While Aliy and Allen are in musher meetings all day, 36 of their best friends are on the way down the Parks Highway to Anchorage. Mark and Chris sent through these pics from their pit-stop along the way.
We have 36 in the trucks as the teams are not completely finalised yet and Rambler and Tig are visiting Anchorage with us!
This morning in Anchorage a few of us had breakfast with Dr Al Townsend and a team from Eagle Pack – Natural Dog Food and took the opportunity to thank them for their friendship, support and sponsorship over the years. Aliy fed Eagle Pack back in the early 2000s even before they came on board as a sponsor and we have fed it ever since.
Our dogs are powered by Eagle Pack from the time they are born right into their retirement. They thrive on it and really do seem to enjoy eating it! Thanks Team!
Allen, DeeDee, Martin and Aliy
Dr Al Townsend with the Eagle Pack Iditarod mushers L-R: Allen, DeeDee, Aliy, Dr Al, Martin, James Volek and Tim Pappas (both from Happy Trails Kennel)
The SP Kennel DogLog will be the place to come for SP Kennel-centric coverage of the race. We are proudly and unapologetically focussed on only our two teams so if you want to find out about other teams you will need to check with other kennel blogs and/or Facebook pages.
We will occasionally post directly to our Instagram and Facebook pages when a post to the blog is not possible, so keep your eye on them.
We also don’t offer any strategic interpretation or “guessing” about what other teams are doing or will do. There are plenty of others who offer their opinion on what’s happening; we just want to bring you what we know.
For a view of the wider race, the Iditarod Insider, that has GPS Trackers and on-the-trail videos is the best place to go for direct updates. If you haven’t already, you may consider getting this package for yourself if you can.
Check out the Iditarod Trail Committee Website and Facebook page for exclusive updates also. They will have some great photos daily and update on the main stories and current standings. Sebastian Schnuelle will once again be writing for their website and he is always entertaining and informative.
We’ll be keeping an eye on all the local media as they will have reporters and photographers following the trail and try to link you to their stories. If you see something we may have missed please feel free to let us know about it by emailing Moira at SPKDogLog@gmail.com.
We plan to be as interactive as possible this year so we will be having extra Dog Fan Club draws throughout the race and also a few other competitions for you to enter, so keep your eye out for those. We also love all your comments and support during the race, and both Aliy and Allen go back through the posts and enjoy reading your comments after the race is over so keep ’em coming!
We appreciate in advance your patience as we get confirmation and details about any dogs that are returned to our handler team in Anchorage from either the Red or Black team. We’ll get that information to you as soon as possible but the teams are travelling through very remote parts of Alaska and sometimes it can take a few days for the information to get to us. Rest assured the dogs are in great hands with the veterinarian and volunteer teams in the checkpoints and we will post the info as soon as we can, so your patience is appreciated.
We hope you enjoy following along!
Last season Verizon Wireless came on board as a lead sponsor of SP Kennel and we are delighted that relationship has continued into this season. Verizon’s motto of “Better Matters” really gels with us and our philosophy and we are excited to be associated with them.
Thanks Team! We really appreciate your support and proudly display your logos on our sleds, musher parkas and team jackets!
And check out our Instagram page brought to you with devices provided by Verizon and using their 4G LTE network!
Aliy and Allen went to a pre Iditarod event last night hosted by ExxonMobil at the Hard Rock Cafe in Downtown Anchorage. The “one week out” party was a Salute to the Volunteers Veterinarians of the Iditarod. Jeff Schultz showed many amazing photographs of the Mushers, Dogs and Veterinarians along the trail.
The party was a fun, relaxing event – considering the week to come. Allen and Aliy were able to catch up with DeeDee and Mike Jonrowe, Dallas Seavey and Martin Buser, as well as many friends and supporters of the “Last Great Race”.
The evening was perfect until Martin and Aliy got in a bar brawl over a dog sled.
In the end, the two mushers resolved to settle the argument next week… on the Iditarod!
Iditarod is a week away and we can’t wait!
Between now and Wednesday Aliy and Allen will be stretching out their teams for the final times (and narrowing down their team selections) and packing sleds and personal gear for Anchorage and Nome.
Wednesday Aliy, Allen and Moira fly down to Anchorage and meet Aliy’s parents at the airport from Florida, then they all attend a dinner with SP Kennel’s biggest sponsor: Matson (formerly Horizon Lines). Aliy and Allen will present some videos and stories from the trail to share with the team who has been with them since 2006.
Thursday we start the day with breakfast with our long time dog food sponsor Eagle Pack and their representatives; then both our mushers are tied up most of the day with musher meetings and lunch with their Idita-riders. At the same time the dogs, along with Chris and Mark, come down the Parks Highway to Anchorage; as does the rest of the human team.
Thursday evening is the Start Banquet and Bib Draw at 6pm in the Dena’ina Centre. There, we will learn when our teams leave the start line.
We will take a few dogs and people on a visit to the offices of Matson on Friday morning, then go to another sponsor event in the afternoon. During the evening Aliy and Allen will get a chance to have some quiet, family time before they head off into the wilderness.
Saturday morning is fun! The Ceremonial Start through the streets of Anchorage kicks off at 10am and that is always enjoyable! It’s great to see thousands of people out and about cheering the teams on.
Saturday evening Aliy and Allen will pack their sleds for the final time and ensure everything is ship-shape ready for their adventure.
On Sunday the teams are off! We all make the trek north to Willow to farewell our precious 32 canines and two humans until we see them again in Nome. The rest of us then make our way further north back to the kennel.
If you are in Anchorage for any of the festivities do make yourself known and come visit with us. Remember we will be staying at the Extended Stay Anchorage – Downtown and will make our timetable of feeding and walking the dogs available to guests so you can come and say hello.
Prior to the Yukon Quest, Aliy and Chris went up to the White Mountains and took a bunch of dogs for a run. Aliy took her video camera to show you around!
While Allen was on his final leg of the Yukon Quest, Aliy was at home turning in the Iditarod Drop Bags for both teams.
We had mostly completed the bags prior to the Quest but we needed to bring home the dog jackets, fleece blankets and gloves etc from the first half of the Quest to send ahead for the Iditarod.
Once again, it took a small village to complete these bags and we sincerely thank everyone that helped us!
Our special thanks to the Earle Family: Brian, Tami, Madi and Mykena for the use of their trailer and man/woman power to load, unload and stack the bags in Fairbanks. Thanks team, we really appreciate your help!!
These bags went by road down to Anchorage then will get flown into the Iditarod checkpoints by the ‘Iditarod Airforce’ where they will be waiting for our mushers as they move through the trail.
Thanks Team!
Mykena and Madi stack the pallets
Tami wraps the pallet
This year food drops were partly subsidised by the Iditarod and we pay for the rest. We are required to ship out 1,100 pounds (50 pounds of dog food and supplies to every checkpoint) then we send out as much extra as we need out in bags weighing up to 50 pounds. This year we shipped 1,771 pounds for Aliy and 1,692 pounds for Allen, including supplies sent to Nome that mostly went in Aliy’s name.
