Saturday March 18 743A AKDT

Talked with Trent briefly yesterday after the team was fed and bedded down in the dog yard after the race.  He said the trail was fantastic and they all had a great race and great camping trip.  He thought trail surfaces were pretty hard early in the race and he had a lot of wrist and shoulder challenges on the team.   He had to leave two of the best leaders Scott and Caribou at Checkpoint #3 in Tanana and four others very close to the end.  The sizes of the teams at the finishing line were definitely smaller this year.  Trent crossed the finish line with 8 dogs; Ayn, Blast, Percy, Hornet, Mary, Ruby, Boole, and Gordon.  

It was Trent's 10th 1000 mile finish; his 9th Iditarod and he he completed the Yukon Quest in 2012 in his only try there.  Ten for ten.  

Picture of Trent and Ayn at the Burled Arch.  Ayn made it!  It was her seventh Iditarod finish and the fifth she made with Trent.  She's off to a retirement as the Herbst house pet.

Picture of Trent the dog yard after getting the team fed and down for a good nap.  Note they are all strawed in, in the bottom half of travel kennels!  

Friday March 17 315 PM AKDT

Trent and the team pulled in to Nome at 251P AKDT with an elapsed time of 11 days 2 hours 51 minutes and 14 seconds.   This was Trent's 2nd best time in finishing all 9 Iditarod races that he has entered.   His average speed was 3.63 mph and average moving speed was 7.6 mph.  The team finished 52nd of 71 teams that started the race.  

Eight of the sixteen dogs made it to Nome.  We'll get a report on the roster of finishers and post later and hopefully some pix from Ed and Jake on the ground.  

Here are a couple of shots from the live camera at the finish

Tim

1200 Noon AKDT

Trent and the team just went through the last checkpoint at Safety about 45 minutes ago.   Run times Safety to Nome are 3 hours or so, so if you want to watch the finish line camera on Iditarod.com, go there in about 2 hours at 200 AKST (300 PST, 400 MST

Friday March 17 0600A AKDT

Trent and the team checked out of White Mountain this morning at 0334A AKDT for the final 77 meile run to Nome.  They stayed in White Mountain exactly 8 hours for their mandatory 8 hour rest there.  11 dogs checked in and 10 dogs will make the final leg to the finish line.  They left White Mountain in 52nd place. Trent should hit the Burled Arch finish line in Nome mid-afternoon today.  Anxious to see which team members made the 1000 mile journey.  

I hope one of them is Ayn.  Meet Ayn (named for Ayn Rand), she is the lead dog on the left in the picture below from this years start at Fairbanks.  

Ayn is a veteran of 7 Iditarods, several with Trent and she turns 10 later this year.  She is retiring after this race to be the Herbst family dog and already is.  She lives in their home and on the trail sleeps in sleeping bag with Trent.  Whenever they drive to a trailhead to train she rides in the car instead of in dog boxes in trailer.  No telling what the rest of team thinks of the "Queen Bee" but they follow her lead and she is a fearsome competitor.  Late in her career it seems she is not much interested in training until a month before the race and she goes right back to young ways.  Couple of shots of Ayn being Ayn below.

There is a live feed on the Iditarod site from the finish line.  Sometime between 1 and 3 AKDT you can see Trent and the team pull in. 

http://iditarod.com/live/

Tim

Back in December, Trent and a couple of buddies took the team to West Yellowstone for an early season training run.  Think about a dog team, early in the season, it's Fall practice and the big race is months away.  

Watch this again!

Thursday March 16 630A AKDT

Trent and the team just checked in to Elim (mile 856) at 618A, having left Koyuk at midnight.  They covered the 48 miles in 6 hrs 16 minutes for an average speed of 7.7 mph.   Trent checked in with all 11 dogs that left with him at Koyuk, hoping they all leave with him.  I know he wants them all to finish at this point.  

I suspect they will rest 6 hours or so and head out for the 46 mile journey to White Mountain sometime after noon.  White Mountain is the last real checkpoint before the final 77 miles to Nome.  All mushers must take a mandatory 8 hour rest in White Mountain.  Anything can happen on the Bering Sea coast, but generally it is thought that once you hit White Mountain you are a little over a half-day from crossing the finish line in Nome.  

