IditaProject Forum

Dennis Kananowicz

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2021
Veteran Iditarod musher Dennis Kananowicz scratches at McGrath (S) checkpoint
Anchorage, Alaska – Veteran Iditarod musher Dennis Kananowicz (bib #8) of Tolsona, Alaska,
scratched at 4:19 a.m. today at the McGrath (S) checkpoint.
Kananowicz made the decision to scratch in the best interest of his race team.
Kananowicz had 11 dogs in harness at the time he made the decision to scratch.

:*(

That doesn't surprise me - he seemed to be on the fence way back in McG the first time he went through and they were interviewing him. He seemed v. worried about doing the return trail (although so far, they seem to be reporting that the Burn is in good shape after the snow).

10 out of 46, that is 20%.

One of them were covid, one were a bad accident, one were illness on musher. Wonder if many hasn't been able to train the teams as usual because of you-know-what?

We have seen it in other sports, sky high numbers of serious injuries on ACLs for instance in European handball and soccer.

mira wrote:10 out of 46, that is 20%.

One of them were covid, one were a bad accident, one were illness on musher. Wonder if many hasn't been able to train the teams as usual because of you-know-what?

We have seen it in other sports, sky high numbers of serious injuries on ACLs for instance in European handball and soccer.

Possible, but far less likely than other professional sports. It's a socially distanced activity done by people who like social distance.

Edit: I was a little flippant, so thought I'd add an explanation. Mushers have not been out less, we're out on the trails as much as ever. It's just that it's not been possible to hold events. Race organizers and venues are not willing to take on the responsibility of being "super spreader events". We are out with our dogs.

I think it's likely that the lack of events has caused the sick dogs. Normally, teams would be mixing during race season, and they are exposed to the doggie viruses early and often, so get to herd immunity earlier in the season. Add to that the Iditarod is an out and back, with the dogs running over the same trail twice, and the lead teams never really are exposed to viruses that are there.

GK

Thanks, I know mushing is very covud-friendly, I was thinking about the lack of race situation for dogs and musher. I noticed Dallas compared the whole race with training.

Didn't think about the out and back, that makes sense.

In these contact sports it is likely the lack of competition like practices that partly is to blame.

From Brenda Mackey regarding her scratch and more: https://mackeysdistancedogs.com/news/id ... -dog-team/

GK

What an ordeal Brenda and her team went thru.
Thanks for the post Gate.