Gerry Willomitzer's
Blackjack Racing Kennel
January 26, 2007
Training and racing in Alaska
I spent December and January with my handlers Ivan and Sandro and 36 dogs at Sheep Mountain, Alaska at Dee Larsons homestead, training and racing dogs. We left here in a mad panic in late November, in a week where we had three mornings of minus 50 degrees or colder. Pipes of my place burst and I spent two days in the crawlspace underneath in two inches of water, trying to save what I could. It was definitely time to leave.
The temperature when we left home. What can I say...?
Pee-break on the road to Sheep Mountain
Training from Dee's place was great, lots of snow, hills, and good trails thanks to the efforts of Iditarod & Quest musher Zack Steer who owns the nearby Sheep Mountain Lodge. That's also where we did our first race of the season, the Sheep Mountain Lodge 150. We had a blistering fast run, and finished 3rd in a field of 45 teams. Only Lance Mackey and Jessica Hendricks were faster, and as both have beat the best in the sport I felt good about my time and placing. Sandro placed 15th with a second string of dogs, following my "orders" to take it easy.
The homestead we rented at Sheep Mountain. Thanks Dee for all your
support!
The gang posing in front of Gunsight
Mountain. Thanks Zack Steer
& Sheep Mountain Lodge for the excellent trails and your support!
On the first January weekend we went down to Knik to stay with Gene and Lynn Smith and race the Knik 200. I've never raced the Knik before, but it is very similar to the Percy de Wolfe between Dawson and Eagle. More or less 100 miles flat (mostly on rivers) to the halfway point, six hours layover there, and back. The race follows the Iditarod trail through some hilly but overall flat country to the Susitna River and then up the Yentna River to Skwentna Roadhouse. Much to my disliking it had snowed 18 inches just days before the race, and the first half was on soft trail, conditions I never managed to excel in. For the way back the trail had set up, was hard and fast. 40 miles from the finish I had to load Blackburn, and shortly after Chevy, the two biggest dogs in the team. I managed to finished in 8th place (the unofficial Rookie of the Year), a distant 2 hours behind Jeff King who passed Jon Little's tangled team just minutes from the finish. I have to add that I was running my B-team, all the "better" dogs where at home resting up for the Copper Basin 300 the following weekend.
After training in the treeless
Tundra at Sheep Mountain for a
month this was almost unreal: Tall trees on the Knik 200 trail.
I had high hopes for the CB300, but saw them fade away when it snowed heavily the week prior before the race. Soft trails are just not my cup of tea, and we had 300 miles of them. Not one inch was hard. The CB300 race organization is known for not "baby-sitting" the trails too much to put it mildly, and so we were breaking trail for all of the race. I followed William Kleedehn out of the first checkpoint (Chisto) in second place, and took over the trail breaking from the mail boxes (Mile 27) to Gakona Mountain, where we let Zack Steer go by. My team was not quite as spiffy as I would have liked, we probably over-trained due to the good conditions we had. By Paxson I had dropped the two 2-year-olds Drum and Wrangell. These young guys just went too hard early on and got hurt on the soft trail. At the end of an 8 hour slog fest from Paxson to Sourdough I had to load Mohammed, my 70 pound wheeler who never ever had been injured in his 5 years of racing! Four dogs had developed a cough, likely a reaction to the straw we used for the race. After 4 hours of sleep in the straw I decided to pack it up, and scratch from the race. The trail was unlikely to get better/faster, and it seemed doubtful the dogs would benefit from another soft and slow 100 miles. So we called it a tough 200 mile training run. You have to save something for the big races coming up
Within 5 days after the CB300 I had been down to Anchorage for one last supply run, finished the Iditarod food drops and delivered them to Paxson to Sebastian, who offered to bring them to Fairbanks in February, returned to Sheep Mountain, cleaned up camp, and moved the entire circus show in an overloaded truck and trailer back to the Yukon. Without the help of two top notch handler this could just not have been done. And thanks to Sebastian for all your help.
On the way back home - balmy
temperatures near Tok.
35 dogs running loose at once (And I let the handlers out of the truck too!)
Back home I found my place completely frozen again (the furnace quit, and now I have to replumb all pipes). In Alaska I "cooked" the engine of my snow machine, so there is another $1500 bill waiting. So we better get to work: The Quest is coming up February 10th, followed by the Iditarod on March 3rd. I won't be at the Percy deWolfe this year, as it overlaps with the Iditarod.
Note: I've been so busy this winter, I just discovered the above text on my computer today (April 17). I had no idea I ever wrote it. I better upload it quick before I lose it again. There will be another newsletter coming about Quest & Iditarod shortly (or whenever I get to it!).
GW
A few more shots from training at Sheep Mountain:
Heading up to Gunsight Mountain.
Super-leaders Joseph, Rohn and Jack
(in swing)
On the Start-Up Lakes near Eureka
Lodge