Hookup - Leaders Wilson & Stump
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Howdy all.
Here at 65 degrees latitude, the solstice is a big
deal. As of last weekend, it’s no longer getting
darker day by day. While we still have plenty of
cold to deal with, it’s a huge relief to have the
days begin to get longer. Sue and I have had less
trouble dealing with the darkness this year than we
did last in the Yukon, even though it is
considerably darker here in Fairbanks than down in
Whitehorse. I guess that’s probably mostly due to a
bit of familiarity with it and the fact that this
year we are living with electricity. At the darkest
days here, the sun is only “up” for a couple of
hours and at that it barely gets above the Alaska
Range to the south. You can see what you’re doing
outside from about 9:30am to 3:30pm, but that
includes lengthy dusk and dawn. Anyway, this
northern side of the earth is slowly tilting back
towards the sun, and we are grateful.
Mugs & Reba
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To celebrate the solstice last
weekend, I took 12 dogs out for a 100 mile race
right here in Two Rivers. As the field filled up to
it’s max at 30 teams, I saw some incredible
competition lining up to race. There are so many
very good dog teams around here. Even the names you
(and I) have never heard of have some amazing dogs.
I knew it would be very hard to place high in a race
this short with so many fast teams, but we wanted to
get the race gitters out of the way before traveling
to the GinGin 200 this weekend. So I took Stump,
Mugs, Reba, Wilson, Gila, Trip, Merlin, Logan, Jim,
Ambler, Eliza and Hood out to race on trail that
follows part of the same trail the Quest uses. We
had quite a few friends running too, which made it a
really fun atmosphere. Mike Santos and Judy Currier
both used to run Siberians in New England and now
both have very quick teams of Alaskan Huskies while
living here in AK. Lance Mackey showed up with 4
teams to race. Former Quest champions Aliy Zirkle
and Bill Cotter, and lots of Iditarod and Quest
veterans were in the field, too. The race consisted
of 53 miles out to Angel Creel Lodge, a four hour
mandatory rest, and then a return on the same trail.
Our run out was a bit hectic with a lot of passing
going on but we did it in 4 hours and 32 minutes.
The dogs ate like champs at the rest and were raring
to go as we left the checkpoint at about 9pm. We
passed Dave Dalton less than a mile out of the
checkpoint and then didn’t see another team for
about 30 miles when our friend Mike Santos caught
and passed us with his team of dogs mostly from Jeff
King’s lines. As his headlamp faded in the distance
ahead of us, we cruised the last miles to the finish
line to take 15th place with a second half run time
of 4 hours 42 minutes. The dogs were happy and
frisky at the finish despite having run a bit faster
than we’ve been training at. While they were
checking my sled for the mandatory gear at the
finish, I heard out of the darkness, “Doc Lombard
would be proud of THAT team.” Now if you don’t know
who Doc Lombard was, do a bit of research and you’ll
understand why tears of pride rolled down my check
as the team followed Sue over to the truck for
snacks, love, and a ride home to straw-filled
houses.
Gila & Eliza, Jim & Logan, Hood & Ambler
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So, with Christmas presents to wrap,
a race to pack for, a training run to sneak in
today, and all the regular chores of the day ahead,
I’ve got a lot to do before relaxing for a Christmas
Eve evening with Sue tonight. We wish you and yours
all the peace, happiness, and hope possible at this
holiday season, and a very happy and healthy new
year.
Aliy Zirkle & Sue with Zirkle the dog.
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Take care – Mike, Sue and TeamTsuga.
