Thursday evening in Alaska, March 6th. Mushers have been on the trail for 3 days and just over 7 hours as of this post. Jessie Holmes and Michelle Phillips are at the front of the pack, both reported out of Galena (race mile 369) over the day today. GPS has them both past the 400 mile mark. The remainder of the top 12 are all reported into Galena and resting. The back of the pack is out of Tanana and running around miles 260-270. That puts the spread on our field at around 140 miles.
We did have our second scratch in the race, with rookie Charmayne Morrison of Bozeman, Montana, opting to end her race in Tanana. Her dog team was reported in good health. Seeing Double wishes Charmayne and her dog team safe and swift travels back to their home kennel.
We now have 31 mushers traveling the trail to Nome.
We left Anna just over twenty-four hours ago camping outside of Tanana, on her way to Ruby. She did camp for a few hours at mile 241, ran with her team for several hours, camped again at mile 280 around 7:30am for about four and a half hours (she texted this was the perfect camp spot), and finally ran the remainder of this 117 mile stretch into Ruby. She arrived in 17th place right around 4pm Thursday. Between campouts and covering the miles, she was out there for 25 hours and 52 minutes.
You might think I have a type-o there, but I don’t. Most mushers took around 24-25 hours on this stretch. So far, Paige Drobny did it fastest in 19 hours 19 minutes. While Jason Mackey was out there for over 31 hours.
I expect Anna to spend most of the evening resting the dogs and herself in Ruby, to the tune of 6 hours or so. As Thursday turns to Friday, Anna will head out on the 50 mile section to Galena. She should do this leg without any campouts, and rest again in Galena.
That’s about it for race updates at the moment.
I did, however, have a fan ask for more details about each dog’s job on the team. I forget sometimes that I’ve been following this sport and this race - my sisters’ lifestyle - since 2010. Some of you are new fans, and some of you might enjoy a refresher. So let’s get down to all things dog.
Wait one - I can’t get into ALL things dog, or I’d still be blathering on while the Red Lantern arrives in Nome. There are so many different facets to consider when it comes to putting together an Iditarod race team. Or really caring for any group of dogs that have a job. Breeding, training, nutrition, physical fitness. What you can manage yourself and when you get to the vet. Caring for the dogs at home vs. out on the trail. Balancing different canine personalities, strengths, preferences.
To address this particular fan’s question, let’s simply look at the positions the dogs run in.
LEAD - SWING - TEAM - WHEEL - SLED/MUSHER
At the front of the train, if you will - which stretches the full length of a semi trailer - you have your lead dog or dogs. Mushers will sometimes run a single dog in lead, and, I would wager slightly more commonly, two dogs in lead (dual lead). Whether single or dual, lead dogs follow the musher’s commands (more on those in a sec). They set the pace. They find and read the trail ahead and maintain the team’s direction. They’re usually fast. And smart. They follow musher’s commands, but the very best ones can ignore the musher when absolutely warranted. A downed tree across the trail that the musher can’t see at night in a snowstorm. The dogs could maybe navigate across, if the gangline didn’t tangle in branches. But the sled? Nope. Really good lead dogs tell mushers things they might not know yet.
A senior lead dog can mentor a younger dog learning the ropes. And almost all mushers have several lead dogs. Some are “bread and butter”, the go-to dogs that get it done no matter what. Some dogs are better leaders in crowds, like the Ceremonial Start. Some dogs don’t mind leading into a strong headwind. Others clearly dislike strong wind but will charge across some open water like they’re freshmen on spring break.
What commands, at minimum, are the dogs responding to?
Ready - Prepare to go
Alright - run!
Easy - slow the pace
Gee - Right
Haw - Left
Straight Ahead - go straight when there’s an option to gee/haw or when they have the right heading.
On By - usually when passing a team or other distraction; not stopping to visit, go past.
Whoa - stop. More of a plea than a command. Usually accompanied by standing on the drag pad (braking system).
At least, these are the twins’ primary commands. They have also been working on a soft-gee / haw command to differentiate from a hard 90 to more of a 45 degree turn. Other mushers use variations on these, but whatever they use, it is consistently applied with their dogs.
Immediately behind the lead or leaders, you have your swing dogs. These guys aren’t out dancing it up to Duke Ellington or Benny Goodman. But they are aptly named. Swing dogs are essential to supporting the lead dogs and powering - or swinging - the team through corners. You may find lead dogs in training running swing, as it’s the best place to learn. These dogs are also going to be fairly strong, as they’re a pivoting force swinging a substantial mass behind them.
