Iditarod 2010

[gvarsity]

Any fans? http://www.iditarod.com/

My cousin is four time winner Jeff King. His wife maintains his racing blog during the race. http://huskyhomestead.blogspot.com/

I'm really interested in how this plays out. Jeff has been really close to getting his 5th win the past couple of years. He is almost always in the hunt and between bad luck and a little gamesmanship on the trail he has come up just short the past couple of years.

I spent part of one summer with him and his family at his kennel in Alaska. Absolutely beautiful place and just amazing operation. He really knows and loves every one of those animals. I was so impressed with how well he cared for all of the dogs including those who were being retired or pups not good enough to sell as race dogs.

He spends a lot of time making sure every dog that doesn't have a place as part of the racing team goes to a good home. He won't take your money if he doesn't believe that the dog will be cared for and loved.

Those dogs love, really love to pull a sled. I remember one dog that just didn't like people not even Jeff that much but when he pulled that harness out and started walking toward her she would go ape$hit with excitement. All that dog wanted to do was run and pull a sled or in the summer a 4-wheeler in neutral.

Anyway a very interesting and different sporting event. Good luck Jeff!

[wolfandwhisky]

Wasn't active on CA during the Iditarod, but I'm a big fan.

King got kind of some bad spin in last year's Versus coverage, but he's always close.

Seems like most of the mushers are pretty much class acts, between King, Buser, Gebhart, Gatt, Ramstead, and the list goes on.

I have two huskies and they LOVE to pull, so I know what you mean. We don't put them in front of a sled (only two and we're in AZ), but we hike quite a bit and do full ganglines.

Anyways, this year was a pretty fun race, especially since the GPS was available to everyone up to the last couple of days (maybe a mistake?). Hopefully their sponsorships/donations increase next year.

Anyways, best wishes to King from AZ!