MushHusky! News

Plans for 2009-2010

2009-05-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Even though we have just finished the 2008-2009 season, we are well into the planning for next season. We will be concentrating on Rebekah's final junior season. She will be participating in the same races that she ran last season, with the exception of the Junior T. We had hoped that she would be able to run the Junior Quest this year, but the Junior Quest officials moved the date to mid-March. Since I am on the road with my assembly tour in March, she would have no support system for that race. Bummer. We really wanted to do that race.
There is also a possibility that I may run one of my qualifiers as well. I am looking at the Knik 200 that will be run the first weekend of January. But, we'll see how the funding comes around.
Our new puppy litter continues to grow. Named after the children in the movie "Sound of Music" (how's that for a theme?) they are the progeny of our fastest dog, Bandit, and Solomon, one of Iditarod and Quest veteran Jon Little's "super" dogs. We have high hopes for this litter and are hoping that they will be the foundation of a very special line that will take us to the upper levels of the races that we enter in the future.
Normally, we begin training the team the first of September. But this year we will begin earlier. As soon as I get home from my speaking tour, (sometime at the end of May) we will begin training some of our yearlings as well as a couple of potential new lead dogs. We had a couple of yearlings that didn't want to take their jobs seriously last year, so we will work with them some more to see if they have matured since last year. Sometimes, time is all it takes for a dog to come into its' own. Some dogs don't shine until they are four or five years old.
All in all, the 2009-2010 season looks very promising. We are looking forward to it very much.

So, What Happened to My Iditarod Plans?

2009-05-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

I had originally hoped to run my first Iditarod in 2009. But, as with any kind of plans, nothing is ever a sure bet.
Running the qualifiers in the 2007-2008 season proved to be a financial burden that I did want to take on. Seeing that Rebekah was beginning to have some success with her Junior racing career, I thought it wise to put our resources into that endeavor.
Since that decision, many additional obstacles have popped up. The Iditarod Race Committee had decided to raise the entry fee for the race from $1850 in 2007 to $3,000 in 2008 and to $4,000 in 2009. There is talk of raising the fee even higher; rumors put this number at anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 over the next few years.
There is also talk of changing the qualifying requirements from the completion of a 200 and 300 mile race to a points system. It is unknown what effect that such a system will have on the rookie entrants if it is indeed incorporated.
So, where does this leave me and my first Iditarod attempt? Probably out in the dark. The entry fee increase alone has most likely excluded me (and others) from trying to pursue the race. Sponsorship monies are pretty well tied up by the leading mushers, making it nearly impossible for rookies to fund their race without resorting to bake sales and spaghetti feeds.
I'm going to take a wait-and-see attitude. I may run one qualifier this next season (2009-2010) just to see how it goes and with my sights on a possible Yukon Quest attempt sometime in the future.
But, for now I am quite content to dedicate all of my efforts to Rebekah's last year of junior competition.
After that, who knows?

Junior Iditarod 2009

2009-05-11T20:33:00.001-07:00

Rebekah's 2009 Junior Iditarod was a surprising success. After leaving the starting line sixth, she quickly moved up to second place, following Cain Carter, Lance Mackey's step-son. While she was not able to close the gap, she was able to maintain a close interval during the first 85 miles of the race. However, Rebekah ran into trouble on the Yetna River. As she descended onto the river from the woods, she encountered a very thick ice fog. Somehow, her lead dogs took a wrong turn at this point and led her off of the main trail onto the river. Knowing that she was off of the trail, but unable to even see her lead dogs through the thick fog, she chose to stay put until the musher that was following her came up behind her rather than risk getting more lost or encountering an open lead on the river. Seeing his headlamp through the fog, she was able to steer her dogs back onto the trail and followed Travis Beals into the Yetna station checkpoint. However, she had lost 35 minutes waiting on the river. The second half of the race went smoothly, with the dogs performing flawlessly. But, she was unable to recover any of the time that she had lost the previous night on the river and finished in third place with all 10 dogs. Rebekah received a lot of good prizes for her effort, as well as $2,000 in scholarship money that will come in handy when she heads off to college. All in all, it was an outstanding effort by a team that had finished in 13th place the year before. She is already looking forward to next year.

