Iditarod

[frozenchief]

Brent Sass won the Iditarod this year. Dallas Seavey was hot on his trail but just couldn't catch up. Came in about an hour later. Took about 8 ½ days for a winner to be declared. The next 12 hours will probably see another half dozen or so mushers come in. And they'll trickle in over the next few days. Last person to complete the Iditarod gets the 'red lantern' award.

One definitely unique aspect of the Iditarod: it's the only race I know of in which you might have to kill something:

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/20...r-near-galena/

I like dogs and I've gone out with some friends who have teams, but a race of > 1,000 miles through the Alaska wilderness does not sound like fun.

But it's better than running the Iditarod trail myself. I have a couple of friends who are into long-distance running and she has this sled that she attaches to her waist. She has run the Iditarod trail to Nome in the past. She carries a sleeping bag, stove, food, etc., sleeping out on the trail at night. She said it took her a couple of weeks. Thanks, but no thanks.

Anyway, details about the race and standings, etc., are here:

iditarod.com

[htismaqe]

I keep seeing this thread in the list and it reads "Idiotard".

[HC_Chief]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I keep seeing this thread in the list and it reads "Idiotard".

Who is this "Rod" person, and why is he an idiot?

Dyslexics untie!!

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by frozenchief

I’ve said before that sled dogs are bat shit crazy. They run. They run like nobody’s business. They live to run. They were born to run. I visited a friend the first winter I was up here. He lived in Kotzebue (north of Nome) and he had a dog team. He took me out for a run and I served as ballast. To prevent the dogs from running away with the sled while the musher is harnessing other dogs, they use boat anchors to anchor the sled into the snow. My friend used 2 boat anchorage, one off each side of the back end of the sled, to prevent the dogs from running. And yet when those dogs got into the harness, they were straining at the harness so hard, they were wanting to run so bad, that they dragged boat anchors through the snow. I’ve never seen anything like it.

When we did our Alaskan cruise, we visited a sled dog camp as one of our excursions. Part of it was riding in a "sled" pulled by a dozen or so dogs. The main thing I took from that was how much the dogs seemed to enjoy running and pulling that sled. They were constantly barking from the moment that they were harnessed up. It was a pretty cool experience and you could tell the trainers really cared about their dogs.

[threebag]

Originally Posted by frozenchief

Yeah, Well, **** Jim Rome.

Jim Rome is a coward and a fraud and he can just rot.

I agree, **** The Clones too

[frozenchief]

Decent article on the Iditarod from a recent issue of GQ. I say ‘decent’ because it gives too much credence to PETA and other groups. As far as I’m concerned, they aren’t from Alaska. They don’t know Alaska. They couldn’t make it Alaska so they can just **** right off. I’ll listen to PETA when they volunteer to arrest and prosecute the 1300 lb brown bear that just dis-respected the rights of the young moose by eating it alive. Until then, I hope PETA dies in a fire.

But it’s a good profile of Dallas Seavey from a family whose name is inseparable from the Iditarod.

Also, for this year, a Redington won. That’s another name that’s Iditarod royalty. And Jason Mackey, Lance’s brother, ran on his behalf. Jason won the Red Lantern, the award given to the last finisher of the Iditarod. The Iditarod is such a grueling experience that even last-place winners get recognition. Part of the reason I mention Jason is that his sister-in-law works with my wife. Lance was a real Alaskan. He was of a type that is unfortunately disappearing in this Great Land. His brother ran in his memory.

https://www.gq.com/story/dallas-seavey-iditarod

PS: I do find it interesting that the author writes about snowmobiles and uses the phrase snowmachine. As far as I know, that term, and ‘snow-go’, are uniquely Alaskan.

[TimeForWasp]

I was working in Fairbanks years ago during the Iditarod And saw a Pepsi truck go through an intersection and kill some dogs .

[ChiefEd]

Originally Posted by Coochie liquor

I do the vacation Iditarod twice a year. Usually in Jamaica and Mexico. It consists of waking up around sunrise, starting to drink immediately (bloody Mary’s, pineapple mimosa’s, and coffee with rum cream), then continuously drinking rum and diet all day, and still making it to the finish line at 1-2 am at the club and then back to the room for sex before passing out. Then I restart the vacation Iditarod all over again, until it’s time to go back home.

