Iditarod – Day 4

by Bryan

7 comments

1 hipparchia { 03.10.10 at 12:49 am }

is the freking team all-siberian again?

it’s a conspiracy. a conspiracy, i tell ya!. back during the yukon quest, your spaminator was blocking me from posting about the all-malamute team that ran [part of] the iditarod one year. the first dog was dropped at nikolai [pulled muscle] and the entire team scratched at ruby [foot problems]. malamutes aren’t the speed demons that the other types are, but they’re definitely long-distance pull-aholic athletes. it would be cool to see another all-mal team in either the iditarod or the yukon quest someday.

2 Bryan { 03.10.10 at 1:12 am }

Blake Freking and Karen Ramstead both run purebred Siberian Huskies, while Colleen Robertia and Zoya DeNure run “rescues, runts, and rejects”.

The Malamutes are the “draft horses” of sled dogs, and purebred rule the weight competitions for dogs. If you really needed to move freight, the Malamute is the obvious choice. They also tend to be easier to live with as long as you don’t have allergies, because when those dogs shed, they don’t mess around.

Their undercoats supply artisan knitters with the special yarn used for sock heels, the heels last a lot longer if the yarn has dog hair spun in it.

3 hipparchia { 03.10.10 at 2:06 am }

They also tend to be easier to live with as long as you don’t have allergies, because when those dogs shed, they don’t mess around.

and they’re big dogs too, so each one has lots and lots of fur. they’re generally more laid back and less hyper than the samoyeds and siberians [indoors at least], which is one of the reasons why they’re my favorite among the sleddog breeds [also they look more wolfy than the siberians].

every spring, when the fluffy black dog goes into full shedding mode, i contemplate keeping his fur and looking for someone to knit it into an afghan or something for me. and every spring, after combing it all out, i never want to see another piece of black fluff ever again, even if it does get made into something non-fluffy. it’s a good thing he’s only part chow, because that’s another breed that doesn’t mess around in the fur-producing department.

“rescues, runts, and rejects”

awwww… this is just way cool! thanks for telling me about them. and two teams of siberians! that’s great. i’m first and foremost a huge fan of rescues, runts, and rejects [‘crazy cat lady’ only scratches the surface], but i’m also a fan of breeders and fanciers who try to keep the working abilities alive in their chosen breeds.

4 JuanitaM { 03.10.10 at 5:34 pm }

Oh, I didn’t know that Colleen Robertia was also running “rescues, runts & rejects”! Thanks for noting that. Now I have someone else to follow.

I knew that Zoya Denure was running them, and I kept my eye on her. It would be great for the “rejects” to make a decent showing – puts a whole new face on rooting for the underdog, you might say :). With Zoya out, it looked like that was that.

5 Bryan { 03.10.10 at 8:56 pm }

Colleen’s lead dog, Penny, weighs all of 29 pounds, which is about as runty as it gets among sled dogs. Colleen came in 12th in the Yukon Quest with 11 of 14 going all the way. The odd year races from Whitehorse to Fairbanks are much tougher because the bad climb comes at the end of the race. About a third of the teams scratched last year, but Colleen’s 3Rs finished in the money.

6 JuanitaM { 03.11.10 at 7:08 am }

Yaaay for the underdogs! I love it! Only 29 lbs you say…..and a lead dog on top of that? I hope Colleen has a website with a photo of this amazing canine. This I want to see.

BTW, Kathleen Frederick appears to have scratched. She is 58. I wonder if she’s the oldest musher in the field this year? It takes a lot of fortitude to go through this grueling sport at any age, much less after 50.

7 Bryan { 03.11.10 at 10:22 am }

The Anchorage Daily News did a profile on Penny: 29-pound lead dog has right stuff.

There are people out there in their 60’s, I think 69 is the oldest, but I wouldn’t do it. Yes, Kathleen’s scratch is at the bottom of the Wednesday post – her sled got eaten.