SPK Dog Log

Over the course of the Iditarod all of you wonderful SPKDogLog supporters and fans will have your chance to take home one of five toy “Iditarod Dogs”: ‘Willow’, ‘Anvik’, ‘Kaltag’, ‘Koyuk’ or ‘Quesadilla”.

Willow, Anvik, Kaltag and Koyuk rode in each of the SP Kennel sleds during the ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday – Willow and Kaltag with Aliy, Anvik and Koyuk with Allen. They also attended the starting banquet and bib draw on Thursday evening.

As their respective musher reaches each of the namesake checkpoints we will give you a chance to win! As you know, Willow is the home of the restart so to win her simply email us your name and address to spkdoglog@gmail.com before midnight (Alaska time) on Tuesday, 5th March and we’ll draw the lucky winner’s name out of a hat. Good luck!

Quesadilla, one of Taco’s litter-mates, will ride the entire race with Aliy in her sled and we will run a special competition at the end of the race to win him.

Here are some pictures from earlier today at the Iditarod Restart at Willow Lake.

L-R: The start chute; Aliy with her leaders Quito and Beemer as Aliy’s dad Doug looks on

L-R: Aliy has a quiet moment with her Iditarod rookie Mac; Ray and Meghan change the sled runners on Aliy’s sled; Chica, Olivia, Puppet and Scruggs await their pre-race salmon snack

L-R: Allen’s packed racing sled; Viper has some words of wisdom for rookie Clyde

L-R:the Black Team gets their microchips checked by the vet team, the Black Team line-up

L-R: Red and Black teams in the starting chute

We got the teams safely on their way to Nome this sunny, warm afternoon at Willow Lake.

Aliy and the Red Team, lead by Quito and Beemer left the starting chute at 2.50pm. The team walked beautifully behind Aliy from the truck, through the staging area up to the line with several handlers guiding them but once they got on the line and the count-down started they were lunging and screaming ready to go (except Nacho, because he is “too cool for school”). Aliy looked ready for her 1049 mile journey also – her answer to someone who yelled “I hope you win” was “I’ll do my best, how’s that?”

Allen and the Black Team also showed off how beautifully behaved SP Kennel dogs are with their walk through the staging area but again, once they were on the line they were absolutely ready to get going! I.V. and Sissy were nearly jumping out of their skin! Allen is excited about running this team made up of a mixture of inexperience and wisdom – from Clyde, I.V, Chemo, Fang and Schmoe in their very first Iditarod to Tatfish and Spicy running their sixth. He believes it to be a really talented team and his goal is to get them all to Nome, happy and healthy. He will run an entirely different run/rest schedule than Aliy to accommodate his inexperienced crew.

We are now all following the race the same way you are… hitting the refresh on the Iditarod Insider GPS and videos and relying on other news agencies for snippets. We will do our best to bring you the latest about our teams on the trail as soon as possible.

This is it! 32 of SP Kennel’s best canine athletes set off from Willow Lake this afternoon and we don’t see them again until Nome. Here are the final teams… Click here to see the full roster page.

Beemer and Quito will lead Aliy and the Red Team out – along with Olivia, Scout, Scruggs, Rambler, Boondocks, Nacho, Puppet, Mac, Chica, Dingle, Waylon, Willie, Biscuit and Tug.

Viper and Honda will lead Allen and the Black Team out – along with I.V., Sissy, Kipper, Spicy, Scooter, Lester, Schmoe, Chemo, Clyde, Fang, Moxie, Pud, Bonita and Tatfish.

Go Teams!!

I was the luckiest person in the world today as I got to ride on Aliy’s tag sled during the Ceremonial start for the Iditarod so I took some video to share with you all! I thought you would enjoy seeing the run from Aliy’s point of view.

You can see just how many people were out on the streets today cheering her on (and you can also see how misty it was on 4th Avenue then once we got out of the downtown area the sun came out!)

Allen and the Black team left 4th Avenue, Anchorage this morning at 11.32am in the Iditarod Ceremonial start. His team for the 12 mile run through downtown was Viper, Honda, Spicy, Pud, Kipper, I.V. Ranger, Spoog, Bonita, Moxie, Tatfish and Fang.

(Photo credits: Jennifer)

It was (mostly) sunny and around freezing, if not above, in Anchorage this morning for the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod 41! Both Red and Black teams took 12 dogs from their “squad” on the 12 mile route (each musher must provide a squad of dogs of which they can choose 12 for the ceremonial start and up to 16 for the re-start on Sunday).

Aliy and her Red team of Beemer, Quito, Olivia, Rambler, Boondocks, Nacho, Chica, Mac, Dingle, Scruggs, Biscuit and Willie left 4th Avenue at 10.50am with her Idita-rider in her sled and Moira travelling along behind on the tag-sled. The route was lined with thousands of people waving and cheering all the mushers on and dedicated volunteers manning road crossings and intersections.

Allen and the Black team of Viper, Honda, Spicy, Pud, Kipper, I.V. Ranger, Spoog, Bonita, Moxie, Tatfish and Fang left 42 minutes later with his Idita-rider in his sled and Meghan riding the tag sled behind. Pics of the Black team and some video from the day coming asap…

Final team rosters will be posted on Sunday morning – they are not finalised yet!

Allen Moore and the SP Kennel Black Team have started the Iditarod Ceremonial Run!