A Successful Season!

2009-05-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

Rebekah had a very successful 2009 season. She started the season by competing in the Clam Gulch Classic. The Classic is a local race for adults that runs two days with a 40 mile leg each day. Many times juniors are allowed to run it along with the adults. After the first day Jason Mackey was leading, with junior musher Travis Beals coming in next and Rebekah following close behind in third. On the second day Rebekah was able to overtake Travis Beals and gain time on Jason Mackey to finish in second place. It was a great start to the season and was indicitave of good things to come.
At the end of January Rebekah competed in the local Junior Tustumena, a 50 mile race that runs the same time as the Tustumena 200. After an excellent run she again posted a second place finish finishing behind Travis Beals.
In mid-February she competed in the Willow Junior 100. Again, after an excellent run she again placing second behind Travis Beals.
All of these races led up to a third place finish in the season finale, the Junior Iditarod. And who do you think finished just ahead of her? Yep, Travis Beals.

Iditarod When?

2009-05-10T00:04:00.001-07:00

The MushHusky! 2007 - 2008 mushing season started off right on schedule.

We began the season with ATV training on the dirt trails on September 1 as we had planned. Even though we had much more autumn rain than we would have liked, it did eventually turn to snow. It was not too long before we had enough snow to hold a hook and switch over to the sleds. Then, unexpectedly, the snow turned to long periods of heavy rain and washed away nearly every flake of snow that had accumulated. Our trails disappeared while the dirt trails turned to ice, making returning to the ATV too treacherous. These developments have changed some of the plans for our 2009 Iditarod attempt.

The late resumption of training prohibits entering the Knik 200, scheduled for the first weekend of January, which was the first qualifier that was planned for the '09 Iditarod. The late training will also make running the Bowers 300, scheduled for the last weekend of January, unlikely. The cancellation of these two qualifiers in our race schedule will now delay their completion until 2009. While it may still be possible to run the Iditarod in 2009, any failure to complete these qualifiers at this time will make an '09 run impossible. So, now we are contemplating re-scheduling our first Iditarod attempt for 2010.

There will be some benefits to delaying our first Iditarod attempt. Our youngest dogs will be one year older, increasing our pool of dogs from which to choose from. We will gain an extra year for our fund raising efforts. And we will gain an extra season for completing our qualifiers. In the end, it may be a better path. We will continue to aggressively pursue Rebekah's 2007 - 2008 junior race schedule as originally planned. So the 2007 - 2008 season will not be a loss at all, but will instead allow us to test the dog team as we participate in this season's junior circuit. So, continue to look for the MushHusky! team this season as we continue to chase that elusive Iditarod dream.

My First Jr. Iditarod

2009-05-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

By Rebekah Ruzicka

I ran my first Jr. Iditarod in the winter of 2007. I ran it because I wanted the experience and I wanted the satisfaction of knowing that I had done something very important to me.

Here is a little bit about my life, my family and how I came to run the Jr. Iditarod.

Both of my parents were born in Nebraska. My dad had a dream of moving up to Alaska and finally, in the fall of 1992, we did. Because of his dream we have lived here ever since.

Alaska is a very beautiful and mystic place. It gets lots of snow in the winter and lots of green in the summer. It has lots of wildlife and wilderness.

A few months after we moved up to Alaska I was born. I have five brothers and sisters and one nephew. When I was born, we lived in a trailer house in Kachemak City, Alaska. We then moved out to a small cabin on the Kenai Peninsula. In 2003 we moved to a new house that my family built next to the old cabin.

During all of these moves my dad raised and ran sled dogs. We have a small kennel of dogs. We have only a few that we have purchased from other mushers.

My dad started mushing in 1993, the year I was born. I always wanted to run the dogs just like my dad. I have been raised around sled dogs and animals all of my life.

