This past weekend was a big time for Fairbanks. The Yukon Quest started here. Dog sled teams headed out of town for Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. This race is not as long as the Iditarod but is much harder. We saw the first mile or so of the race. The path out of town was not like usual because of some soft ice on the river near the usual start point. It still came to withing about 300 feet of our apartment.
First we did some people watching, mostly head-gear.
Most dog teams were brought in cages in the back of pickups.
There was a long line of trucks with teams, mushers, and handlers. It is quite expensive to be a professional musher. One musher had a total of 40 dogs they train, that would be a lot of dog food. Of course, they could not run that many in the race, but they had the chance to pick the ones doing best.
No, there is not usually that much snow on Second Street in downtown Fairbanks. But since the race could not start on the river the city trucked snow in and spread it along the beginning of the race route.
The mushers take great pride in their dogs and take excellent care of them. Musher and dog team form a close bond. Except that the dogs may fight over food if allowed to do so. Some mushers have by now (Tuesday) dropped out of the race because some dogs were not well. The dogs must be checked by veterinarians before and be certified in good health. There is a mandatory 36-hour stop over in the race for the welfare of the dogs and musher. The teams stop over night and take breaks of several hours at certain places along the route.
This sled is packed and ready to go. The mushers do not take enough supplies for the entire trip. Their teams have left supplies ahead of time at stopover spots along the course. The food for the dogs along the race is usually chicken skins.
And then it is time to start. The teams do not all start at one time. That would end up being one mumble-jumble of dogs, sleds, and mushers. So they start at three minute intervals. So the last team started about 50 minutes behind the first team. The difference is adjusted at the first stop over. The first team to start the race has to wait longer before getting back on the trail and the last team does not need to wait as long. All are adjusted so the standings after that are correct in the race.
Then it is time to start and the first team lines up under the banner.
The dogs are barking, jumping, yapping, and eager to get on the way. They appear to really want to run. At least they have been trained that way. There must be "handlers" holding the dogs to keep them from starting before the official says, "Mush!" In this next picture the handlers have just let loose of the dogs and they have not quite realized that they are free to go.
Then they are off! The dogs are glad to be able to run. The musher is all smiles and waves to the waving crowd. In some pictures you can see the boots that the dogs are wearing. Without boots the ice cuts their feet and snow builds up between their toes and hurts their feet.
(This picture is taken from above.)
New this year was the opportunity for people to bid on riding in an extra sled behind the musher's sled. This was for the first two miles of the race. This increased the purse by $5000.
There were a lot of people. For a while we were watching from the second floor of a parking ramp. A great time was had by all.
Many families were there with children. When the children tired of watching dogs they found other things to do.
Kids are playing in the trees on the right. This picture is where the course came back to the river. We can easily see this spot from our apartment, but we were out taking pictures during the start of the race.
The 1000 mile race started at 11:00, a junior race of a couple miles started at 12:00, and a 300 mile race started at 3:00. Here are some pictures of the start of the kids race. It started on the river just a short way from our apartment
Some of the littler ones had a parent with them.
Going fast enough to kick up a cloud of snow!
The kids had to go up the bank where the regular race went down the bank! Several had to have their dogs pulled.
This skijorist was probably the youngest, maybe 5
This was perhaps the oldest - early teen?
We volunteered a couple times for the Yukon Quest. On Thursday evening they had a banquet where the mushers drew their bib numbers. We took tickets there. The musher who drew #1 thought it was a good omen. This is his third race. One race his bib number was 10 and he finished tenth. The other race his number was 7 and he finished seventh. Drawing #1 looked good to him!
We also volunteered at a breakfast for mushers and crowd the morning of the race. We were able to meet some of the mushers at both of these. They just seemed to be normal people doing something not quite what the normal person has the chance to do.
The people here don't just endure winter, they find ways to celebrate it! This winter so far has been easier to celebrate since it has been very mild. I hear it is not that way where most of you live! Are you celebrating winter or enduring it?
Have a good winter - March will be here in about 24 days!
Bye for now.
Larry and Elva
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