09-10 Race Season-

OK, Now it's over with the Kobuk 440...
well for this year.

I, Jodi, had an amazing time with the dogs in the Kobuk 440. The hospitality in Kotzebue and the surrounding village checkpoints was wonderful, the trail beautiful, and it was a great opportunity for me and the dogs to get experience in conditions we do not regularly train in. I want to thank everyone who helped make it possible for Dew Claw to run the Kobuk 440. And there was a special end. Dan had flow to Kotzebue to surprise me and see me and the team cross the finish line.

The race was my longest to date, and I had spent a lot of time thinking through how to best run it. There is so much that goes into running distance races, and I know I have a lot to learn. Drop bags are a big part of preparation, and I spent lots of time deciding what and how much to send where. The warm spring temps had me worried about my meat, so I lined rice bags with some insulation wrap, like you would use for a home water heater. Worked like a charm. I had also learned some things about how to feed better during a race on this year Copper Basin, and I wanted this team to eat better and keep better weight. I am very happy to say they looked great and were still chomping their meat snacks at the finish.

A sweet young girl named Orchid (left) spent a lot of time in lead on this race, very happy with how well she did. And two young brothers; Jib and Lubbock were all attitude (right).

The weather might have been one of my best teachers. On one run a storm blew in that pretty much stopped me on the trail. But these are realistically conditions you will face. I sat out the storm with one of my fellow mushers, and am glad to report I was never scared or cold, and was able to put coats on all the dogs and snack them while we waited. That run did not go as fast or as smoothly as one might have hoped, but that is sometimes how things happen. At that point I had the decide how to care for my dogs and make sure that we still had a strong run home. And after a good rest with 2 warm meals that is just what we did. As we came into the finish on the ice in front of the Kotzebue Post Office I heard a familiar whistle. Dan was there at the finish to meet me and the kids. My friend Darin Nelson was the checker, Kelley Griffin and Hugh Neff were on hand, and many new friends from Kotzebue were there to greet us.

Again I want to thank the Kobuk 440 organization, and all the wonderful volunteers who make this race so great!
To see more of my photos click here

End of the Iditarod Trail

Dan Kaduce (r) 64 Nome 03/17 15:50:00 11
SO Dan was a rookie, meaning his first time ever doing this race (r) was bib number 64 and got to Nome (the finish of the 1000 mile race) March 17th at 15:50:00 with 11 dogs. He was the first of this years rookies to finishing, which made him 'rookie of the year' . Our local paper did a nice article about Dan :
http://newsminer.com/bookmark/6770040

**special Note from Dan and Jodi answering questions about Guppy.
Thank you for your heartfelt concern for Guppy. She is home safe and sound and feeling much better. Her injury was a swollen wrist and a pulled muscle in her shoulder, which happened when she fell.
When a  musher says a  dog is "three legged" they mean there is one leg that they favor and will not put weight on. And as soon as it happened Dan packed Guppy in his sled and dropped her to race vets at the next checkpoint. Once a dog is dropped to race vets they can care for dogs and administer pain medications as deemed appropriate. (racing dogs can not have any drugs that will mask pain or signs of injury while they are still running in team) Guppy was given a dog version of ibuprofen by race vets, and has also been getting massage with dog liniment. She was flow to Anchorage where she was cared for by good friends, while she waited for the rest of the team to get flow to Anchorage. She even got to ride shotgun in the truck with Jodi on the ride home from Anchorage to Chatanika.
And now the whole team is home, fresh straw in the dog houses, relaxing, eating well, and looking good. Guppy will take the rest of this season off. But rest assured she will be ready and able to run again with her team next fall.  Again, thanks to all.**

This has been an exciting race for us, and it is safe to say that both Dan and the dogs had a great time on the Iditarod trail. We were both very pleased with how strong and happy the dogs looked at the finish, and many people complimented us on just that. The dogs are now all home eating well, and enjoying some well earned R&R. Despite some extreme cold temps Dan stayed warm, and is frostbite free. Dan stayed in Nome for the finish banquet where he received the Rookie of the Year trophy (photo at right courtesy of Joel Switzer) and is flying home today (3/22).

We could not have done this without the continued help of our sponsors and friends, please join us in thanking them. Our long time friend and lead sponsor TJ's Landclearing, Mr Tom Gross was there to help us at the start in Anchorage. Also excited about some of the new friends we met out on the trail. We had a lot of fun on the first day with our Iditarider Sarah. Jeff Shultz took some excellent photos of Dan throughout the race, including the ceremonial start with Sarah, click here. Then there was Orren, who was traveling along watching the race, we had the pleasure of having him at our table for the opening banquet, and he became a great friend and fan. (shown at left with Dan in Galena) Also a huge thank you to Kristine, Ian, Raina for being such wonderful hosts in Nome, letting us borrow your truck, and coming to see Dan at the finish. Jan and Walt, new friends for the moral support and great photos. Joel for always being there to pitch in and keep me (Jodi) sane. Nicki for the web updates.

And of course the biggest Thank You goes to the dogs, who continue to amaze and humble us with their athletic ability and heart. We are honored to work with such beautiful talented dogs. Mush Love and Happy Trails to them all!

Below are some excellent photos taken by our friend Jan Tremer. Dan and the team running into Nome; it was taken at Farley's Fish Camp, a few miles from town and a great place to see teams as they are coming in. I love seeing the dogs all still so perky and strong looking as they run to the finish in Nome. Dan and I under the burled arch in Nome right before we took the team to the dog yard for some food, rest, and massage. You can see more photos from Nome here: Jodi's Nome Photos

Denali Doubles wrap-up:

Dan and I had a great time with the kids on the Denali Doubles Sled Dog Race. The weather was beautiful, and the race organizers, volunteers, checkers, and checkpoints could not have been better! We want to take a minute and thank Jeff King, the race committee and all the volunteers for their efforts.