I started training for the Jr. Iditarod, that was to take place on February 24-25, 2007, in July of 2006. As the race drew near, this was not the time to be inside drinking hot chocolate. It was the time to be out in the wilderness! I had to run 30, 40 and 50 mile runs in the light and the dark. These would be eight to ten hour days including my school work and chores.

Finally, it was time to take the three hundred mile trip up to Knik, Alaska, where the race was to take place. We loaded our ten dogs, sled and all of the gear onto the mushing truck and started the day long journey. On February 23, we took the dogs to the morning Vet Check. That night I went to the mushers meeting, where we drew our bib numbers and they told us about the trail. I drew bib number 25.

The next day we went to the starting line and the temperature was about five degrees. We unloaded our dogs, then put harnesses and booties on the dogs. When my number was called, I hit the trail to begin the 150 mile race.

On the way out the trail was hard packed, almost like a paved highway. The sun had a dazzling effect on the white snow. The team clipped down the trail at a nice pace, about nine, or ten miles an hour. Only an hour down the trail I came over a steep hill. Suddenly, I saw in the middle of the trail a musher who had stopped to untangle her dogs. She was in the middle of her team when I collided with her at a zooming speed. My sled caught her sled and we all went flying. Luckily, no one got hurt. Other than that the trip to Yetna, the halfway point, went very well and I had a lot of fun.

Just as it got dark I made it to the halfway point where all of the mushers had to rest for ten hours. I fed and watered my dogs by melting snow in my cooker. Then I bedded them down for the night. Now it was my turn to eat. I ate, then I sat with the other mushers around the big bonfire.

At 4:23 in the morning I hit the trail again, only to find trouble around every corner. First, my headlamp went dead when it was still dark. Then I hit a tree. I was about ten miles from the finish line, when I got lost. I was lost for three hours. I had broken my sled beyond repair, but my dogs and I wanted to get home, so we did not let that stop us.

When I saw the finish line I was very happy. That night at the banquet they handed out prizes and said how happy they were that so many kids ran the race this year.

What I learned is: no matter what happens, never give up. The outcome is definitely worth it. I am already training for 2008.

Another Year Gone

2009-05-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

Another school year will be coming to an end next month. MushHusky! Assemblies conducted assemblies in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin. We also expanded into Texas for the first time as well.
We have had another wonderful school year sharing the Alaskan lifestyle with so many students and teachers. We are already making plans for next year, with the thought of heading back to Texas and then to the east coast for the first time.

IDITAROD 2009???

2009-05-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

I have never had a real desire to run the Iditarod sled dog race. When I started mushing in 1992 I began with a small recreational team. Having a small team was easy on the nerves as well as the pocketbook. Good dogs were always easy to find from other mushers that were retiring their race veterans or other dogs that weren't fast enough to make the cut.

But, over the years I started accumulating more and more dogs until I had a kennel of nearly thirty dogs. Fortunately, I was able to put them to work helping a neighbor with her winter dogsled touring business. At least the dogs were now earning their keep.

After my neighbor moved on to other things I was faced with the problem of having more dogs than I needed. It was at this time that my youngest son, Mark, decided that he wanted to attempt to do the Junior Iditarod. He entered the race in 2005 and 2006. His younger sister, Rebekah ran the race for the first time in 2007.

Helping and watching them run their races has sparked an interest in trying dogsled racing for myself. I have had a great deal of fun learning how to train dogs to run faster as well as figuring out race strategies.

Running the Iditarod is no small matter. Each musher must qualify by completing a 200 mile and 300 mile race sometime in the 30 months prior to the year a competitor wants to compete in the Iditarod. And there is the expense of the race as well; estimated by most to be as high as $10,000 to $15,000 for race expenses alone.

With those things in mind, I am considering running the Iditarod in March of 2009. That would give me two seasons to complete my qualifiers and raise the funds for running the race. It would be a long haul just to get to the starting line, but having seen my own kids do it inspires me to follow in their footsteps.

So, the 2007 - 2008 mushing season could be a busy one indeed. Wish us all luck as the Ruzicka family continues to pursue their Iditarod dreams.