Eye on the Trail: Clarke, Gallea and Herbst

Looking down

Looking down on Gallea’s Mandatory Equipment Check

The noon whistle, not to be confused with the siren although it is the same, sounded as Trent Herbst left the burled arch heading for the dog spa behind Nome’s Iditarod Headquarters.  Clarke and Gallea dogs, having come in earlier this morning were already settled and preparing for their big flight Anchorage and then their long trip back to home to Colorado and Minnesota respectively.

Lachlan Clarke has attempted nine Iditarod runs and with coming into Nome today he’s finished six.  When he set his snow hook on Front Street this morning he gave all the credit to his leaders Starbucks and Dodger.  According to Clarke, the pair led all but two segments of the 1049 mile trail, even in the wind they were up there making steady progress.  Clearly Clarke was very pleased.  He had another uniquely beautiful dog on his line called Gapp, after Johnny Gapp.  Gapp had unusual face marking making it look like a very bad mascara day.  Another interesting note leading to a great lesson in physics and motion were the spreaders on the gang line at the insertion of the tug lines.  We all know that the smaller the angle between the tugline and the gangline, the more efficient the transfer of energy is between dogs and sled.  The spreader would serve the purpose of keeping that angle consistent and also more in line with the dog’s spine.  Hope to bump into Lachlan at the banquet tonight to ask about his theory with the harness.

Cindy Gallea has run Iditarod pretty consistently since 1998.  This is her 13th finish.  It may have been incredibly good luck that Cindy became ill at Skwentna last year and scratched before she got involved in the snowless Dalzell Gorge and the murderous Buffalo tunnels.  Waiting at the arch to welcome and celebrate with Cindy was her father and her son.  Her son, Jim is also and an Iditarod veteran.  Cindy grew up on a farm where she had the great pleasure of experiencing the out-of-doors and interacting with animals.  Gallea has a master’s degree in nursing and works as a nurse practitioner.  Cindy says, “I love running iditarod and I’ll always love the iditarod becuase of the joy and challenge of running dogs through Alaska and the pleasure of being part of the Iditarod family.  

Trent Herbst is a teacher who believes in alternative modes for learning and most certainly in experiential real world education.  As a fourth grade teacher in Ketchum, Idaho, Herbst involves his students in all aspect of Iditarod.  Trent needs snowshoes, the kids build snowshoes.  One year they even built a special pair to send out to Athabascan snowshoe builder, George Alberts who lives in Ruby.  Trent needs a sled, the kids do the figuring, measuring, sawing and constructing.  Trent needs meals, the kids do caloric calculations, create menu, cook, put everything in Seal-a-meal pouches and freeze it.  Trent needs booties, the kids don’t make them but they organize and pack them.  Trent needs is drop bags pack or his dog food portioned out, again the kids do the math and complete the project.  All of this is experiential hands on learning at its finest.  Getting back to Trent’s 2015 race, he finished in 65th place with a time of 13 days, 1 hour and 57 minutes.  Herbst was running Michigan musher Ed Stielstra’s puppy team.  One of Trent’s dogs was named after Iditarod Chief Veteranarian, Stu Nelson.  This morning, the vet Stu checked Stu out at the burled arch in Nome.

Physics

There’s a physics lesson here