SPK Dog Log

Over the past weekend the Alaska Dog Mushers Assoc in Fairbanks hosted the Open North American Championship Sled Dog Race. This is three day sprint race attacting entries from all over Alaska and international competitors from Canada. On the first two days the teams race a 19.8 mile circuit and on the final day the route is 26.9 miles.

L-R: Aliy (middle, standing) helps with split timing at one of the checkpoints; sprint team sprints by

Aliy and Allen went along to watch and even helped with the timing crew! It was great to see different kind of racing; Boy, do those dogs go FAST! Allen’s mushing roots are in sprint racing but Aliy has not had the opportunity to ever see this race because she has often still been in Nome after the Iditarod. The timing of the races this year made it possible to go see it.

L-R: Start line, sprinting through the field

Congrats to Salcha’s Arleigh Reynolds who successfully defended his championship title.

Congratulations to the DRYDEN FAMILY of Oregon who won Sunday’s Dog Fan Club draw.

The Dryden Family are fans of RAMBLER and win one of Aliy’s Nome Drop Sacks along with a few other goodies.

The next and final fan club draw is next week – March 30th. The names of everyone who hasn’t already won and all new members will be in the draw.

After that we close Dog Fan Club Membership for the season and it will open again next season.

Rambler enjoying a sunny afternoon at home

Click the button below for instructions on how to join:

Click this button below to take you directly to the Dog Fan Page.

This video is from the second day on Iditarod 2014.

This video is from the first day on Iditarod 2014.

Meghan and the Red & Black team are racing the “Percy” next week!

The Percy DeWolfe Memorial Mail Race began in 1977 as a way to honour the legendary Percy DeWolfe, who carried mail by dog team, horse and boat between Dawson City in the Yukon and Eagle in Alaska from 1910 to 1949.

The race is 210 miles (338 km) starting in Dawson City and following the Yukon River to Eagle and back. There is a mandatory six hour layover in Eagle, plus an additional two hours in either Fortymile or Eagle. It starts on Thursday, March 27 at 10am.

Meghan will take nine teammates and we will post a race roster closer to the time. Josh is handling for Meghan but it is a fairly “hands-off” race for handlers as they can’t go to either checkpoint so he will have limited opportunity to bring us race news.

More soon!

The first leg of our journey home ended when the dogs and crew arrived safe and sound in Anchorage. The whole crew stayed at our home away from home at Clarion Suites then yesterday we went our separate ways – we said farewell to Mickey and Doug as they headed back to Florida and the trucks headed up the Parks Highway for home.

Margie at her yard in Wasilla

Meghan picked up Biscuit, Boris, Chemo, Dingle, Schmoe, Scooter, Scout, Scruggs and Tatfish from Margie’s and we were excited to see them! They’ve been having a great time there and have been so well looked after. Thanks Margie!

We arrived home to a few inches of fresh snow and a yard full of puppies and the rest of the grown-ups eager to see us and us, them!

Olivia and Pud enjoying being home

We wanted to say a big thank you to the city of Nome. The local businesses were very generous and the people so kind and friendly. Huge thanks also to Wes and Wendy who took care of everyone back here at the kennel; it was good to know they were in such good hands. We appreciate you so much!

We are going to take a few days to unpack, regroup and relax and get back to spring training which includes harnessing the puppies and stretching out the Iditarod dogs. There’s also a couple more races on the calendar! We have lots to look forward to on the doglog including “Aliy Cam” from this year’s Iditarod.

For those of you in Iditarod-Withdrawal, here are some links to a few more articles.

Aliy did a Q&A with Julia O’Malley of the Anchorage Daily News. Click the pic below to link.

Emily Schwing from KUAC wrote this article for KTOO.org (click pic below to link).

This Alaska Dispatch article talks about the dogs and how they fared during this year’s race (click pic below to link).

Precious cargo has just left Nome bound for Anchorage!

The dogs are in their individual kennels flying to Anchorage as you read this where Allen, Mickey and Doug are waiting to pick them up. Meghan flew out about the same time as the dogs so will be there soon and Aliy, Moira and Bridgett will follow tonight after packing up the rest of the gear.

Mac-sized kennels and Boondocks-sized kennels and everything in between

Wrapping and loading precious cargo

Thanks to the team at Everts Air Cargo who took such great care with our friends to make sure they are safe and secure for their flight to Anchorage.

Thanks also to the wonderful volunteer team at the dog lot in Nome. It was such a comfort to know you were there 24 hours a day to keep an eye on our friends; replace blankets that blew away in the breeze, plump up straw and give them a kiss or two. You all did an awesome job and we can’t thank you enough.

Aliy with long time Nome dog lot volunteer and SP Kennel sponsor Deb Davis (Deb and Hunter sponsor Shiner and Spark)