Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post
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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
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:
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
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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
Every one has a favorite Iditarod musher. Some love the colorful–like the kilt wearing, bag pipe playing Wattie McDonald. Some root for the 4-time reigning champion and his comeback story, Lance Mackey. Others root for the guy that loves talking to kids and sports a Cat in the Hat hat on the trail in Hugh Neff. Gotta love the underdog or the back-of-the-packers and their dreams that they are runnin’ down…
Then there is DeeDee.
One of the most colorful, most decorated and well loved mushers in the history of the sport is DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow, Alaska. We could argue that DeeDee has done more for this sport than any other musher since she became involved in the 1980’s.
Wearing her trademark pink parka on the trail and offering her motherly advice (on occasion) in some of the toughest conditions on Earth, DeeDee is a force to be reckoned with and is admired from even the most burley of guys that ever stood on a set of sled runners.
There have always been women in the sport of dog sledding and besides the names of Butcher, Riddles and Jonrowe, you may not have heard of the others…
Women Mushers
Women in the sport of mushing go back as far back as the beginning of the sport. Renowned mushers such as Louise Lombard, Eva “Short” Seeley and Natalie Norris all come to mind when you think of women in mushing in the early days. The first women to participate in the Iditarod ran in 1974, the second year of the race. Mary Shields and Lolly Medley, both from Fairbanks, signed up for the race and made it all the way to Nome. They both mushed across the finish line to the surprise of some individuals who felt that women could not tolerate the rigors of the trail.
Libby Riddles of Teller, Alaska, was the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail race on March 20, 1985. At this moment it opened the floodgates for women in the sport to do well in mushing. Susan Butcher had won the race four times, and DeeDee Jonrowe is the only musher, man or woman, to compete three consecutive times in both the Iditarod and the Alpirod race in Europe. DeeDee has also competed in the IronMan triathlon in Kona, Hawaii.
(March 13, 2011) DeeDee is doing great in the 2011 Iditarod maintaining a firm position in the top ten.
When women mushers take to the trail, they add to the tradition and history of this sport. Their records indicate that they have been able to compete on an equal footing with men, and they have a higher percentage of race completions than men do. Perhaps their determination has been greater than their male counterparts to prove that they can indeed meet the tests of Mother Nature.
Who is your favorite musher on the trail?
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
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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: akphotograph.com
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