Race Updates:   http://www.members.tripod.com/knik200/

The weather service added a severe windchill advisory to the menu as Paul, Kristy, Scott (and Anna) made their way into the halfway point of the 2009 Knik 200 Sled Dog Race around 10pm last night.  Right on schedule, their travel time indicates the exact resting period Paul had planned on the first day of racing, putting them at the back of the pack – and roughly two hours off the leaders in the race.  With a six-hour mandatory rest at the remote checkpoint of Skwentna, the teams will already be back on the trail as I write this.

Depending on the conditions, and how well Paul’ “students” are doing on their own, we may see some separation of this tight group as the teams make their way back towards the finish line this morning. As they would be departing the halfway point at the darkest part of the night, Paul had indicated that it would make it difficult to stay as close together.  Add to this, that with this amount of rest, the dogs are really amped up and wanting to stretch their legs.  This is an out and back course, so they will return on the trail that they crossed yesterday, which gives dogs and driver alike a sense of familiarity. The only risk is that with so many alternate trails crisscrossing the main race trail, it is an easy race to get sidetracked in. In past years, the Knik 200 has literally been “won” or “lost” by the front runners getting onto one of these alternate trails in the ebony hours of pre-dawn darkness.

One thing that Paul’s protégés have in their favor, will be the “scent” left on the trail by the teams that were ahead of them.  By this, I am referring to the primal path left in their wake, that only the dogs themselves are keen to.  If you ever see footage of good lead dogs, you will often see them put their nose near the ground picking out the trail like a bloodhound on the track. This scent is not even discernable to humans, save for maybe the visual indicators of seeing the sled tracks and dog prints in the snow, but for a dog team it is an olfactory GPS map. This serves to give the teams in the rear a course to follow.  All this gives anyone but the leader an advantage in the race, and works beautifully unless the team ahead of you had the misfortune to get sidetracked on one of those alternate trails. Then you may have a couple of teams going in circles until they get their bearings straight.

Paul has always said that the most important thing to remember is to “trust the dogs”.  In one mid distance race he ran early in his career, he was the second musher out of the half way point, with a team that by all accounts looked to cannibalize the competition on the second half of the race and take the lead. Being new to the race, and Paul was not entirely familiar with the area at the time. The team was charging down the trail and fluidly wound around a corner, obviously following the scent of the team that was ahead of them.  However, Paul noticed that with the way that the trail markers were set out, that the trail suggested a path going straight, not taking the 90 degree corner. He stopped the team, and pulled them back to follow the marked race course.  The dogs did not agree with this too much, because they knew where the team ahead of them had gone, but they obliged Paul. 

In pitch darkness, Paul kept traveling with the team, unbeknownst to him that the third place team behind him had experienced the same thing – and had also pulled his team off of the corner to follow Paul on the “marked” race course. At that time, this race really only marked the corners, and there would be long stretches of straight trail that would not have any markers to go by.  So for some length of time, Paul and the third place musher ran their teams in the wrong direction. Paul kept feeling like something wasn’t right, so he elected to turn his team around.  He then encountered the third place musher who felt equally perplexed.  Together, they two mushers made their way back towards the last known trail markers to try and figure out what was wrong. Just as they were arriving, they could see what would be the fourth place musher at the corner – moving the trail markers back to the PROPER location to guide the teams around the 90 degree corner. (This musher was the one who had originally helped to put the trail in before the race, and when he saw the situation as he arrived at that corner, he knew that someone ahead of him had moved the trail markers. He was putting the markers back as they should have been.) The distance was such, that Paul and the third place team couldn’t talk to the musher fixing the trail until they all reached the next checkpoint.  When they finally all got together, everyone but the first place musher (who was, not surprisingly, vague and evasive when approached on the matter) were on the same page. I will say that although anyone could have moved those trail markers, I think you would agree that the likely hood of someone being out at about 5am on a Sunday morning at 20below in a remote section of trail with the knowledge of how a sled dog race trail course is usually marked, really narrows the field of candidates.

While he could have filed a grievance against that musher (who ultimately went on to “win” the race) the end result in that scenario is that Paul learned some valuable lessons. Foremost was that had he trusted his dogs, they would have carried him on the right path. He also learned about the intrinsic value of having the trust of the dogs.  Turning them around made them question his judgment, and he knows that they need to trust him implicitly for a victory to be on the table. He also learned that despite his anger and frustration over the situation, he needs to maintain a level head.  Dog teams are incredibly intuitive. They will sense if the musher is faking an upbeat attitude. They are absolutely mimetic of the musher on the sled as well, and their performance reflects this. If I were to define any single greatest element that Paul has developed that impacts his competitiveness today over that incident more than a decade ago, is an almost deliberate sense of calm and reassurance. In the words of William Ernest Henley (1849-1903 from the poem Invictus) “In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance,  My head is bloody, but unbowed.”  Paul has learned how to overcome adversity and make the most out of the circumstances while keeping a level head.

I have faith that on the final miles of their journey in the this year’s Knik 200, the teams will have safe and hopefully – uneventful – passage. They are all three driving an incredible group of dogs. Paul intended to try some new leaders in rotation, but I am guessing he left the starting line with Lieutenant and Thor in front. Kristy had iron man Houston leading her team.  While the rookie of the team, Scott, had the powerhouses of Bear and Marshall in his lineup. Every team from our kennel had a mixture of tried and true veteran dogs, as well as yearlings that are training.  Stay tuned for future updates.  I will profile the individual dogs again this year, which seemed to be a very popular element last year.

I have included the link (at the top) to the Knik 200 website. I expect to see the first place musher to cross the finish line sometime after 8am this morning.  It is roughly an eight-hour run from the halfway point back for the teams that are pushing to win.  With our group’s departure time from the halfway, they will be approaching the finish line as the sun escapes the horizon later today on this cold, dark winter morning.

Until later - Life is a journey, enjoy the ride! Evy