I do the same thing. In Belize. With Instagram models.

[frozenchief]

Iditarod started yesterday. It's the second day of the race and Dallas Seavey had to shoot and gut a moose on the trial. There are specific rules about what to do when you have to shoot wildlife on the trial.

I am unfamiliar with any other premiere race or sporting event that has rules about what to do when you have to kill an animal in the middle of the race. Not saying that no other event has such rules. Maybe the Baja 1000 does - what to do if you hit a deer. I mean, you never see them having to stop the Kentucky Derby and kill a wild animal.

https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventu...oose-on-trail/

And for those who don't read the article - the moose is gutted, race officials are notified, and locals will go take the meat from the animal so it won't go to waste.

[Hydrae]

Originally Posted by frozenchief

Iditarod started yesterday. It's the second day of the race and Dallas Seavey had to shoot and gut a moose on the trial. There are specific rules about what to do when you have to shoot wildlife on the trial.

I am unfamiliar with any other premiere race or sporting event that has rules about what to do when you have to kill an animal in the middle of the race. Not saying that no other event has such rules. Maybe the Baja 1000 does - what to do if you hit a deer. I mean, you never see them having to stop the Kentucky Derby and kill a wild animal.

https://www.adn.com/outdoors-adventu...oose-on-trail/

And for those who don't read the article - the moose is gutted, race officials are notified, and locals will go take the meat from the animal so it won't go to waste.

Even with this issue, Seavey still won for a record 6th time.

[Pennywise]

So it was in the way and that's why he shot it? Or did he hit it?

[TLO]

Hollywood Brown spotted at the Iditarod!

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Pennywise

So it was in the way and that's why he shot it? Or did he hit it?

I read somewhere that it got tangled in the dog harness.

This says that he got a penalty for not gutting it properly: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-ti-rcna142373 Per the article, they apply the penalty if they think he got a competitive advantage by not gutting it properly. I'm not sure why killing a big animal could possibly be a competitive advantage in any way. It seems like something you would want to avoid.

[frozenchief]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I read somewhere that it got tangled in the dog harness.

This says that he got a penalty for not gutting it properly: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-ti-rcna142373 Per the article, they apply the penalty if they think he got a competitive advantage by not gutting it properly. I'm not sure why killing a big animal could possibly be a competitive advantage in any way. It seems like something you would want to avoid.

Even with that penalty, Seavey won this year.

As far as the penalty, the rules govern what you must do if you have to kill a big game animal, such as a moose or a bison. Killing a big game animal is obviously an option of last resort but the results require that if you do, the animal must be properly gutted/cleaned.

For those who do not know, gutting means cutting the animal open and removing its intestines and organs. This does two things, both of which help preserve meat. The first thing it does is to cool an animal quite quickly. The fur on these animals is extremely thick and dense to retain heat. By opening a carcass, air can get through the fur and cool an animal.

Similarly, most of the bacteria that speeds decay is in the intestines. By removing the intestines, it will cool the intestines slowing their rate of decay but it will also remove a source of contamination from the carcass.

The race involves various checkpoints that are roughly 50 - 90 miles apart. These dogs run at around 6-7 mph so there might be a delay of a few hours for a musher to get to the next check point and tell people what happened. Local residents will go out and find the animal and bring it back to town, cutting it up and distributing the meat so it wont go to waste. (about 80+% of the local diet will be game anyway) In such circumstances, it would be tempting to not sufficiently gut an animal to save time. This rule is designed to prevent people from doing that so that the meat can be salvaged. I expect that Seavey told them what happened, continued with the race, locals went to the carcass and realized it had not been sufficiently gutted and informed race officials.

[BWillie]

Ive always wanted to whip a dog

[Pennywise]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I read somewhere that it got tangled in the dog harness.

This says that he got a penalty for not gutting it properly: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-ti-rcna142373 Per the article, they apply the penalty if they think he got a competitive advantage by not gutting it properly. I'm not sure why killing a big animal could possibly be a competitive advantage in any way. It seems like something you would want to avoid.

Maybe fresh meat or blood in their nostrils? I bet it works like a husky PED. Barry Bonds used to slaughter meeses before games. So there is some science to it.