I have made the decision to withdraw from the 2017 Yukon
Quest. This has not been an easy decision, nor one that I have taken lightly. I
am, however, making this decision knowing that it is the right thing to do for
my team this year. As most of you know, I have been training a large group of
yearlings, and those pups are now my core dogs and only solid leaders. While
they have been doing an excellent job in that position, they are only 16 to 20
months old, and just experienced their first race this last weekend. As I look
at the Quest trail, the teams signed up, and my current group of dogs, I
recognize that it would be unwise to start the toughest thousand mile race in
the world and rely on those young, inexperienced dogs to take us comfortably
down the trail. While they are very talented in my opinion, I don’t want to
risk their racing careers by getting into a situation that would be
overwhelming for them, and no longer be able to move down the trail because I
have no one to lead.
This decision is a bit last minute, as we would be leaving
for the start line in only two and a half weeks. But I have been thinking about
our dog numbers and experience levels for a long time, and the Knik 200 was an
excellent chance for me to analyze my youngsters on a new trail, in a new
situation, with a fresh mindset. While the team that finished performed very
well, I only finished with 8 of the 12 I started with, and a few of those guys
were not in perfect health either. The trail was definitely a contributing
factor, but also their age, experience and training this season. I recognized
from the start of our season that our yearlings were going to be the core
members of this year’s team. I did try and purchase a few solid leaders at the
end of the summer, but did not have much luck in that department. We also had a
few of our old standby leaders who were a part of training until recently, but are
just not going to be up to the challenge of running a thousand miles. So, I
have known that the pups were going to be the team, and there has been a part
of me that has recognized it might be a little too much for this year. But, you
do not know until you put the time in and see how things come together.
For those of you that are concerned we may not have another
race this year, do not fear! I have a few races in mind for the months of
February, March, AND possibly, even April. (Our friend and employee Riley is
planning to run the Kobuk 440, and it may be that I have to go up there and
help represent our neighborhood in that race… We will see.) Many of you may
also know from previous seasons, that we have been traveling to the North Slope
to do a spring caribou hunt. This year, Katti and I plan to go together and
setup our camp for a little longer, spending about two to three weeks on the
north side of the Brooks Range. We will be looking for caribou during that
time, but also enjoying the beauty and magnificence of that region by dog team,
traveling around to different river valleys and possibly making a trip to
Anaktuvuk Pass (depending on weather and snow conditions). Non of these other races or trips would be possible without the consistent training we have done in preparation for the Yukon Quest. It has been a fun and important season so far, and we definitely have a lot to
look forward to before the snow melts.
Thank you all for your continuing support of our dogs and
lifestyle, it means so much to us! I will continue to keep you informed as
training progresses, and have an update on 2017 races as we are able to sign up
and get into those events.
-Jeff
