Yukon Quest

For the past week and a half the local news has been swamped with information about the Yukon Quest, the 1000 mile international dog mushing race that alternates it's start and finish lines each year between Whitehorse, Yukon and Fairbanks, Alaska.  This year the racers started in Whitehorse and  finished in Fairbanks and the first place musher finished last night at about 11:30pm.  I had every intention of braving the elements and cheering on the finisher but it was -38 last night and extremely cold so  Gatsby and I stayed snuggled up tight and watched the live tracker on the website.  This years race has been extremely dramatic with one of the teams falling into a river and another racer had to help them out (don't worry, all of the dogs and mushers were okay!) and this year there was only one dog that passed away during the race.  There is a vet that is at each of the rest stops along the way to help make sure that the dogs are doing okay but understandably so, going 1000 miles in extreme temperatures there are dogs that won't make it.  I decided that since I will be in the Bahamas for the start of the  Iditarod on March 5, 2011 I should brave the elements and cheer on the last musher as she crosses the line.

-Me EXTREMELY cold in -30 degree weather, not appropriately dressed at all.

Here they come!!

This is what a Musher wears to go 1000 miles on a dog sled

At the finish line they fed the dogs frozen fish to eat as treats

One of the vets

I think this dog knows that I will spoil it rotten and it wants to come home with me :)

 
All in all everyone seemed in good spirits, the dogs looked extremely thin and ready for a good night of sleep but it is incredible seeing these animals cross the finish line doing the job that they have been trained to do.  While I don't think mushing is in my future, I definitely enjoyed being one of the few people who braved the cold to cheer on the final racer.