Our team finished 2nd, and the full results can be viewed in spreadsheet form here: Denali Doubles results
and considering how competitive the field was we could not be happier with our performance. And getting to run with some of the best teams in the state made it pretty exciting.

The race began in Cantwell, and seeing 18 twenty dog teams preparing was a impressive sight. WE traveled the Denali Highway from Cantwell all the way to Paxson and Back. The first checkpoint was at the Alpine Lodge. Dan and I did not stop there; although after the race I heard that they were serving Alaska King Crab! had I known that we might have readjusted out plans ;)

Next checkpoint was Maclaren River Lodge, where Dan and I took a mandatory 8 hours rest before hearing out to Paxson. Now some of you may know that in past years the Gin Gin has traveled the section of highway between Maclaren River Lodge and Paxson, and that in the past that section has been a windblown challenge of major proportions. But for this race things went smoothly with hardly a breeze.

Paxson was the half way point where we rested again before heading home. At Paxson we dropped Lola and Jody both were having slight digestion issues, and we felt it was better to be safe and let them be dropped so they could rest and feel better.

The trip home included one more stop and Maclaren for some rest and to get the dogs and humans loaded up on good food for the trip home. Coming into Cantwell the sun was shinning, the scenery beautiful, and Denali was out. But to be fair I was more focused on the team, we were having a great run. As we crossed the finish line I was once again filled with amazement and love for our dogs!

Photos: top - running the team on the Denali Highway

above - the team resting at Maclaren

right - running to Paxson

below - scenes from the Denali Highway

Well just in case things were not busy enough...

...we decided to go ahead and sign up for the Denali Doubles Invitational Sled Dog Race; for official race web site click here.

The race is unique in that it has 2 mushers working together to run a team of up to 20 dogs. Race starts in Cantwell Alaska on Feb. 11. It runs the entire length of the Denali Highway, with checkpoints at Alpine Lodge and McClaren Lodge on the highway. The at Paxson the half way turn around. Teams travel back to Cantwell for the finish. People should know that the Denali highway is not maintained in the winter. It turns into a trail for snow machines and dog teams. We will literally be traveling down the middle of the highway, but the snow will be so thick in places you won't even know it. However the winds in the area around Paxson can be notoriously bad, blowing away all the snow and leaving only hard pack for you to try and navigate your team across. The team and I have had some experience with that; in last years Gin Gin. We hope this years weather will be more hospitable. But if not all you can do is smile and realize that adversity prepares you to handle tough situations.

There will be a finish banquet is Feb. 14, at 3pm in Cantwell. It is an invitational which means that the person designated as Musher #1 must have (quoted from the race rules) must have placed in the top 5 places, or received Humanitarian Award or have been awarded Rookie of the Year in any dogsled race prior to sign up. So we were both OK. Decided to run with Dan as Musher #1.

It is going to be such a fun opportunity to get the whole team out together. Plus this is something new and unusual. And with the field limited to 20 teams Dan and I were lucky to get a spot at this late date. Preparations have begun; a 2 sled set up to run the team, and some new ganglines are being made. There is meat to cut and pack for snacks. Drop bags to organize. It will be pretty busy at Dew Claw for the next few weeks!

Add to that; Dan's Iditarod drop bags are due on the day we return from the Denali Doubles. We will need to have everything ready before we go. The amount of food and supplies needed for an Iditarod team is HUGE! We will also be packaging Dan's food, extra gear, and supplies for the trail. I promise to try and remember and take some photos to give people a better idea of what goes into this important and giant projects know as 'drop bags'.

Copper Basin wrap up

Thanks to all who sent congratulations and words of encouragement. Now that we are home and the dogs are comfortably relaxing I (Jodi) have a few minutes to reflect on the race. First and foremost we are so very pleased to have had both teams place so well in such a competitive field. A few dogs were dropped from our race teams, but this was done as a precaution; none were seriously injured or ill.

Both Dan and I drew late bib numbers, which meant we went out later and had to deal with trail that was more beat up and passing lots of teams. In spite of that our early runs went very smoothly. During the course of the race we ran into; water, ice, hills, switchbacks, roads, twists and turns, winds, warm temps, cold temps, punchy trail, hard trail, ditch trail, and just about any other condition you can imagine running into on a long Alaskan trip.

Dan and his team had great runs, and were traveling with the leaders.
I was slightly behind and learning everything I could from the trail. A race like the CB 300 presents a rookie musher like myself with an excellent opportunity to experience what a tough long distance race is really like. And the format of the race was exciting, with teams resting and different points along the race and each person having their own strategy.

We would both like to thank the race volunteers and officials, it is because of all the hard work they do that we have the privilege of going out and competing in the Copper Basin. Would also like to thank our wonderful dynamic duo of handlers Rick Studley and Alyson McHugh for all they did. They made is possible for Dan and I to go out and race, gave us great support and were there at every checkpoint with smiles and encouragement. Major Thanks to Rick and Alyson.

photos: (top) Dan at the start (right) Jodi at the Tolsona checkpoint

You can see some more Copper Basin Photos at the race web site:
www.CB300.com

including a nice photo of Jodi at the start

Dew Claw is heading to the Copper Basin 300 -

Dew Claw is planning on bringing 2 teams to the Copper Basin 300 sled dog race. It begins in Jan 9th in Glennallen. This race will give Dan a chance to test out his main race team, while Jodi takes the rest of the dogs in the race squad. They have all trained together all season, and now will be a chance to see which new dogs are going to rise to the challenge of this year’s race season.

Visit the Copper Basin web for more information and updates.

Photo Courtesy of Donna Quante
www.huskyproductions.net