All things going well and at the risk of jinxing him, Trent should be in Nome by noon tomorrow for St. Patty's day.   They don't need much for an excuse to celebrate in Nome during the Iditarod finish, and about guarantee it will be a lively day there tomorrow.  That would be a 10 day + finish and would rival his best race performances (archive below).   

Map of race trail below for reference.

Tim

Monday March 15th 1115A AKDT

Trent and all 11 dogs that checked in to Shaktoolik last night at bout 0200A ASDST left to cross the Norton Sound and head for Koyuk at 1006A.  They left in 49th place.  Below is a picture of a musher crossing the Norton Sound.  Winds can be 40 mph, temperatures can be -30F, and snowdrifts and ice can be huge.  

Fortunately, today looks like the best day possible for crossing the Norton Sound between Shaktoolik and Koyuk!

In 2015, mushers were holed up in Shaktoolik for as long as 30 hours at a time waiting for weather to break.  Trent was running a team of yearling puppies that year and was at the very back of the pack.  When he, Lachlan Clarke and Cindy Gallea decided they would go in the storm it was with some trepidation.   The trail markers are regularly spaced and easy to see in clear weather.  In a blinding storm, you can't see the next one, and there is no real path made by sleds on wind-blown ice.  At one point, the three mushers had lost the direction.   Visibility was evidently about 10 feet.  Trent said he agreed to walk out 5 minutes, and then walk a circle arc until he was able to to find a trail marker; then walk back directly to the center of the circle to find the other 2 and the dog teams.  Sounds good on a piece of paper, I don't quite know how he made that work on the ice but he did.   They were able to head back out to the trail marker Trent had found and make it to Koyuk.  

I was at the finish in Nome that year.  Lachlan, Cindy, and Trent all met at the end.  They hugged and cried.  Lachlan told me Trent had got them out of a pretty desperate situation.  

Tim

Wed March 15 0600A AKDT

Trent and 11 pups pulled in to Shaktoolik just at 0200A AKDT after a 5 hour 58 minute, 40 mile run form Unalakleet.  Trent is still in 52nd place out of 73 mushers in the race.  Anxious to see if all 13 dogs leave the checkpoint tomorrow. Expect Trent to get some rest and get a morning start for a daylight crossing of the open water across the Norton Sound to the checkpoint at Koyuk.  

The spit town of Shaktoolik is the first picture below.  The town is in a battle with global warming.  The map from GPS tracker shows overland path to Koyuk from Shak.  This is often the most treacherous section of the race with extreme wind, cold, and no visibility.   Weather so far in Shak has been clear and calm and that is the forecast for today as well.  Let's hope for adventurous but safe crossing

Again, the run from Shaktoolik to Koyuk is one of, if not the most iconic leg in the Iditarod.   Made famous by Leonhard Seppala in the great Serum Run of 1925 to deliver diptheria serum to quell an epidemic in Nome.  It is part of the heritage of the Iditarod and the run, and choice to move quicker over the open sea of the Norton Sound is considered the greatest feat in the history of dog sledding.  

Leonard Seppala and his lead dog Togo are in the picture below, as well as the Serum Run Trail.

Forty-eight-year-old Seppala, with a team of dogs had left Nome with the intent of intercepting the serum at Nulato, unaware that the relays had been faster. Leaving Isaac's Point on the north side of Norton Bay that morning, traveled the 43 miles to just outside Shaktoolik, meeting Ivanoff there and taking the serum to return to Nome. 

At Shaktoolik, he turned his team around into the wind with a temperature of −30 degrees and darkness. He risked the 20 mile sea ice crossing between Cap Denbigh and Point Dexter in a blinding blizzard. Togo's sense of smell permitted them to stay on course got them to their stopping point on the North shore of Norton Bay, at an Eskimo sod igloo. Seppala fed the dogs and warmed the serum, hoping the blizzard would lessen. Early Sunday morning with −30 degree temperatures, deadly winds, and the storm not lessening, reached Dexter's Roadhouse at Golovin with completely exhausted dogs.Seppala had covered 91 miles, and the serum now 78 miles from Nome.  It was then relayed by Charlie Olson and Gunnar Kaasen to Nome.  The epidemic would soon be over.

