Making the cut, Dew Claw Iditarod 2011; who’s on the team

It is almost time for Dan and the kids and I to head to Anchorage for the start of the 2011 Iditarod, and everyone wants to know who I will be running with.

First let me take a minute and give a shout out to all the students and teachers who will be following this years race in the classroom; may it be as fun and educational for you as I hope it will be for me! And as you follow those of us who set out to run 1000 miles I hope you will think about setting your own challenges and trying something new and exciting. As a told a dear friend and teacher recently,
“Let the kids know that they can do anything they set their hearts to if they are willing to work hard and take risks. Let them know failure isn't fatal, but sitting around on your butt will kill you.”
(photo at left courtesy Helen Hegener, Northern Lights Media)

Now onto the team

The 2011 Dew Claw Iditarod team is made up of dogs from both Dan’s and my Yukon Quest team. And I may be biased, but I think it is a beautiful looking team. Over the last 2 years every dog has completed one, if not two thousand mile races. That makes me the inexperienced puppy on this team. The dogs are all fully rested and recovered from the Yukon Quest, and actually we were very lucky to have had no serious injuries with our teams this year. Dog coats and harnesses are washed, gear is cleaned, dog care kit restocked with foot ointment* and liniment, and everything is ready to be packed up for the trip.
* thanks again to Ms. Koble’s 3rd grade, Roosevelt Elementary School, Mankato, MN. for making this years foot ointment.

In making the choice who to take Dan and I were lucky to have the opportunity to have 24 of our dogs get full blood panels and EKG’s. Much thanks to Providence Hospital in Anchorage Alaska, every year they donate the lab services used for the blood panel.
The result are an extremely valuable tool in helping us decide which dogs are in the best condition to make the journey to Nome. And thank you to head vet Stuart Nelson, DVM, who spent a great deal of time with me on the phone discussing results.  From these 24 we can choose 20 to bring to Anchorage for the final vet check on March 2nd . 16 dogs will be used for the race, and there will be 4 alternates. We can use any of these 20 for the ceremonial start in Anchorage, regardless of whom we planning on running in the actual race, which begins March 6th in Willow.

(drum roll please) And the 20 Dew Claw Dogs going to Anchorage with us are:

* alternate dog

Some thoughts on the team.
Yes Jake is an alternate. I know for many of you this may seem odd, as he has been my solid leader and ‘go to guy’ this year. But near the end of the Quest he got a touch of frost on his upper front legs, I was able to treat it on the trail and he finished strong. But he does have a tiny bit of bare skin now. I have no desire to put him into a situation known for cold temps and bitter winds if he is not 100% ready. At Dew Claw we have the philosophy that ‘no one race is worth any one dog’ and so Jake will most likely not be on the Iditarod trail.

He will, out of respect for his wonderful hard work in lead this year, be leading the team at the ceremonial start. Jake and his brother Elwood ‘the Blues Brothers’, named for their beautiful blue eyes, will be at leading the team in Anchorage. And Jakes brothers Guetknecht and Elwood have been leading Dan’s race team all year and are ready and willing to take the lead again.

Also ready and willing to lead is Loben, Jake’s sister. Skittle was my Copper Basin leader every step of the way. Chess is a sweet reliable leader as well. And Dust has been known to step out in front of a team. So I am happy to have a nice collection of leaders in this years team. This year we worked with a wonderful collection of dogs bred and raised at Dew Claw, and dogs from the race team of Ramy Brooks who was kind enough to trust us with his kids for the season. This has given us a depth to our yard that has allowed us to have 2 teams in the Yukon Quest and a great pool to draw on for the Iditarod.

The line-up is subject to change as we do our final fun training runs, and have a last vet check. Getting input from trained veterinarians is one of the benefits of participating in world class events like the Yukon Quest and Iditarod. And I am very thankful for the wonderful vets who volunteer their time and energy to help. Over the years we have learned a great deal about how to better care for our team by working with race vets.

I also want to take a minute to say THANK YOU once again to all our individual and corporate sponsors; with out you this never would have been possible.

And as I will be offline for some time as I prepare for and run the Iditarod, but as I go I offer you a list of places to get race news and information that you may enjoy:

The offical Iditarod website, which also offers a paid update site called Iditarod insider

Northern Lights Media
(which published a nice article about me being an Idita-Quest Rookie)

GoMush

The Loon's Mushing Report

Iditrarod on Facebook