Redington Controversy??

[COHusky]

?

[mira]

I think those who watched the livestream mentioned that he had problems leaving the checkpoint. Upon arrival in Nome I think the team looked quite "normal". He had long run times from WM to Safety (8 hours insted of 6-7 hours, Jason used 7.5 with 5 dogs), and even more so Safety - Nome. He made a (too?) big push to get to WM. I guess it means he didn't push at all from WM and in.

Regarding coming in I think it was reported that his dogs were confused by snowmachines, the leaders wanted to change to fresh trail afterneath so they keps shifting trail. I didn't see any of this.

[libby the lab]

Arm chair mushing at it's best. Ryan's 52 min interview explains his runs in detail and debunks a lot of Medred's speculation.

[elsietee]

I watched Ryan come in WM and agree that it didn't look good - emphasis on "look".

The dogs were trotting along the trail, close to WM, and a snowmachine and then a guy running went past them on a parallel trail going the other direction - at which point things got confusing for the dogs. They wanted to go on the parallel trail (further east, veering away from the CP) because apparently it was a harder trail. Ryan had to set his hook, go to the front of the team and move the lead dog over towards the correct trail (which is the "dragging" people saw) - and he had to do it several times before he was finally able to convince them that this was the correct trail. They came in under their own steam - he didn't drag them into the CP, they just needed to be convinced that that was the correct trail.

To put this into context, I just now happened to read this APR story praising Wade's dog Jet:

[Wade] recalled a few years earlier approaching Nome during the Iditarod in the Topkok Blowhole, a notoriously windy area where visibility is often reduced to next to nothing.

“I thought for sure we had to go left and I kept yelling ‘haw,’ and I even stopped the team and I went back and turned Jet to the left, and she kept going right,” said Marrs.

Eventually Marrs gave up trying to fight his leaders.

“I was kinda tired and frustrated with the whole thing and I was like, ‘You just go wherever you want,’ and then boom! There’s trail markers,” he said.

Lead dogs will pick the best trail - that's why they're chosen to lead. If there was a harder trail just off to the side, I can see Ryan's dogs wanting to stay on that trail.


Another one:

KattiJo:

Coming up Front Street her dogs didn't want any part of the police car leading them - they got really confused and kept diving into side streets, and wanting to follow pedestrians (because they're used to following someone running ahead of them when they come in a CP to park). Finally a random guy came out of the bar and ran in front of the dogs and they followed him, so she yelled at him "You're going to have to bring us in" - and he ran her all the way to the chute.

Dogs are sentient beings - and they will sometimes do unpredictable (or possibly predictable?) things. You don't steer them - you ask them to go a certain direction and if they don't agree, then you're going to have to come to an agreement with them somehow. And if that happens in a public place - in a high profile situation - it is all the more difficult.

* * *

When it was time to leave, Ryan's dogs did seem reluctant and I admit I was concerned. Again, the team wanted to veer off the trail and he had to move the lead dog back over towards the trail multiple times (again, the "dragging" mentioned). But they did eventually get going. This happened in the dark at midnight, so not so high profile. I was thinking back to that year that Brent's team didn't want to go - unfortunately that was in broad daylight, so much more visible, and Brent opted to not go to long lengths to get the team going.

But again, to put it into context, we watched Hunter have similar problems - and I know for a fact that team got TONS of rest. He rested 7.5 hours in Elim, then his 8 hours in WM. I watched those dogs on the straw, I watched him walk them individually, and I watched them get off the straw - and they looked happy and relaxed. Except. When it was time to leave, the lead dog decided "nope". His wheel dog was jumping up and down (and I think we commented at the time "he should put that wheel dog in lead!") and ultimately he had to wait for Wade to leave before they got going and followed Wade.

Unfortunately for Ryan, in his situation, there's no one to follow (and no scent-trail to convince them).

The whole context being: we see the crazy dogs at the start and all they want to do is gallop down the trail - and they're leaping and leaping and barking and barking to go. The contrast for people who just check in for the start and the finish has got to be startling. But in reality, that kind of über behaviour isn't sustainable. Even the happiest kid in Disneyland eventually settles down.

In my ignorance, I figured that if the dogs don't want to go, it's because they're tired. But in reality, dogs decide they don't want to go for all kinds of reasons - we just don't see it as often because we don't witness every single time the teams set off from wherever they're parked. We don't see the times when the dogs are confused on the trail and convinced the musher is an idiot and doesn't know what they're doing.

And I have to say I was very happy when I saw Ryan's dogs coming down Front Street - no hesitation - just trotting along to under the arch with no hesitation at all.

* * * *

Along similar lines, listening to Bridgett, during her award ceremony story:

This race was a lot harder for me this year than last year, believe it or not. Last year was pretty "easy" - until it got bad.

This year my dogs were a little different, so we were having some issues... and I would not be standing here if it wasn't for the people around me. God kept providing me with people when I needed them during my greatest adversities. I would not be here without Bailey, ... and Joanna, for picking me up off the river and not leaving me behind. And to Gerhardt for waiting an extra hour and a half to make sure I left WM. And that's what we do - we don't leave each other behind. We make sure we're going to make it...

The reason Jason Mackey is such an inspirational musher... I was the last one coming out of Shaktoolik [after she'd been there 24h 33 m - so plenty of rest] and it was a scary moment because I was on a ice patch and I had no traction and my dogs would not go... Everyone was gone ...and I figured this is it, my race is over, we're not going anywhere. Jason mushes past me, mushes up to the tundra, parks his team, turns around and walks back out on the ice - I'm crying (because I seemed to have cried this whole race) - and he said very calmly "Well, I wasn't just going to leave you out here".

I suspect dogs "not wanting to go" is a lot more common than we realise.

I love to ride my horse - but very often, having the impetus to get up and go is the hardest. Once I'm out there, I'll ride and ride and not want to stop, but having that extra "umpf" to actually get up, catch the horse, drive to the trail head is hard.

[COHusky]

Thanks to all those who responded. Not having "Insider" or doing FB I am a bit in the dark when it comes to the race footage. Sounds like dogs being dogs.
Unfortunately, with so much potential video out there, anyone with an agenda can take an isolated situation and make it into something else.

[fladogfan]

Thanks to all those who responded. Not having "Insider" or doing FB I am a bit in the dark when it comes to the race footage. Sounds like dogs being dogs.
Unfortunately, with so much potential video out there, anyone with an agenda can take an isolated situation and make it into something else.

Too true COHusky.

Thanks elietee for the posts of some mushers who have been there done that.

[COHusky]

?

[tanglefoot]

I personally don’t like medred,
Always has been negative or looks for the negative stories

[libby the lab]

Medred will do anything to spin his topic his way!

[boo]

Craig Medred is possibly the most negative person I have ever known. Would not want to live a second in his skin. And Angstrum is cut from the same piece of moth-eaten cloth, so of course Craig would reach out for his lawyerly opinion. A true echo chamber, those two. The front-runner leaders have the hardest job of all....no poop trail to follow and trust. Congrats to Ryan for what sounds like a challenging win.