Tim

Tuesday March 14 415P AKDT

The team just came across the portage off the Yukon River at Kaltag to the checkpoint at Unalakleet on the Bering Sea at mile 718.

They arrived at 149PM AKDT, covering the 85 miles in 15 hours 15 minutes.   They appeared to take about a 7 hour rest at a travel cabin, Old Woman Shelter, about 40 miles before Unalakleet.  The team checked in with 11 dogs in 52nd place.  

Unalakleet is an old fishing and trading village of about 700 residents.   From here the race is along the Bering Sea all the way to Nome.   Picture of sunset in the village from back in 2015, a couple of shots from same.

We ordered Trent a large meat-eaters pizza from Peace On Earth Cafe in Unalakleet.  Called them about 30 minutes before he arrived (according to GPS tracker)/  They take them right out to the checkpoint.  Anxious to see if he got it?

Race map for reference.

Tim

Monday March 13 245 ADST 

Trent and team made a big run in the last 24 hours.  When we last left our bearded and canine friends they had stopped bout halfway from Huslia to Koyuku.   The passed through Koyukuk and Nualto this morning and afternoon and just pulled in to Kaltag at 237P AKST having run about 120 miles in the last 24 hours.   The team checked in to Kaltag with 12 dogs in 48th place

Kaltag is the last checkpoint on the Yukon and the trail now head overland, on an ancient portage to the Bering Sea town of Unalakleet.  

Ed Stielstra sent a few shots of Trent and the team from back at the Galena checkpoint.

Remember we talked a bit about the Great Serum Run of 1925.   Below again is the trail map, which is very close to the route for this years Iditarod.  Also below are the mushers that participated in the relay from the rail station in Nenana up through Kaltag.  Some of the most heroic parts of this journey are yet to come. 

Serum Run Trail

Serum Run Mushers up through Kaltag

Tim

Sunday March 12 245 ADST (changed to daylights savings time last night)

Trent and team pulled in to Huslia checkpoint (mile 478) yesterday this morning at 1206A, just after midnight.  They rested in Huslia for 7 hours and hit the trail again at 0800AM (accounting for hour lost with daylight savings time).  The team checked in to Huslia with 12 dogs, checked out with 12 dogs.  They left in 50th place among the 71 teams who started the race.  

They are about 40 miles along the trail to Koyukuk and resting.   Suspect they will rest 5-6 hours, then move the final 46 miles to the checkpoint at mile 564 by early hours AM.  

The race is getting really interesting at the head of the pack with Wade Mars, Dallas Seavy, Nic Petit, Mitch Seavy and Joar Ulsom all in a big bunch running to be the first to Unalakleet (mile 718) and the Bering Sea Cost.   

Race map below for reference.  

Tim

Saturday March 11, 415P AKST

Sorry for radio silence.  Trent and team pulled in to Galena checkpoint yesterday, Friday morning at about 8AM.  I thought he was going to take some rest and then head up to Huslia for his 24 hour mandatory rest as that was his pre-race preference.  It must have been the right call to give the dogs a full rest as Trent took his 24 mandatory in Galena and let at 807A AKST today.  Galena is at race mile 396.  Trent and team left Galena in 54th place out of 71 mushers who started the race.  Trent checked in to Galena with 14 dogs and checked out with 12 dogs. 

Trent is about halfway on the 80 mile trail up to checkpoint #6 at Huslia.  They stopped for rest a few hours ago and I would expect them to hit Huslia around midnight.  

