“I reckon it’s again my turn to win some or learn some..” Jason Mraz  I’m Yours
 
The UP 200 will be an interesting race for me this year.
 
Our touring operation has been so wonderfully packed that we have been running tours, giving rides, and doing mini-drives non-stop.  It is perfect for us and our guides to have such a steady income stream but I am curios to see what effect it will have on our race results this weekend.  The UP 200 is a short enough race that in order to win, the dogs have to pick it up when the trail is hard and fast.  I am not so sure that my team is capable of picking it up at this point.  They have run a 3 mile loop over and over again for seven hours a day, pulling guests on a beautiful trail at Boyne Highlands Ski Resort for the past four days.  They will have two days off before the race but I think it might take them a few more than that to get them back in racing mode.
 
My UP 200 team this year:
 
Big Ben
6 years old, 72 pounds, neutered male.  Most of you know Big Ben.  He looks like a lab and runs like a freight train.  If I stay in this sport for another 50 years, it would not surprise me if I don’t ever get another leader that is as awesome as Ben in mid-distance races like the 200.
 
Gimli
5 years old, 55 pounds, neutered male.  He doesn’t like to eat and this hurts him in the Iditarod.  In a race as short as the 200 it doesn’t matter though.  Gimli will lead out of the chute with Ben.  They are both perfect Gee/Haw leaders so if the open areas in the race are blown in the dynamic duo will easily steer me through.
 
Clark
5 years old, 55 pounds, in-tact male.  The best sled dog I own.  Clark has finished three Iditarods, won two UP 200’s, raced in the Alps in France and has not missed a beat.  He is incredibly fast and agile and has the mental toughness to run in the deep snow too.
 
Jester
5 years old, 55 pounds, neutered male.  Originally from Jeff King’s kennel, I purchased Jester in Alaska last summer from Rich Corcoran.  By the time Jester arrived in Michigan he had already fit into my team.  He is cocky, hard driving and listens to every word I say.  He has finished the last two Iditarods but I am worried that sometimes Jester overdrives and he might wear himself out on a slow trail.
 
Onyx
3 years old, 55 pounds, in-tact male. He is giving Clark a run for his money in the best sled dog category..  He was on my winning team as a two year old and finished Iditarod looking better than he did at the start.  Onyx is built perfect and can both drive through the tough stuff and really open up on the hard packed trail.
 
Jade
3 years old, 55 pounds, in-tact male.  A brother to Onyx and almost as good.  He is not built quite as nice for the speed but was still able to keep up on last years winning 200 team as a 2 year old.  Jade is a natural leader and will get some time to show his talents again in this years Iditarod.
 
Erie
3 years old, 65 pounds, in-tact male.  He was another one of the two year olds off of last years superstar team.  He was dropped early in the Iditarod in the warm weather and the punchy trail.  This years slow trail in the 200 may not be his ideal path but I want to find out if he has learned to run smarter.
 
Superior
3 years old, 70 pounds, in-tact male.  Superior ran with Jake Berkowitz last year because I did not think “Sup-daddy” was athletic enough to stay healthy in the Iditarod.  Well, I was wrong, he made 20 miles from the finish with Jake.  Jake was so impressed with this hard driving bundle of happiness that he predicted Superior would be running lead in the 200 with Big Ben this year.  Look for Superior in lead on my team in the third or fourth leg of the race.
 
Gus
3 years old, 48 pounds, in-tact male.  Another dog off of Jake’s Iditarod team from last year.  Gus has the toughest feet I have ever seen on a dog.  He leads perfect, drives hard, and is perfectly focused.  Nice training Jake.
 
Coach
3 years old, 50 pounds, neutered male.  Last year Coach struggled to run with my main team when they were really cruising.  His trot was a little slow and his lope was bouncy.  Sometime over the summer though, Coach learned to Cantor (at least I think what the gate is called) and he now runs exactly like his uncle Big Ben.
 
Chong
4 years old, 50 pounds, in-tact male.  He has always been awesome.  Last year in the 200 though I ended up dropping Chong at the halfway point with a pulled back muscle which also kept him from going to the Iditarod.  Well Chong is back and better than ever.  He is now an awesome leader too and might get his turn up front this weekend.
 
Rhu
3 years old, 38 pounds, in-tact female.  She, yes “she”, may be as good as her dad Clark.  In 2008 she ran lead for Jake for most of his Iditarod and she may very well do the same for me in 2009.  Thanks again and again Jake!
 
I will be trying to win this race again.  That being said, here are my top 3 picks for the 2009 UP 200:
 
1-Jason Barron
He has incredible dogs and Jason has proven that he knows how to run them in adverse conditions.  I got to see Jason a few times during last years Iditarod and I really enjoyed his happy attitude on the trail.  It is a thrill to have a musher of this caliber racing with us in Michigan.
 
2-Matt Carstens
The trail will be a little slower than last year with the huge snowstorm that is currently hitting us with tremendously high winds and a bucket load of snow.  Matt is from New Hampshire and the trails out east have a reputation for being tough and slow.  If Matt has trained in these conditions his dogs will be mentally and physically ready for the chest deep snow.  Matt seems to have a super happy aura about him and that will help keep his team charged in what I think will be one of the slowest 200 trails on record.
 
3-Bill Johnston
If Bill runs smart, he could even do better than 3^rd.  If not, well, he could do a lot worse.  Bill is super competitive once out on the trail and he is running a dog team that trains in this area and is used to plodding through a soft trail.
 
Other mushers to watch:
 
Rebekah Chapman- probably my favorite musher to run with in the 200 because her dogs are trained perfectly and she has a smile that is contagious.  I know she is tough enough to win the race, are her dogs?
 
Tim Calhoun- He put the perfect race together two years ago and beat us by over an hour when I felt we had the best team we had ever had up to that point.  It would not surprise me if Tim did it again.
 
Eric Morris- At one point in last years race, Eric caught me, passed me, and left me in the dust.  I am positive that he will be bringing a tremendous amount of 4 legged talent again this year.
 
Krister Raasoch- Even though Krister is running a team of my one year olds, I am not ruling him out.  It would not surprise me if he pulled off the upset victory of the century. You see, everyone loves Krister so much that I could see his fan base cheating in multiple ways to help Krister get by all of us and take home the trophy.

“Scientists often have a naïve faith that if only they could discover enough facts about a problem, these facts would somehow arrange themselves in a compelling and true solution.”  Theodiosius Dobzhansky
 
It has been a wildly interesting year so far and the Iditarod is yet to come.
 
The dogs are wonderful!  Our training has been slow due to extra days giving rides at the ski resort and the bucket loads of snow here at home on our trails.  We may not have the speed to win a UP 200 but we will definitely have a lot of conditioning for the Iditarod.  I am down to a pool of 23 dogs for the Iditarod.  17 boys from last year, two boys from Jake’s 2008 Iditarod team , 3 dogs I purchased in Alaska over the summer, and a girl.  You heard me right, I may have a female on my Iditarod team this year.  Her name is Rhu and she is awesome!  Krister, Mike, Pat, and I are taking our UP 200 teams on a 120 mile campout tomorrow and currently Rhu is in my top 12.
 
I am sorry that I have had so few entries this season but there has been a few things to do.  Speaking of, back to them.