Boreal Access

From the Anchorage Daily News Website:

Iditarod history repeats itself: Mackey wins 4th straight

Long-run strategy pays off again for Mackey and his dogs

By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com

Published: March 17th, 2010 12:08 AM
Last Modified: March 17th, 2010 12:08 AM

BOB HALLINEN / Anchorage Daily News

Lance Mackey wins his fourth consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race pulling in under the burled arch on Front Street Tuesday afternoon March 16, 2010 in Nome. Mackey dogs Rev, left, and Maple wear the rose garland under the arch.

NOME — Lance Mackey, stripped to long underwear and a knee brace, scanned the innards of the White Mountain city hall refrigerator, looking for grub.

“What else you got?” asked the Fairbanks musher, who had just widened his lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and was hours from his fourth straight victory Tuesday in Nome.

“Hot dogs,” said a race volunteer. Mackey approved. He’d have two, slathered in mayonnaise, along with a paper plate stacked with fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn.

Mackey always had drive. Now, resting at a mandatory village pit stop 77 miles from the Nome finish line, he just needed fuel. Under the parka and the snowsuit and the blue jacket with the ripped left sleeve, the most dominant musher of his time is a thin rope of muscle, scar tissue and sinew who looks more like a trucker or heavy metal roadie than a world-class athlete.

But that’s just what he is — declaring his dominance once again with a 65-minute win over his closest competitor Tuesday afternoon in Nome to earn a $50,400 paycheck, a Dodge truck and another chapter in the mushing mythology.

“I had seven dogs who would go to the end of the earth for me, and nine more who would try,” Mackey said at the finish line. “I’ve got a lot of young superstars and a bright future with them.” (Click here to read the full article).

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 28 seconds longer than today!!!

I took today off from work to get organized at home after Mush for a Cure and part of the organizing was putting away dog sleds. As recently as Friday, we could still run sleds on the trails around here. We came home on Sunday late morning on snowmobile on a trail that were getting pretty bare in spots and a yard that looked like this…

Needless to say, I came out on ATV last night. It still is pretty tough rooting, but give it a week and we might be able to get around. We’ll keep everyone posted to the conditions of the trails. We are at least a month earlier than last year with our snow melt. Bruce and Cristy, we might just see you the end of the month. Calvin would like to see you before he goes up for sale…

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 30 seconds longer than today!!!

The 2010 Mush for a Cure is in the books. Between pledges the participants raised and the monies raised in the Bald, Brave and Beautiful(?) competition, the MINIMUM we will be writing a check to the National Breast Cancer Foundation is…

$28,000!

We were a little conservative in our goal for this year with the state of the economy, but our mushers came through once again.

Jessica Berg-Collman of Grand Marais raised $10,000 on her own. She was running in honor of her log-rolling mentor, Jenny Atkinson (pictured above). 36-year-old, 8-time world champion log-roller and boom-runner,  Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer in December.

Sue’s idea of the head shaving competition brought in $4600 on it’s own. Now we’re wondering how we can top that next year. I say Mark should be one of the ones whose hair is on the chopping block, but he says no way. C’mon folks I think we should shame him into it. We can start raising money now for next year!

On Thursday afternoon I went out on the trail with Bob Baker and Sue Prom and we decided that we couldn’t safely put 40 sled teams and 12 skijor teams on the small portion of the trail that still had some snow on it. Late Thursday afternoon we announced that all events would go on as planned except for the mushing. At our final planning meeting, we discussed things we could do to fill in the time and came up with an idea for a relay race through the campground at Gunflint Pines. When I walked into the lodge at the Pines on Friday morning, Bob Baker was standing at the front desk with the course with six stations “dog chore” stations all lined out: 1. Push a sled 2. Change straw in a dog house 3. Scoop poop 4. Weight training (for lifting heavy buckets 5. Fill a water bucket through a hole drilled in Gunflint Lake and 6. Run the bucket up the hill to the finish line where you had to water your dogs (your teammates). We didn’t know how it was going to be received but it went over so well that people want to do it again next year. We’ve already discussed that we’ll make it more “spectator” friendly by having it on the lake for all to watch.

What a weekend. Thank you to everyone for being such good sports and letting Mother Nature know that we weren’t going to let a lack of snow stop us from having fun and raising money for breast cancer. Thank you to our sponsors, volunteers and everyone who made this years event successful. Mark your calendars now for March 11 and 12th for the 2011 Mush for a Cure!