Trent was mentioned in an interesting article in Alaska Dispatch News on muhsers bringing important things on the trail with them... link below.

https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventure/iditarod/2017/03/09/iditarod-mushers-carry-ashes-prayer-flags-hand-crafted-snowshoes/

Again, trail map below

Tim

[I think original post has too hi-res photos in it]

Friday March 10 830A AKST

The team just came off the Yukon River to the checkpoint at Galena at mile 396 on the trail.  Arrival time was 745A AKST.  The team took an 8-1/2 hour rest in Ruby before making the 50 mile trip over to Galena in 6 hrs 38 minutes at average speed of 7.5 mph.  The team checked in to Galena with 14 dogs and in 46th place.   Looks like Mary and Anna were the 2 dogs left back in Tanana to take a first class air trip back to Anchorage.  There are 3 teams behind who did their 24 hour in Ruby so Trent is probably closer to 50th on the trail but doing great.   

Galena is an old native fishing village on the Yukon.  During WWII, a large runway was constructed for military forward operations.   The race trail leaves the Yukon at Galena for an 80 mile journey through the Koyukuk Wilderness to the the village of Huslia and will return back to the Yukon at Koyukuk. Huslia is a Athabascan village with less than 300 residents.  It is a trapping and trading village with one of the deepest mushing traditions in Alaska.   The village is only on the Iditarod route when the race starts in Fairbanks.  They really turn on the welcome for the race.  Below are couple of 2015 shots of the community center, the feast the locals provide, and the local Huslia March Madness basketball team.

I know he is very excited about spending some time there.  In 2015, he did his 24 in Ruby with a dog team that had "the bug" and by the time he got to Huslia he didn't have as much time to enjoy the moose stew and hospitality.  

Weather in Huslia is showing as +18F and sunny, which believe it or not is not the best conditions for the dogs to run.   Trent will rest the team and head up to Huslia for his 24 hour mandatory rest.  He'll probably wait for cooler, later part of the afternoon to head off for the initial 40 miles or so, then a camp/rest until after midnight for a 40 mile nighttime run in to Huslia.  

Map below, again, for getting our bearings on geography.

Tim

Thursday March 9 424P AKST

The team just came off the Yukon River to the checkpoint at Ruby at mile 346 on the trail.  It was a long 119 miles and 23 hrs 14 minutes from Tanana.  The team checked in to Ruby in 54th place.  Most mushers on the Iditarod website who already made that trip were saying that trail was "sugary" soft and the going was slow.  The The weather has been +10F and cloudy this afternoon for the trip.   

An analytics view of Trent's run and rest to date are shown below, comes off GPS tracker.  It looks like Trent ran 8, then rested 7, then ran 8 hours on his 24 hours over from Tanana.  Those are strong, long run times for this team and I'd expect them to need a good rest in Ruby.  

Trent and students made a pair of snowshoes he has been carrying as a gift to two Athabaskan native snowshoe craftsman.  One lives in Ruby, the other lives in the next checkpoint in the village of Huslia.  Last week Trent said he wanted to take his mandatory 24 hour rest in Huslia, but that he might take it Ruby.   He'd wait to see how the dogs were doing.   I'm pretty sure he wants to take it in Huslia.  

Picture of Trent leaving Tanana, for Ruby, yesterday afternoon about this time.  

Dan Martin emailed this picture from the Fairbanks Start today.   

Picture of the route (again it says 2015, but same route)

Tim

Wednesday March 8, 600P AKST

Each team has to take an 8 hour rest at one of the checkpoints on the Yukon.  The team took their mandatory 8 hour rest at Tanana, the first checkpoint on the Yukon.  Trent checked out of Tanana at 531P AKST in 54th place.

Here is a picture from Jeff Schultz on the Iditarod.com site of Trent coming in to Tanana at sunrise this morning.  Blast and Hornet in the lead.  

Another nice shot off Iditarod.com website of Tanana last evening, the Northern Lights dancing away.

Here is the trail map.  It says 2015, but it's the same route.   120 miles to Ruby.  Should break in to two 60 miles runs, with a 6+ hour camp/rest stop in the middle of the night tonight.  Weather in Ruby is looking warmer and cloudy in the next day or two, highs of +10F lows of 0F.