Ok, so let’s say we’re running dual lead and dual swing. That’s 4 dogs. The next 5 pairs (10 dogs) make up our team dogs. Lead or swing dogs that are rotated out will run in this team group. Many other dogs are simply dedicated team dogs. They’re the workhorses, the power center of the team. Their job is to lean into those harnesses and tug lines and pull. Their combined force is essential to moving the sled and maintaining the speed set by the leaders. These dogs are often big, always strong, and they get an admirable joy from doing their job.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t subtleties within this group. Maybe you have a dog that gets squirrelly and will chew on the neck or ganglines. That’s a dog you might want back-team so you can keep on eye on him or her. A musher could also have a dog they’re keeping an eye on because the dog’s gait looked a tiny bit off, and back-team gives the musher better visibility. Young or rookie dogs are often in team dog positions until they show promise doing something else.
Ok - We’ve got 14 dogs on the line now, and our last two are our wheel dogs, right in front of the sled. These dogs apply a key initial starting force to the sled when the team gets moving. They also are the closest force that is helping to steer the sled. When it comes to cornering, these dogs need to be nimble so they can sometimes hop the gangline and avoid the pivot point where the gangline connects to the bridle and the sled. This is a physically demanding role on the team and our wheel dogs are often big and long-legged athletes.
So now we have our 16 dogs in front of the sled. They’re wearing booties. If the weather is nasty, they have their jackets on. Maybe a dog or two in extra leggings or leg wraps. Lighted collars on the lead dogs, both to be visible to others and to see where the front of your train is at. Musher on the sled full of gear and dog supplies. Maybe a bebops trailer sled behind all that.
Headlamp. Extra booties and dog food., snacks, bowls. Parka? Where’s my parka? Snow hooks (the parking brake of a dog team). HEET to fire the cooker to melt snow to boil the water for the dogs’ meals. Straw, gotta grab straw to bed them down for trailside campouts. Half a bale? Meh… couple flakes more.
Did I eat? I should eat. Brushing my teeth for sure. Parka… where’s my parka?!
Check the weather.
Check out with race officials.
Pull the snow hook.
Ready? Alright!
More race updates coming over the weekend.
We did have our second scratch in the race, with rookie Charmayne Morrison of Bozeman, Montana, opting to end her race in Tanana. Her dog team was reported in good health. Seeing Double wishes Charmayne and her dog team safe and swift travels back to their home kennel.
We now have 31 mushers traveling the trail to Nome.
We left Anna just over twenty-four hours ago camping outside of Tanana, on her way to Ruby. She did camp for a few hours at mile 241, ran with her team for several hours, camped again at mile 280 around 7:30am for about four and a half hours (she texted this was the perfect camp spot), and finally ran the remainder of this 117 mile stretch into Ruby. She arrived in 17th place right around 4pm Thursday. Between campouts and covering the miles, she was out there for 25 hours and 52 minutes.
You might think I have a type-o there, but I don’t. Most mushers took around 24-25 hours on this stretch. So far, Paige Drobny did it fastest in 19 hours 19 minutes. While Jason Mackey was out there for over 31 hours.
I expect Anna to spend most of the evening resting the dogs and herself in Ruby, to the tune of 6 hours or so. As Thursday turns to Friday, Anna will head out on the 50 mile section to Galena. She should do this leg without any campouts, and rest again in Galena.
That’s about it for race updates at the moment.
I did, however, have a fan ask for more details about each dog’s job on the team. I forget sometimes that I’ve been following this sport and this race - my sisters’ lifestyle - since 2010. Some of you are new fans, and some of you might enjoy a refresher. So let’s get down to all things dog.
Wait one - I can’t get into ALL things dog, or I’d still be blathering on while the Red Lantern arrives in Nome. There are so many different facets to consider when it comes to putting together an Iditarod race team. Or really caring for any group of dogs that have a job. Breeding, training, nutrition, physical fitness. What you can manage yourself and when you get to the vet. Caring for the dogs at home vs. out on the trail. Balancing different canine personalities, strengths, preferences.
To address this particular fan’s question, let’s simply look at the positions the dogs run in.