I’m not under the weather really, but Mush for a Cure is under a weather watch. It’s too early to call up the Gunflint Trail to check in with Trail Boss Bob Baker to see what Mother Nature did up there last night. Here in downtown Grand Marais, it rained. As I’ve been saying all week, it is what it is, there isn’t anything we can do about it so we’ll deal with it, and no matter what, have a great time while raising money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The organiziners are having our final pre-event meeting tonight and at that time we’ll make our decision as to what to do about the dog running portion of MFAC. The rest of the events will go off as planned!

GET YOUR PINK ON…MUSH FOR A CURE 2010 WILL BE HELD ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, MARCH 12TH AND 13TH FRIDAY, MARCH 12TH (all activities are at Trail Center Lodge)

5:00 – 8:00 p.m.: Pre-Registration for the mushers that are in town and have their pledges ready. Registration coordinator Phyllis and her crew would appreciate pre-registering as many teams as possible on Friday night. That way she and her volunteers aren’t rushing to tally at the last minute and you won’t have to stand outside the fish house on Saturday! 

5:00 – 7:00 p.m.: Cut For a Cure Andrea Peterson from Studio 61 Hair in Grand Marais is back with chair and shears. Haircuts are $10 each with monies going to Mush For a Cure! 

5:00 – 8:00 p.m.: Pink Pasta Party open to the general public wanting to meet the mushers running on Saturday that are in town and available on Friday night. Cost $6.00, MFAC participants eat free! 

5:00 – 9:00 p.m.: The Bald, The Brave and The Beautiful(?) Competition. We have a few brave souls that are willing to literally “put their heads on the line” by having their heads shaved if enough money is raised! There are two competitions going on at once…the man who raises the most money in each competition gets to “take it all off” (their hair that is). You don’t have to wait until Friday night, send in your vote now. Make your check out to Mush For a Cure and put in the memo “BBB and the name of the guy you would MOST LIKE TO SEE HAVE THEIR HEAD SHAVED. The contestants are: 

Ring #1
Cook County Sheriff, MARK “I Don’t Want to be a Cueball” FALK
vs.
Chief Deputy, LEIF “Remind Me Again, Why I Said I’d Do This” LUNDE 

Ring #2
Gunflint Trail VFD Chief MIKE “Good Thing I Sleep With My Hat On“ PROM
vs.
Deputy Chief, BOB “I’m Good Looking Enough, I Don’t Need Hair” BAKER  

8:00 – 10:00 p.m.: NEW THIS YEAR…Pink Prom!!!!!!! at 8:00 there will be a Grand March for everyone who wishes to attend The Pink Prom. We’ll have a band playing music as an appetizer to Saturday night’s Finisher’s Party. 

9:00 p.m.: Pink Prom King and Queen Crowning come and see who is most popular in pink and voted King and Queen. While the royalty is enjoying their victory dance, the Bald, Brave and Beautiful monies will be tallied. (King and Queen get “first shave” on the heads of the BB & B competitors) 

9:30 p.m.: The Bald, The Brave and The Beautiful HEAD SHAVING!!!! If enough money is raised, all BB&B participants will have their heads shaved with he who raises the most monies sporting a PINK MOHAWK for the rest of the evening. 

SATURDAY, MARCH 13TH 

9:00 a.m. – 11:00: Musher check-in/Registration and Pancake Breakfast at Gunflint Pines. 

10:00 a.m.: Skijor Start at the Cross River on the Gunflint Trail and finish at Gunflint Pines. 

11:00 a.m.: Musher Meeting on Gunflint Lake (location TBA). 

12:00 noon: Sled Team Mass Sourdough Start on Gunflint Lake.

Noon-3:00: Opportunities to see the dog teams along the trail. Suggested sites: Start: Gunflint Pines, Gunflint Resort. Along the trail: Gunflint Lake boat landing, Iron Lake Access, Old Gunflint Trail (both west and east ends) Poplar Lake: Windigo Lodge, Nor’wester Lodge and the finish at Trail Center Lodge. 

2:00-5:00: Finish at Trail Center Teams coming into the finish line at Trail Center Lodge. Finishers bonfire, hot dog/marshmallow roast and party tent sponsored by Sarah and the gang at Trail Center Lodge. 

5:00-6:00?ish: Awards/Prizes Prize selection to largest pledge collector(s) in order, and fun trophies for special awards at the big tent on Poplar Lake in front of Trail Center 

7-10:00: Finishers Dance Hang out on the Gunflint Trail for a great time with Sarah and the gang at Trail Center and your mushing friends and dance the night away to Cook County’s Most Wanted: Rod ‘n Real!