Wednesday March 8 254P AKST

In the Winter of 1925 an epidemic of Diphtheria was raging in Nome, Alaska.  Children were dying daily and the only hope was to get anti-toxin to Nome.  Nome is frozen at sea by the Fall.  Airplanes had just come to Alaska in 1925 and could not fly long distances in the Alaskan interior.  When anti-toxin was sent to Anchorage, the only way to get it to Nome was to send it by train to Nenana and then let postmen who delivered mail by dogsled and native Alaskan men of the interior execute a 700 mile relay to carry the serum to Nome by dogsled.  The journey was made in 5-1/2 days in one of the harshest winters, with temperatures as low as -60F during the run.  Twenty mushers took part in this epic journey.  Grab a copy of "the Cruelest Miles" for an incredible account.   The serum made it to Nome, the epidemic stemmed, and the town essentially saved.

Airplanes and snowmobiles eventually replaced the sled dog team for mail delivery and basic transport in the Alaskan interior.  In the early 70's Joe Reddington and others started the Iditarod to honor the legend and utility of mushing in Alaska history.

Here is the historic route the mushers took back in January 1925, it is very similar to the race trail this year with Fairbanks start.

As Trent is in Tanana at the moment, here are the mushers that relayed the serum from Nenana train station to Tanana.  

Wed March 8 1045A AKST

Trent and team pulled in to Tanana at 757A AKST.  They covered the 66 miles from Manley Springs to Tanana in 14 hrs 23 minutes, resting and camping for about 6 hours 15 mlies past  Manley.Weather.com showed -35F temperatures and crystal clear overnight, cold travel that the dogs love. The weather shows clear and -5F for this afternoon so I bet they are sleeping in the sun and will take off about 2 this afternoon.  Trent was in 54th place heading in to Tanana. 

I neglected to post a route map.  Here we are below.  You can see the progress from the Fairbanks start through Nenana, Manley, and on to Tanana.  At the village of Tanana, where Trent just checked in the Tanana River joins the Yukon River and racers will be on the Yukon for 350 miles now until the portage at Kaltag.  The next run to Ruby of 119 miles is the longest distance between checkpoints in the race.  If Trent is able to break it into two 60 miles runs with one 6 hour camp/rest stop halfway, he will be right on race plan.  That is a big challenge though.

We will want to talk some in next post about the Great Serum Race of 1925 to shuttle medicine for a diptheria outbreak in Nome that is the inspiration for today's Iditarod.  That shuttle covered the same route from Fairbanks that the racers are on this year. 

Tim

March 7 554P AKST

The team checked in to Manley at 500P AKST after a 16 hr 40 m, 90 mile run from Nenana and a total of 160 miles thus far.   They camped about half way for what looked to be 7 hours and did the last 35 miles this afternoon in the sun and -5F temps.  Trent stayed about 30 minutes and left Manley at 534P.  All 16 dogs checked in but it appears Trent dropped 2 dogs at Manley and checked out with 14 dogs.  Will try to get more detail on that.  Trent left Manley in 42nd place but that is a little ahead of where he is in the field at the moment as many teams are fully rested and will leave Manley shortly and pass at Trent's next rest.  Expect Trent to go 2 more hours or so, camp for the night and likely start early morning to next checkpoint at Tanana, 66 miles from Manley.

Picture below from Zach Hughes on the trail, of Trent back at Nenana with "hoar frost" beard.

Also, a picture below of perennial winner Dallas Seavy's sled for the race this year. Picture taken in Manley.  The sled is supposedly made of carbon fiber and has 2 dog cargo holds that hold 2 dogs each.  Several mushers are trying out a strategy of resting 4 dogs at a time, running 12, and rotating along the trail to enable longer run cycles.  We are still 'privateers' and running old school!

Tim

March 7 130A AKST

As we guessed, Trent and the team left Nenana just after midnight at 1220A AKST.  All 16 dogs checked in and out.  The team was in 55th place leaving Nenana.  The rest time in Nenana was 5 hrs 28 minutes and the run time to Nenana was 5 hrs 42 minutes.  This sounds very good.  Trent said before the race that he was going to try a 6 hr run, 6 hour rest schedule as long as it worked for the dogs and it appears to have worked just right so far.  

Manley Hot Springs, the next checkpoint, is 90 miles up the trail.  I would expect Trent to run until 630A AKST or so and camp for 6 hours if things are all dialed in for the team.  It will -30F and crystal clear tonight on the river, maybe a perfect night for Northern Lights. 

