Last Iditarod teams arrive to Ruby
RUBY, Alaska (KTUU) - The final Iditarod teams racing to Nome crossed their largest stretch between checkpoints on Friday.
The final six mushers, Justin Olnes, Matthew Failor, Calvin Daugherty, Jeff Deeter, Quince Mountain, and lastly Mike Parker, reached the 319-mile check-point of the race in Ruby on Friday.
“Mushing, you know, the highs are high but the lows are low,” Mountain, who arrived second to last in Ruby, said.
Mountain told Alaska’s News Source that his team has the power and drive to move forward. However, he is struggling because three of his female dogs are in various stages of heat.
“I was just kicking myself for not having made the decision earlier to leave a couple behind who were in heat. But, you know, they’re really good dogs and I wanted to bring them,” Mountain said. “I have to leave some dogs here just for that reason.”
Mountain currently has 13 dogs he is racing with. The minimum number of dogs a team is allowed to run with is six.
Also, at the checkpoint on Friday, was this year’s Iditarod Teacher on the trail, Maggie Hamilton. She will be traveling through the different checkpoints, via plane, during the duration of the race.
“I am blogging every day,” Hamilton said. “I am reporting back to the world of education, what is going on, and then ways they can use the race in the classroom. So, different subject areas. Math, Social studies, how they can use GPS trackers even to get through a math lesson a little differently and use the race in real-time.”
Hamilton tells Alaska’s News Source that she has been a fan of the Iditarod since she was a kid growing up in the 90s. She first fell in love with dog mushing when she watched the Disney film, “Iron Will.”
“I knew, when I started teaching, I wanted to teach my students about the race,” Hamilton said. “After my first year of teaching, my entire school then started using the race then as well.”
Hamilton said this year is special because it marks the 100th anniversary of the Serum run and due to the adjusted trail path, she gets to visit spots the serum run initially ran through.
“It’s very special. I didn’t think we would be starting in Fairbanks. I didn’t get to think I’d get to see any of the original serum run routes and to meet some of the grandchildren of the original 20 mushers ... there’s a lot of pride in these towns, and it’s fun to see that with these locals,” Hamilton said.
The next checkpoint for mushers after Ruby is 50 miles west in Galena.
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