Living in Alaska - February 2008

Sunday, February 3rd - Junior Yukon Quest

Yesterday, Steve and I went downtown for the start of the Junior Yukon Quest race. The race is 135 miles long and starts and ends in downtown Fairbanks, under the Cushman Street bridge. The junior mushers race from Fairbanks to Twin Bears Recreation Area and back. There is a mandatory eight-hour rest at Twin Bears. Then, the mushers return to North Pole, where dog drivers must lay over four hours before proceeding to the finish line back in Fairbanks. Mushers were evaluated for their camping and dog care skills in North Pole.

At 11:44am this morning, the local favorite - Ava Lindner, age 17, of Two Rivers (and the daughter of 1984 Quest champion Sonny Lindner) - crossed the finish line with all ten of her dogs.

Here are photos and a short bio of the race entrants in the 2008 Junior Yukon Quest. I'm posting them in bib order.

	Name: Kristen Crain Bib #1 Home: Talkeetna, Alaska Age: 17 Previous Races: 08 Jr. Cantwell Classic, ’07 Jr. Iditarod Personal: Kristen has been running dogs since 1997
	Name: Ava Lindner Bib #2 Home: Two Rivers, Alaska Age: 17 Previous Races: 07 Junior Iditarod Personal: Ava is a junior at Lathrop High School. She has lived in Alaska all her life and has always enjoyed the outdoors. She enjoys snowboarding, snowmachining, and fourwheeling, but running dogs is her favorite hobby. She plans on continuing mushing after she graduates. She plans on attending UAF and running the Iditarod in 2010 and hopes to run the Yukon Quest soon after.
	Name: Yuta Takagi Bib #3 Home: Anchorage, Alaska Age: 14 Previous Races: 07 Jr. Cantwell Classic, 06 & 07 Jr. ASDRA Fur-Rendezvous World Championships, 06 & 07 Jr. Eagle River Classic, 07 Jr. Aurora Dog Musher’s Association Championship Personal: Yuta is 14 years old and goes to the Aurora Waldorf School of Alaska. His favorite subject is math, especially Geometry. He has a younger brother named Seiji who also mushes. He has been mushing since he was 10, through the Little-Su 4-H Club. He is looking forward to running the 08 Jr. Yukon Quest.
	Name: Wade Marrs Bib #4 Home: Wasilla, Alaska Age: 17 Previous Races: 07 Junior Iditarod Personal: Wade began mushing seven years ago. His mom and uncle taught him how to mush and “when my uncle died, I started to mess with the dogs because my mom lost interest. I used my uncle’s old dogs to train my pups. He attends Wasilla High School and is the 11th grade. He participates in wrestling and says he enjoys trapping, fishing, hunting and riding a snow machine.
	Name: Cody Cadzow Bib #5 Home: Fort Yukon, Alaska Age: 16 Previous Races: 07 Junior Iditarod Personal: Cody is the son of Jay Cadzow, who took fifth in the 1993 Quest and third in 1995.
	Name: Charlie Allison Bib #6 Home: Talkeetna, Alaska Age: 16 Previous Races: 06 and 07 Jr. Iditarod, 07 Jr. Cantwell Classic Personal: Charlie is 16 years old and homeschools with the Chugach School District in the 11th Grade. Besides running dogs he enjoys fishing, reading, bike riding, & learning to drive. He also participates in community theater. He spends a lot of time with his family which includes his parents, grandmother, brother, sister-in-law & nephew. His brother and sister-in-law also run dogs so they often go out together. He plans to go to UAF after taking a year off to run the Iditarod.
	Name: Meredith Mapes Bib #7 Home: Wasilla, Alaska Age: 14 Previous Races: 07 Jr. Cantwell Classic, Jr. World Championship, Jr. North American, Chugiak Dog Mushers Races, Aurora Championships Personal: Meredith is a 14 year old freshman home schooler with the IDEA program. She first became interested in mushing through Girl Scouts and was hooked after winning her first race (one dog at the Willow Winter Carnival). She now has 12 dogs in training, one puppy, and two pets in her kennel. She hopes to attend UAF then veterinary school before returning to Alaska to continue mushing. She is a member of the Little Su 4-H Club which has helped her tremendously with her training and education about her dogs.

According to the Junior Yukon Quest website, the results are as follows:

Finish
Bib 2 Lindner into finish at 11:44 10 dogs
Bib 5 Cadzow into finish at 12:37 9 dogs
Bib 6 Allison into finish at 1:30PM with 9 dogs
Bib 4 Marrs into finish at 12:00 8 dogs

Bib 1 Kristen Crain returned to Valley Center with 8 dogs @ 9:22 PM last night and was scratched
Bib 7 Mapes at Nordale 1:45PM today and was scratched.

Still no word about Bib 3 - Takagi - on the website.

Pretty Parka	Ava Lindner unloading dogs	Kristen Crain Bib	Harnesses Ready
Ava Lindner and Dog	Waiting to be harnessed	Meredith Mapes and Family	Excited dog!
Putting booties on the dogs	Start/Finish Line	Ava Lindner off the starting line	Kristen Crain team
Kristen Crain	Meredith Mapes	At the start	Dog team
The next group of photos were taken at the Nordale Bridge checkpoint. There were a couple of loose dogs on the frozen river (frosty face to the right, and his friend, who greeted the teams)	Snow Loving Dog	Loose dogs greet the teams	Ava Lindner
Meredith Mapes	Inspecting injured dog	Meredith Mapes dropped a dog when she got to the Nordale Bridge checkpoint.	Injured dog dropped

Next weekend is the Yukon Quest. Steve and I will be out there for the start of that race too. I just hope it's not too cold. We were lucky yesterday, as the temperature was a *balmy* 11 below zero.

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