Below is a picture we just received by email from Penny Gage.  From the Ceremonial Start trail.  Penny is a great sport and supporter of the race.  Thanks for sending this!

Tim

March 7 1215AM AKST

Looks like a great start. The team covered the 60 miles from Fairbanks to the first checkpoint at Nenana in 5 hr. 42 minutes, an average speed of 10.53 mph.  They arrived at 652P AKST.  Doesn't matter much at this point but Trent moved up from 67th leaving the starting chute to 51st in to the Nenana checkpoint.  His time from start to the Nenana looked like it was in the top 40 and pretty darn good considering the trail conditions had to be better for the earlier teams.

The team camped for a good meal and some rest.  I would expect Trent to head back out not too long after midnight and certainly expect them to break camp before 200AM AKST.   It was -18F at the start today and Weather.com shows Nenana temperature as -29F at the moment.  It's going to be a cold trip up the Tanana River for the racers.   I always tease Trent that's an advantage for him.  

Here is a picture our handler Jake Swift (I know, sounds like a Hollywood casting name for a musher) took at the start this morning of Trent, Ayn, and Scott.

Tim

Monday March 6, 510P AKST

At 1:10 AKST the team pulled the hook, romped down the starting chute through the crowds of Fairbanks and on to the Tanana River.  First checkpoint is 60 miles down the river at Nenana.  Trent has bib 67 this year and had 75 in 2015.  So he's in a similar start order this year.  In 2015 he stopped and camped in Nenana showing up at dusk.

Ayn and Scott led the team out.  Looks like on the tracker Trent is at mile 54, running strong at plan at an average speed of 8.5 mph.  Nenan is at mile 71 (add the 11 miles from Ceremonial Start) and Trent has about 17 miles, 2 hours to Nenana.  

Here are a few shots from live TV coverage of the Fairbanks Start.

Here is the shot of Trent on the tracker at the moment.  Highly recommend a Iditarod Insider GPS Tracker subscription to all you Iditarod and Trent fans out there.  You never know when you are going to wake up at 3 in the morning and wonder how he's doing?

Tim

Monday March 6

Expect Trent and the team to head out of the starting chute in Fairbanks a little after noon Alaska time (AKST) today.  The team is mainly veterans of the past two years rookie teams.  Eleven have raced in the Iditarod and ten have made it to Nome.  Reports are that the 3 feet of new snow along the Tanana River have been well broken by snowmobiles in the past day and conditions are good.

Picture below from the Iditarod Insider article at Iditarod.com on the Ceremonial Start.  Trent is the first musher shown in the article.

Next picture was taken by our handler Carlleen Brehmer on the Ceremonial Start trail.   Trent has a fan who has a "I love you. Trent Herbst's Beard" poster each year she brings to the course.  

Make sure to update you Iditarod Insider to watch the GPS tracker for the race.

Safe journey and happy trails to Trent and the Team!

Tim

Saturday March 4

Trent and the team took off from downtown Anchorage for the Ceremonial Strart this afternoon.  Blue bird, perfect day. There were "Fear the Beard" fans along the route, we hope to have some pictures to share.

Team trailer heads to Fairbanks Saturday night for the real start of race Monday.  Supposed to be 36 inches of new snow and cold conditions on the Tanana River for he first part of the race.

Here are a few at the starting gate.

February 20, 2017

Here's to all of you that follow us and subscribe to the blog.  Many of you guys have helped out along the way with donations and we greatly appreciate it.  

If you feel so moved, visit the Sponsors page on the website at:  http://www.trentherbst.com/sponsors.html 

We have a PayPal Donate button where you can use your PayPal account or a credit card to send any help for race expenses.   Any and all support appreciated.

Race start in two weeks, getting exciting!

End of Solicitations, promise.

Trent and buddies Garrett Rawlings and Bob Polk take the team to West Yellowstone this past weekend.  

Lots of fresh snow, lots of breaking trail.  Shout out to Bob Polk for awesome video production.

Enjoy!