LEAD - SWING - TEAM - WHEEL - SLED/MUSHER
At the front of the train, if you will - which stretches the full length of a semi trailer - you have your lead dog or dogs. Mushers will sometimes run a single dog in lead, and, I would wager slightly more commonly, two dogs in lead (dual lead). Whether single or dual, lead dogs follow the musher’s commands (more on those in a sec). They set the pace. They find and read the trail ahead and maintain the team’s direction. They’re usually fast. And smart. They follow musher’s commands, but the very best ones can ignore the musher when absolutely warranted. A downed tree across the trail that the musher can’t see at night in a snowstorm. The dogs could maybe navigate across, if the gangline didn’t tangle in branches. But the sled? Nope. Really good lead dogs tell mushers things they might not know yet.
A senior lead dog can mentor a younger dog learning the ropes. And almost all mushers have several lead dogs. Some are “bread and butter”, the go-to dogs that get it done no matter what. Some dogs are better leaders in crowds, like the Ceremonial Start. Some dogs don’t mind leading into a strong headwind. Others clearly dislike strong wind but will charge across some open water like they’re freshmen on spring break.
What commands, at minimum, are the dogs responding to?
Ready - Prepare to go
Alright - run!
Easy - slow the pace
Gee - Right
Haw - Left
Straight Ahead - go straight when there’s an option to gee/haw or when they have the right heading.
On By - usually when passing a team or other distraction; not stopping to visit, go past.
Whoa - stop. More of a plea than a command. Usually accompanied by standing on the drag pad (braking system).
At least, these are the twins’ primary commands. They have also been working on a soft-gee / haw command to differentiate from a hard 90 to more of a 45 degree turn. Other mushers use variations on these, but whatever they use, it is consistently applied with their dogs.
Immediately behind the lead or leaders, you have your swing dogs. These guys aren’t out dancing it up to Duke Ellington or Benny Goodman. But they are aptly named. Swing dogs are essential to supporting the lead dogs and powering - or swinging - the team through corners. You may find lead dogs in training running swing, as it’s the best place to learn. These dogs are also going to be fairly strong, as they’re a pivoting force swinging a substantial mass behind them.
Ok, so let’s say we’re running dual lead and dual swing. That’s 4 dogs. The next 5 pairs (10 dogs) make up our team dogs. Lead or swing dogs that are rotated out will run in this team group. Many other dogs are simply dedicated team dogs. They’re the workhorses, the power center of the team. Their job is to lean into those harnesses and tug lines and pull. Their combined force is essential to moving the sled and maintaining the speed set by the leaders. These dogs are often big, always strong, and they get an admirable joy from doing their job.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t subtleties within this group. Maybe you have a dog that gets squirrelly and will chew on the neck or ganglines. That’s a dog you might want back-team so you can keep on eye on him or her. A musher could also have a dog they’re keeping an eye on because the dog’s gait looked a tiny bit off, and back-team gives the musher better visibility. Young or rookie dogs are often in team dog positions until they show promise doing something else.
Ok - We’ve got 14 dogs on the line now, and our last two are our wheel dogs, right in front of the sled. These dogs apply a key initial starting force to the sled when the team gets moving. They also are the closest force that is helping to steer the sled. When it comes to cornering, these dogs need to be nimble so they can sometimes hop the gangline and avoid the pivot point where the gangline connects to the bridle and the sled. This is a physically demanding role on the team and our wheel dogs are often big and long-legged athletes.
So now we have our 16 dogs in front of the sled. They’re wearing booties. If the weather is nasty, they have their jackets on. Maybe a dog or two in extra leggings or leg wraps. Lighted collars on the lead dogs, both to be visible to others and to see where the front of your train is at. Musher on the sled full of gear and dog supplies. Maybe a bebops trailer sled behind all that.
Headlamp. Extra booties and dog food., snacks, bowls. Parka? Where’s my parka? Snow hooks (the parking brake of a dog team). HEET to fire the cooker to melt snow to boil the water for the dogs’ meals. Straw, gotta grab straw to bed them down for trailside campouts. Half a bale? Meh… couple flakes more.
Did I eat? I should eat. Brushing my teeth for sure. Parka… where’s my parka?!
Check the weather.
Check out with race officials.
Pull the snow hook.
Ready? Alright!
More race updates coming over the weekend.
Kristy captured Anna and her team pulling into Nenana early in the race. And remember, Anna had a dog or two in the sled basket. So this train is missing one dog-car. Quite an operation!!