I can’t believe that people would think we would cancel the 2010 Mush for a  Cure! Just because there isn’t much snow left on the trail doesn’t mean that we still can’t have an awesome event. As Sue Prom said yesterday when we were walking into WTIP for an on-air interview, “he*# no, you think they are going to cancel breast cancer?” Well said Sue! Here is our interview with Mary Manning and Julie Bishop yesterday.

Sue and Mary’s WTIP interview 3-9-10

Trail Boss Bob Baker has assured us that we will have a trail. As of yesterday morning, the trail was intact. Now we know Mother Nature may think it’s spring, but we’re going to try to fight her on that for three more days. If we have to, Sue and I along with all the organizers might be leaving the prom and heading out with shovels in hand working on the trail.

So, get your pink on, come up the Gunflint Trail and have some fun!

 

MEMO

To: Mother Nature

From: The organizers/sponsors/participants/volunteers and spectators of Mush for a Cure

Dear Ms. Nature:

The Mush for a Cure runs are scheduled to take place this Saturday. Everyone involved with the event asks that you please cool the daytime temperatures in Northeastern Minnesota to below freezing, don’t allow rain and possibly even bring us some snow for it. We promise to raise a lot of money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, wear our best pink outfits and have a lot of fun in exchange. Just four more days and on Sunday, March 14th, bring on the warm temperatures and spring.

Sincerely,

Mush for a Cure

 

We are home from a whirlwind weekend in Ely for the Wolf Track Classic. We ran the dogs down to the truck  on Saturday morning around 11:00 and made it to Ely sometime around 2:00 for our vet check. Everyone checked out OK. The temperature on Saturday in Ely was pushing 50 degrees which meant snow was melting fast. The Ely area had been missed by a couple of the big snowfalls that we had here so their trails were deteriorating fast. Friday night at the pre-race banquet the organizers announced that the 6-dog teams were going to be leaving the starting chute on Sunday morning at 1-minute intervals instead of two. That was great news to Tara and me as we were bib numbers 31 and 32 which put on on (and more importantly) off the trail a half hour earlier.

Sunday morning found us up a 5:30 dropping and watering dogs in 25 degrees. Thankfully it had cooled off over night to preserve what little snow was left on the trail. We got to the staging around around 7:30 and after unloading the sleds off the top of the truck and getting them ready for our mandatory bag check, it started getting warm again. In the last hour or so before our start, we slowly took off layer after layer until we were down to what we were racing in. At the last minute on Saturday I packed three Hawaiian shirts so I threw one on to wear during the run. Tara found a pair of pink shorts on clearance at Wintergreen on Saturday so she donned her shorts, long underwear and tennis shoes for racing togs.

We had been told on Saturday that the first 15 miles (of the 28 mile) trail “were the worst” and after going through Bearhead State Park we’d have snow from there to the finish. Well, the first few miles of the trail could be described as icy/slushy and after that, there were stretches of maybe no more than a 1/2 mile that had good snowcover with the rest of the trail being either, mud, dirt, rock, or ice. Even though the trail conditions were less than ideal, the dogs did awesome. I had 10-year-old Tucson leading with Carstenz followed by Bree, Worf, Murphy and Mons. Worf, Murph and Mons had never been in the truck before so this was a big deal for them. With my old-lady lead dog and three youngsters, we were really happy with our 7th place finish (Click here for the full 2010 Wolf Track results) and we were only 33 seconds behind the 6th place team!

Tara and her team of Denali, Athena, Rose, Lily, Calvin and Spock (the last four had never been in the truck before) were having a great run too. They even passing me about a 1/2 hour after the start when I stopped to let the dogs cool off for a few seconds to bite snow. I stayed behind her for a while and passed her back before the 1/2-way point where she held with me for quite a while but when I passed a team I didn’t see her again. I was hoping all was going well, but it turns out she had to put Calvin in the sled about ten miles from the finish. Had she not had to carry him, I’m sure she would have beat my time handily, but she still managed to finish in 11th place. Tara did awesome for her first race on less-than-ideal trail conditions and we are sooooo happy she’s coming back in the fall. Since we are switching our focus away from the Beargrease Marathon, we’re planning on putting her young, athletic body on the runners of the Varsity Team in mid-distance races next year!

