ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten

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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby Editen » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:35 am

MotorWerk wrote:Hello Ed. Welcome to our forum. You've been pretty close to winning the Iditarod and I hope you might do so in the near future.

Questions; do you think mushing has become too much about genetics? Would you clone a dog if you had the opportunity?

Thanks for your time and the best of luck to you and your team this coming season. Know that there's at least one person from Norway who will cheer you on towards victory these coming months.

S Olsen/Norway


I believe good genetics is essential to building a successful racing kennel. As a breeder and a racer, I still find excitement in trying to build a `better mouse trap.` The sameness of cloning would leave us all looking for something else to compare ourselves against.

Hi to Keitil R. if you see him in passing - I met him on one of my earlier Iditarods.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby Editen » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:40 am

sc-race-fan wrote:WoW, I get to be second!!
Thanks for joining us, you will soon see we are a bunch of Idita-fanatics from all over the world who enjoy the race. My questions are:
What is your favorite trail food? How do you keep your fingers warm when doing those tasks that require uncovered dexterity? If you were not a musher what else would you do "in your spare time"? More questions later, but nap time is over and I'm helping with the feeding!!

Black muktuk is my favorite trail food. That with hot tea seems to give a lot of calories with minimum bulk and keep my circulation high so I don't get cold hands.

Wood working and art.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby Editen » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:46 am

Tonichelle wrote:What inspired you to start running dogs competitively?

and what inspires you to continue?


In 1985 I was driving dogs down from my trap line on the upper Kobuk to Kotzebue to work on a carpentry project. I was traveling with Jim Wilson who was going to Kotzebue to race the Kobuk 220. He talked me in to racing the 220 and I took second place behind Herbie Nayakpuk by a minute and a half. That was the beginning of the end.

the end.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby Editen » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:50 am

CynCyn37 wrote:Welcome aboard Ed!

Thank you so much for joining us.

How was the All Alaska Sweepstakes versus the Iditiarod? Did you like it better or worse? How was the organization of the event.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer our questions. It really helps this Texan who never even gets to see snow.


I loved the All Alaska Sweepstakes though I had pneumonia at the time which kind of took some of the fun out of it. It was run a little looser than the Iditarod which gave it a breath of fresh air. The organization of the race itself was excellent.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby Editen » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:56 am

tanglefoot wrote:wow ed iten now as well...guess we have had the top 20 best mushers in the world joining us now for chats...you guys all are fantastic thanks!

ed, what made you decide to move into the bush to home your kennels?

what bloodlines are you currently running/breeding?

what is your favourite race?

many thanks

matt


I have never chosen to live in towns and when I've had to I've never liked it. Living remote in northwest Alaska is where I finally found my peace. Raising and running dogs made for practical transportation as fish are abundant and free and gas and motor parts are anything but.

The base bloodlines of my kennel go back to Champaigne, Sanderson, Butcher, and the upper Kobuk breed.

My favorite race is still the Kobuk 440. Four hundred and thirty-eight miles of beautiful country with twenty hours of daylight.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby Editen » Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:00 pm

Moose wrote:Hi Ed! You've got photos of what appear to be some pretty big dogs on your website right now. Are the photos misleading, or are the dogs larger than one might expect in a long-distance kennel?


We tend to breed in favor of a bit larger dog, often fifty to sixty pounds as we primarily train cross country with a lot of trail breaking. With that being said, my all time favorite dog is Zoey, a little thirty-five pound spit-fire leader.

I like that - wag more, bark less (Ruth, University of Maine at Orono class of 1981)
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby Editen » Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:09 pm

boo wrote:Hey, Ed....you've been on my 'wish he'd win' list forever. You have absolutely gorgeous dogs and I love that you eat Native foods out there on the trail. Thank you for joining us here at this forum, which is a wonderful warm place, to a large part due to the generosity of the kids of BSSD. We feel like Bush Alaska is so generous to the race, and without the communities and the culture, the race wouldn't be what it is. That said, just a few questions:

1. Where are you at in your kennel.....how many experienced dogs, how many newbies, what ratio of leaders to team dogs (don't give away any secrets if they are proprietary). ;) How big a pool are you pulling from? Are all the dogs you hit the line with yours or do you have access to and train with the dogs belonging to others in your area/village? IF you have leased/borrowed dogs, what is that like and how far out do you make that decision?

2. I assume your dogs do 'chores'....what is that like, what do they do....give us a glimpse into running a kennel where you do.

3. Who is the biggest 'character' in your team? We love anecdotal and funny stories that bring the dogs on your team to life for us. If we have a mug shot of them, then we watch for them during the race, too. Weird, huh. 8-)




Thank you so much for taking time out of training and prep to join us here, Ed.



We have twenty-two race proven dogs with another sixteen young recruits to carry us through the race season. That is the total pool for Quinn, my son, and I to work with this year. My major races will be the Kusko 300, the Ididtarod, and the Kobuk 440. Quinn needs to qualify this year for next year's Iditarod so he needs to run a two hundred mile, a three hundred mile and possibly the Jr. Iditarod. We have never leased dogs, nor do we have access to dogs from other kennels.

Our training primarily consists of chores. A run to town and back is fifty-two miles the short way. A normal hunting trip to the caribou grounds is fifty miles minimum, all unbroken trail. The younger dogs are used for hauling wood from the wood-lot and checking under ice nets on the Sound.

I need to get out and train now. I'll think of a character and let you know who later.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby tanglefoot » Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:00 pm

its great to hear of guys still traplineing dogs. do these same dogs on your trapline team then get to run in the A team, do you find the old ways of running a trapline with dogs makes dogs that will fair better on the tougher trails that occur during iditarod than others?
Believe in your dog team and your dog team will believe in you. – Frank Turner
TANGLEFOOT SLED DOG RACING TEAM
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby SuldalsXpressen » Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:31 pm

Thank you Itens for being here!! This is christmas come early :D

1.You are a fast finisher! Do you sometimes feel that you should have pushed hard a bit earlier and then won?
2.What, if, would you change about the Iditarod race? Fewer checkpoints, less teams, etc...?
3.Winter/summer, what's your favourite?
4.Who do you consider your hardest opponents for this season?
5.Is there a musher, besides yourself, you really would see win the Iditarod?

a norwegian greeting from Eskil
Mmmmmm...... Unalakleet... DO'H!!!
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol. 11: Ed Iten (starts 12/15)

Postby Spock » Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:47 am

Ed, thanks for taking the time to do this. Just a few questions...

1. What is your typical day like living in the bush? What is most challenging? If you could expound a little... (I wonder if I could do this.)

2. What is your opinion of the Ion Earth system? Does it give anyone an advantage?

3. Do you think drug testing should be mandatory for the mushers before/during the Iditarod?

And for Ruth...

What was the Appalachian Trail like? What section did you do and was that your first time on the trail?

Ed, the Iditarod. Ruth, the Appalachian. Wow... Impressive!
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