The Incredible Sled Dog – Jessie Holmes’ Leaders Ceremonial Start
Be it the first Saturday of March or the first Saturday of February, distance-mushing fans are in seventh heaven. In March fans are celebrating the start of Iditarod, the trek from Anchorage to Nome. In February it’s the Yukon Quest from Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory to Fairbanks. There are similarities between the races – distance, excellent dog care, demanding trail, dedicated mushers and the challenges Mother Nature offers.
On the other hand, Iditarod and Quest are as different as night and day. Many Quest checkpoints are on the road system so handlers truck to checkpoints carrying supplies for the teams. Not so with Iditarod, once the teams leave Willow, they leave the road system. Supplies must either be carried in the sled or shipped to the checkpoints. There are far fewer checkpoints that are much farther apart on the Quest trail. There’s more alone time for the mushers with their dogs in the middle of nowhere. Iditarod has one summit, Rainy Pass at 3,200 feet. The Quest has Solomon’s Dome – 4,002, American Summit – 3,420, Rosebud – 3,640 and Eagle – 3,685. By the numbers, more of the Quest is at the top of the world for beauty but with height also comes wind and weather.
Having just completed the Yukon Quest, Jessie Royer, Paige Drobny, Matt Hall and Martin Apayauq Reitan will be at the start of Iditarod XLVII on the first Saturday of March. The four mushers will have vastly differing opinions about which race is more difficult and which they prefer and why. Another question worth asking is why do both in the same year?
In the peak of his competitive mushing career, Lance Mackey ran Iditarod and Quest in the same season, not just once but multiple times. Most notably, he scored gold in both races in 2007 and also 2008.
Jodi Bailey holds bragging rights for completing her rookie run in both Quest and Iditarod in the same year. On Yukon Quest News, Bailey says, “In 2011 I made history and was the first person crazy enough to think they could run both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod back to back as a rookie. I did and it was actually one of the most amazing adventures of my life.”
Jessie Royer is a two-time Quest finisher. She placed 8th in 2017 and now two-years later claimed 9th place. Royer started mushing in Montana and enjoys the dogs and the remote lifestyle. She acquired her first sled dogs at the age of 15. She won Montana’s Race to the Sky when she was 17. Jessie moved to Alaska in 1998. She completed her rookie Iditarod in 2001 claiming Rookie of the Year honors. In 16 runs to Nome, Jessie has finished in the top ten six times. She placed 4th in 2015. Her best time came in 2017 at fifth place – 8 days, 13 hours and 8 minutes. Royer has posted Iditarod’s fastest time from Safety to Nome, earned the Humanitarian award and received the Most Inspirational Musher award. Royer won the Invitational La Grande Odyssée in France in 2005. Royer’s kennel is home to 70 huskies
Paige Drobny studied squid for her master’s degree, thus the name of the kennel she shares with husband, Cody Strathe – Squid Acres. Paige and Cody both completed the 2019 Quest as veterans. While Cody is not running Iditarod, you can bet that some of his Quest dogs will be with Paige on the Iditarod Trail. In 2016, Drobny and Strathe became the only husband and wife to run both races in the same year. Drobny has been mushing for a dozen years. She’s completed Quest three times claiming a 4th place finish in 2017. How did a Master’s Degree based on studies of Squid turn into being a musher? The Squid Acres duo acquired a few dogs from the Fairbanks. They did some skijoring and soon became hooked on the sport of mushing. Paige loves being outside, being with the dogs and testing her own and the team’s stamina in the cold. Drobny has completed Iditarod four times with her personal best finish being 25th in 2014. Squid Acres is home to 55 Huskies.
Matt Hall, who claimed 5th place in the 2019 Quest, will be at the start line for his second Iditarod on the first weekend of March. Hall who was born and raised in Eagle, AK won the Yukon Quest in 2017. He’s been running dogs since the age of two. He and his wife Amanda live off the grid in Two Rivers, Alaska and use their Alaskan Huskies in that lifestyle – hauling wood and water. Hall has completed six Yukon Quest races as a hometown favorite. He says he favors long distance racing because of the solitude and being out there deep in the wilderness with just your dogs. The bond that develops is extremely strong. His goal for racing in 2019 is to run a competitive race with a team of strong, healthy, happy canines. In 2018, after winning the Quest, Hall finished his rookie Iditarod in 11th place with a time of 10 days, 3 hours and 36 minutes. Smokin’ Aces Kennel is home to 44 Alaskan Huskies.
At the age of 22, Martin Apayauq Reitan, will attempt to join Jodi Bailey as a musher who completed rookie Quest and Iditarod races in the same season. Martin claimed 14th place in the Quest and as the highest finishing rookie, claimed Rookie of the Year honors. Can he repeat that for Iditarod? The Reitan dogs have traveled the trail from Whitehorse to Kaktovik, the Quest Trail and the Iditarod trail with extensive post Iditarod travels between Nome and Kaktovik. No question, Martin and these dogs know the North Country and how to travel long distance. When asked what he likes most about running dogs, Martin says, “Seeing amazing nature, caring for dogs, looking at dogs, petting dogs and facing varied and interesting challenges.” His goal for the Yukon Quest was to travel vast wild nature with my cutest friends and experience the Yukon Quest family from a musher’s perspective. My goal is to finish with a happy healthy team with as good a placement as I can.” Change “Quest” to “Iditarod” and those may very well be his goals for his second 1,000-mile race of the season. Martin maintains a kennel with 18 sled dogs.
How, you might ask, do these sled dogs do what they do – train for 3,000 miles and run the Quest followed by Iditarod a couple of weeks later? In an article published by the American Physiological Society, sled dogs are referred to as premier ultra-endurance competitors. In the article, Dr. Mike Davis of the Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences explains their superior performance abilities saying, “Sled dogs rapidly adapt to exercise and endurance; sled dogs have an enormous aerobic endurance and sled dogs use a high fat diet to fuel exercise.” Davis calls sled dogs “one of a kind athletes.” That’s how they do it!