November 7th, 2016

Hey Guys! As Tim and Trent introduced in the last blog post, I'm Carlleen and I'm the new handler for Trent this season. My goal is to not only keep you up to date on what is happening, but to also want to answer any and all questions you may have for us. I'm also going to do Meet the Member Monday, so each week on Monday I'm going to introduce a member of the team whether that would be human or dog, lol. So, here's the first Meet the member.

~Carlleen

Our first meet the member is the new handler, Carlleen. Here's some info about her.

Age:20 (21 in a week!)

Favorite Color:Pink, and then red

Favorite Season: Winter and fall

Where were you born: Green Bay, Wisconsin

Why did you move to Idaho: I moved to Idaho to continue my education and to stay in the sled dog sport. I'm currently attending CWI for Agriculture Science

How did you get into mushing: Back when I was in 5th grade, my family and I went to go see my uncle and cousins race. After that, I told them that's what I wanted to do. In 6th grade, I started sprint racing and every since I decided I wanted to mush dogs. When we kept taking longer than the faster teams, it was my thought that maybe I should try for mid-distance to distance mushing. It wasn't until I ran the Eagle Cap 31 mile pot race in 2016 that I actually ran a longer race than 6 miles.

What are you future plans: I plan to open a sled dog touring company and petting zoo. I hope to run the Iditarod one day and to educate the public about mushing and dogs.

Anything else about you: I have 2 retired sled dogs that are living back in Wisconsin with my parents. There names are Chipmunk (tan dog) and Dingo (black dog). These two dogs did everything with me. I've done 4-H obedience, agility, and showmanship with them along with dressing up and taking photos. I love taking photos (You guys will see a lot of my personal photos that I've taken) and spending time with my boyfriend. I also skijor (I'm not very good at it though) and dryland racing. Feel free to ask any other questions to get to know me!

November 3

Just a quick note that the 2017 Iditarod Season is officially on.   Eighteen bright, shiny canine faces have moved to Idaho for the Winter from Upper Peninsula Michigan, from our kennel partner Nature's Kennel.  The team consists mainly of Iditarod veterans from the past two years, who raced as yearlings/rookies with Trent in 2015 and 2016.   We'll get pics and intros up soon, a bunch of Trent's favorites are back.  

Our training kennel is out in Fairfield, ID and the team is already up to 25 mile runs, looking strong, and eating hardy.   

We have a new handler this year.   Carleen Brehmer joins us and says "I live in Boise and have been around sled dogs since 6th grade. I moved here from Wisconsin to attend college, but also continue with the sled dog scene. I've mainly raced sprint races, but this past February I ran at Eagle Cap Extreme in the 62 mile pot race. Even though I don't have a team of dogs here, I've been trying to stay in the sled dog community. I've helped train a team of dogs, kennel sat for Ben Thompson, and helped do a sled dog talk with Rick Katucki. My Uncle owned a kennel of 22+ dogs and I've helped take care of them. My ultimate dream one day is owning a sled dog touring company and a petting zoo. I hope to fulfill my dream of running the Iditarod"

We are excited to have her, and she will also be posting photos, training kennel and race stories on the blog.

Stay tuned for more soon!

Trent and Tim

Twelve dogs made it to Nome with Trent on Friday.   

Blast was the only veteran, and ran lead much of the race.  The other eleven finishers were all Iditarod rookies making their first finish.  Here they are below; Aurora, Billy, Blast, Fiona, Heart, Jasmine, Leia, Percy, Pudda, Reily, Ruby, and Rush.

Ayn, Hornet, Layla, and Kokomo all had sore shoulders and hopped off the bus on the trail.   All 16 dogs made it over 500 miles all the way to the Yukon River at Ruby.  14 made it over 700 miles to the Bering Sea Coast at Unalakleet.  

Lots of happy looking dogs on the video at the finish.   

Aurora

Billy

Blast

Fiona

Heart

Jasmine

Leia

Percy

Pudda

Reily

Ruby

Rush

Thanks for all your help and support!

Trent and Tim

Check it out...

http://iditarod.com/eye-on-the-trail-graduation-ceremony-in-nome/