, Willow Alaska

Iditarod 2011: John Baker wins the 2011 Iditarod

March 15, 2011 by robertforto Leave a Comment

Well it’s official: John Baker of Kotzebue, Alaska is the winner of the 2011 Iditarod Sled Dog Race and it could not have happened to a better guy. Baker is now in select company with a group of individuals that make this sport what it is today. From the likes of Lance Mackey, Susan Butcher, Libby Riddles, Doug Swingley, Martin Buser, Rick Swenson, Mitch Seavey, and a host of others that crossed under the burled arch at the end of the 1,049 mile race from Anchorage to Nome.

Baker finished the race in record time smashing Martin Buser’s record of 8 days 22 hours. Baker raced from Willow to Nome in 8 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds and slicing over two hours off the previous record.

I will have a follow up story on John Baker later on but first let’s talk about prize money for the mushers. To the drivers it is not about the money, the fame, the glory, the sponsors or the microscope that they are under until at least the first Saturday in March of 2012.

To them it is about the dogs.

Prize Money

The total purse for the 2011 Iditarod is $528,000. This a a long way from the record high of $875,000 in 2008. Some could blame the economy, especially where the big name corporate sponsors are concerned, others could cite the ever increasing cost to put on a race like this.

John Baker will receive $50,400.00, which is the same as last year. He will also get a brand new Dodge Truck.

Just a side note to us fans, you can still buy a ticket to win one of these brand new Dodge trucks. The raffle tickets only cost a hundred bucks and they give away two of these beautiful rigs at the Alaska State Fair in September. I don’t think you have to be present to win. And the best part is they only sell a limited number of tickets so the chances of winning are pretty high.

2011 Iditarod Prize Money by Position

The remaining prize money is divided up amongst the top 30 mushers. Each person that finishes the race is guaranteed $1,049. One buck for each mile on the trail.

The payouts:

  1. $50,400
  2. $46,300
  3. $42,500
  4. $38,900
  5. $35,600
  6. $32,600
  7. $29,800
  8. $27,300
  9. $24,900
  10. $22,700

Of course the money is nice. It can cost upwards of $80,000 to run the Iditarod annually and most of that goes to feeding the dogs. For many of the mushers that have very small kennels without deep pockets–many of them living literally from month to month to run down this dream, the prize money is a welcomed reward.

But as I have said before, mushers are doing this for the dogs. They do it because they are having fun on the trail and they are doing it to prove to themselves and their dogs that they CAN do this. For many musher’s, especially the rookies, this is a one shot chance of the lifetime. To others you may see them next year and others will take a year or more off. It is just so expensive to run this race.

But one thing is for sure, no matter what place the driver comes in this year in the race– by the end of the week they will all be doing the same thing.

Picking up poop, continuing their chores, and living a life that most of us can only dream about.

Rock on, all of you 2011 dog drivers and mushers. You help make this sport exciting and it is always one heck of a ride!

Listen to our Iditarod coverage daily on Mush! You Huskies. You can find us on iTunes (search Dog Works Radio) or click on Mushing Radio now.

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post

___________________

Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows

Photo: Google Images

Filed Under: Daily Post, Iditarod Tagged With: alaska, Iditarod 2011, Iditarod prize money, John Baker musher, Nome, robert forto, sleddogs

Iditarod 2011: Seven Mary Three and Four: John Baker is in Hot Pursuit…

March 12, 2011 by robertforto Leave a Comment


Lets face it officer Jon Baker on CHiPs was by far the coolest cop to ever grace a Sunday Night Prime Time line-up in the late 70s and 80s.

He made all of the ladies swoon with his knee high boots and his suave, awe shucks attitude.

Jon Baker was born in Rawlins, Wyoming and raised on a ranch. Jon referred to it as “a pretty big spread.” As a kid, Jon raised parakeets. and had a horse named “Old Grey”. It was in Wyoming that he joined the Boy Scouts.

The cop was also a bowling instructor, a sky diver and was always, “workin’ on a book.”

But wait…

Dispatch this is Seven Mary 3 and 4, John Baker is in hot pursuit of winning the Iditarod. Do you copy?

John Baker, the musher was born in Kotzebue, Alaska, is a pilot and motivational speaker. John is always in the hunt for the coveted top prize in Nome in the Iditarod with his best finish in 2002 in 3rd place.

One can see the immediate parallels with the two great Mr. Baker’s. Heck one is the coolest cop the world has ever known.

The other, John is a pilot and his wife, Iva, is a former Miss Artic Circle beauty pagent winner, for goodness sake.

I just wonder in John the musher has a lead dog named Ponch?

Listen to our Iditarod coverage daily on Mush! You Huskies. You can find us on iTunes (search Dog Works Radio) or click on Mushing Radio now.

 

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post

___________________

Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows


Filed Under: Daily Post, Iditarod Tagged With: CHiPs, Iditarod 2011, John Baker, Nome, postaday2011, sleddogs

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