musher portrait iditarod
Photo by Jeff Schultz/SchultzPhoto.com (C) 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESVERVED
At 12:34 am on March 3rd, Jeff King’s Husky Homestead Facebook page posted the following:
“We had a great time at the Iditarod event last night at the Beartooth Theatre Pub & Grill!! Thank you to everyone who came out to join us!
Shortly after the event ended, Jeff began to not feel very well and headed to the hospital with some abdominal pain. After a long evening and a successful emergency surgery for a perforated intestine (along with an incarcerated hernia), he is recovering and being very well taken care of by the excellent staff at Providence Health & Services Alaska”
In a matter of hours, Jeff went from talking about his upcoming race with Alaska Public Media to working on a major transition in his life. He already knew who he wanted to take his team to Nome in his place, 28 year old Sean Underwood. Sean had been working with the four time Iditarod Champ helping to train his 2020 team.
Less than 24 hours later, that transition began to take shape. The Iditarod Qualifying Review Board convened to assess Underwood’s qualifications to run the race. At 7:24 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3. The Board made following statement:
“The QRB met this evening and unanimously voted to allow Sean Underwood to run the 2020 Iditarod in place of Jeff King. This last minute change was approved because of a medical issue with King, and the fact that Underwood has run and knows this team well. Because this is Sean’s first Iditarod he will be required to meet with both Dr. Stuart Nelson and Race Marshall/Director Mark Nordman on Friday, March 6 to undergo an intense review of the subjects that were presented at the rookie meeting back in December.”
Today, Sean Underwood will begin his journey as an Iditarod rookie at the Iditarod Mushers Meeting. Tomorrow he will spend time immersed in Iditarod Rookie Training, and by Sunday (March 8) he will be headed to Nome with the team that he helped Jeff King train.
Hopefully Jeff will be glued to the Insider watching Sean’s journey unfold, preparing for next year’s race!
