Iditarod team attends dry-land mushing event

By Danny Bay

Veteran mushers of Iditarod, the 11,000-mile race across Alaska will attend Buena Vista’s annual dry-land mushing race on Nov. 14 and 15.

The event will welcome spectators, first-time racers, seasoned mushers and pros like Linda and Lachlan Clarke, who, in March, will again race from Anchorage to Nome with their team of dogs. It will be their sixth Iditarod.

“It’s kind of unique for Buena Vista to have an Iditarod team,” said Linda Clarke, enrollment coordinator of Adventures Unlimited. “More people have climbed Mount Everest than have done Iditarod.”

The Clarkes are currently training 36 dogs for this year’s Iditarod. Linda Clarke said they will take about 28 dogs to Montana later in the season for additional training and of those, 16 will make the team.

“We are blessed with a lot of dogs who love to lead,” Clarke said. “But we will find out if they want to lead under pressure.”

According to Clarke, their dogs are currently under a training schedule that involves pulling ATVs up to 20 miles a day, three to four times a week. By the end of the month they’ll be doing 30 miles by ATVs. But the 80-mile runs will likely separate the dogs that are still pulling strong from those who have lost interest.

“We put about 2,000 miles of training in before Iditarod and after about 1,500 miles some dogs aren’t interested,” Clarke said. “As long as they’re happy, pulling and eating, we will continue to train them. But we never want to make a dog do anything it doesn’t want to do.”

The retired dogs that don’t make the team are often given away or sold to people with an active lifestyle, which suits the dogs well, Clarke said.

Due to the training that the dogs are currently undergoing, Clarke said that they won’t compete in the dry-land race because they think their dogs deserve their days off, which fall on Saturday and Sunday, the days of the dry-land races.

“Just like any athlete, we want to keep them enthusiastic and happy,” Clarke said.
But both Linda and Lachlan Clarke will be at the dry-land race, which Linda said is a great place to learn about feeding, training and mushing in general.

“I think you’ll see a lot of sprint dogs. It’s very competitive. But there will also be a lot of people with new dogs. So you’ll see a bit of everything and that’s what is great about this event. It’s competitive and fun and open to anyone.”

Sponsored by the Colorado Mountain Mushers, the dry-land competition will have a variety of races, such as the 1.2-mile canicross, which involves harnessing one or two dogs and running behind them. Other options include a 2.7-mile scooter, bikejor or canicross course with variable trail conditions for more competitive people, and a small team cart race, which is limited to four dogs.

“Dry-land is sort of a celebration that goes on prior to the real races and the training before hand,” said Colorado Mountain Mushers member Judy Wait. “And it’s a very fun way to do some exercise with your pet.”

Wait, who does not own a dog, said she just enjoys seeing how happy the dogs are to race with their owners. “My personal belief is that all dogs love a job, whether it’s going to get the paper or mushing, and these ones just love to run. The teamwork and the happiness, that’s what I like,” she said.

To this, Linda Clarke agrees and said there is a special relationship with her and her teammates. “I don’t know any kind of animal that can run 11,000 miles and love every second of it without having a strong relationship. These dogs are phenomenal athletes. They’re travelers. Every turn, every mountain. They just love to see what’s next. They’re very personable and it comes from their heart.”

DRY-LAND INFO:

On the days of the dry-land races there will be a mushers meeting at 8:30 a.m. and the competitions begin shortly after that.

The Clarkes will give a special presentation at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14 at the Valerie Lodge at Adventures Unlimited. This will include slides, movies and more from the race across Alaska. “It’s a great chance to visit with some of our dogs,” Linda Clarke said.

IDITAROD FUN FACTS:

• The Clarke’s Iditarod budget: $32,000
• They send out about 2,000 lbs of supplies to 22 checkpoints around the trail
• An average day consists of 100-125 miles
• The dogs run their best between 10 degrees and 10 below
• The dogs eat between 12,000-15,000 calories a day during the race, which is more than what Lance Armstrong eats a day during the Tour de France.
• More info at www.teamclarkeusa.com


(Originally published in The Chaffee County Times)