Unfortunately for the race, the trail conditions were derteriorating by the minute and they had to cancel the 10-dog event that was scheduled to start yesterday evening. It was a difficult decision for the organizers I’m sure, but the safety and welfare of the dogs was their first priority. This was an awesome race and the organization, communities, and volunteers involved in with the race are top-notch. We had a ton of fun so Joe and Barb, we’ll definately be back again! Hopefully next time though it will really be the Wolf Track Classic SLED dog race.

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 3 mintues and 27 seconds longer than today!!!

By this time next week, my feet will be sore from dancing at Mush For a Cure’s Pink Prom on Friday night and the Finisher’s Dance on Saturday night. Not to mention all the running around that will be done on Friday prepping for the big event on Saturday. One of the funnest things that Sue dreamed up this year is the Bald, Brave and Beautiful(?) competition where four local (somewhat) celebrities are putting their “heads on the line” by having their heads shaved if enough money is raised! There are two competitions going on at once…the man who raises the most money in each competition gets to “take it all off” (their hair that is). You don’t have to wait until Friday night, send in your vote now. Make your check out to Mush For a Cure and put in the memo “BBB and the name of the guy you would MOST LIKE TO SEE HAVE THEIR HEAD SHAVED. The contestants are:

Ring #1
Cook County Sheriff, MARK “I Don’t Want to be a Cueball” FALK
vs.
Chief Deputy, LEIF “Remind Me Again, Why I Said I’d Do This” LUNDE

Ring #2
Gunflint Trail VFD Chief MIKE “Good Thing I Sleep With My Hat On“ PROM
vs.
Deputy Chief, BOB “I’m Good Looking Enough, I Don’t Need Hair” BAKER

Shhhh, don’t tell them but these guys don’t know that if enough money is raised, we will have ALL their heads shaved!

We’re off to the races…The Wolf Track Classic to be precise. Tara and I will be running the 30-mile/6-dog race. We’re taking experienced leaders and youngsters. Tara’s team is: Athena and Denali in lead and Spock, Calvin, Rose and Lily. Did you see that Aunty Cristy? CALVIN IS DOING A RACE! My team consists of Old Lady/Princess Tucson and Carstenz in lead followed by Bree, Worf, Murphy and Mons. The biggest worry of the weekends is the warm temperatures. It is already 35 degrees here at 7:00 a.m. and the forecast is calling for highs near 50 both today and tomorrow. Thankfully our race starts at 9:00 so we should be off the trail no later than 1:00 depending upon what time we start. You can catch the results on the Wolf Track website.

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 27 seconds longer than today!!!

Correction: I guess I mis-reported that the Mens Journal article was only published on their website and was not in the printed magazine. Guess I was wrong and it IS in there. So pick up the latest copy and you’ll see a photo of Mark and our dogs and a photo of Mike Prom chopping firewood.

I mentioned in Monday’s post “ Also turns out that it was a beatiful day for face a plant for Jessica (video coming tomorrow).” Well that video didn’t come on Tuesday as I didn’t have time to upload the video to YouTube until last night. It’s a good thing that Jessica is running a dog team on a sled and isn’t skijoring…

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 27 seconds longer than today!!!

It’s been two years since Mark and good friend Mike Dvorak shuttled a crew of guys into the Boundary Waters for a long weekend of winter camping on Ottertrack Lake. One of the crew was Gustav Axelson, editor of Minnesota’s Conservation Volunteer Magazine. Gus, as he’s known, also does freelance work, was writing an article for Men’s Journal magazine comparing synthetic winter camping gear of today with that of natural fibers of yester-year. Originally the article was to be published sometime in the fall of 2008, but due to cutbacks at the magazine, it was pushed back to spring of 2009, then the fall, then…to where the article didn’t make the print of the magazine but it is on the Men’s Journal website:

Winter Camping Goes Retro

Wed, Feb 24, 2010

Swearing off high-tech synthetics for cotton, canvas, and a fat stove, a growing cult of “snow walkers” harks back to an era of cold-weather fun — and keeps plenty warm. By Gustave Axelson Photographs by Colin Clark  

Our crew of three scurried to stash three growlers of India pale ale into two dogsleds already bulging with gear. My sled bucked forward as I wedged one of them between duffel bags — the dogs were about to depart whether we were ready or not. As soon as the lead musher stepped aboard, the dogs dashed us away from the chaos of our staging area in the outfitter’s parking lot and the only sound was the shush-ing of sled runners on fresh snow. Soon we had crossed the nonmotorized threshold into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, where the trail emptied out into a wide-open 17,000-acre ice-covered lake. The wind froze my eyelashes as I nuzzled deeper into the hood of my anorak. Click here for link to the whole article…..