tiaga 300

[tanglefoot]

i know this race has finished but couldnt see a thread for it...it was running around the same time as the kobuk 440, anyway fantastic post from eric rogers on his run in it, i believe he came 2nd and won the vets award for his dog care too. the race is put on by zoya denure and her husband each year from their lodge. its a there and back 300 miler and an iditarod qualifier if i remember right.

heres his post of part of his race...

Believe in your dog team and your dog team will believe in you. – Frank Turner

One of the nice things about being on a learning curve is that every year I learn a little more and get a little better. Every year I can honestly say “This is the best team I’ve ever driven”. Even though we finished Iditarod in 68th, just like 2006, we shaved two days off our finish time. Every year as the season winds down I look at this marvelous dog team, trained and ready with nowhere to go. A spring race, like the Taiga 300, is a gift giving us one more chance to go play before we shut down for the summer. The race started at noon Tuesday (to avoid weekend traffic on the trails) at Wolverine lodge on Lake Louise with a 65 mile loop coming back to the Lodge. It was designed to be run without a handler and since my faithful crew all had day jobs I was here alone. It was a funny feeling as I harnessed and bootied my team not to have Lexi, Leslie, and Bonnie nearby. John and Zoya, the race organizers, keep things simple; we started directly from out trucks, which were parked in random order. I was the 4th musher to arrive and picked a spot in the front row closest to the lodge. Just before the race temperatures had been running between plus and minus 20, but a front moved through and the race started at at nearly 40 degrees. Preparations went smoothly. John counted us down while I was walking back from my leaders and said I could go any time as he left to count down the next team. I stored my leader hook, put on my parka and quickly caught my sled. Instead of taking the small trail straight ahead to connect to the outgoing trail, my brave and brilliant leaders decided to take a sharp left and follow the main snowmachine trail which ran in front of the truck directly to the lodge. In doing so they wrapped the snubline holding the sled to the truck around the top of the sled, threatening to pull the sled on its side and spill my drink cooler before I even started. I was all I could do to hold the sled at a 45 degree angle to vertical while I called “gee”. Platinum and Dash never even looked back. They knew a major trail when they saw it and there was no way some silly musher was going to tell them differently. I looked for John, but he had left. I looked for any other race official, but I was an Iditarod veteran. I was supposed to know what I was doing and the officials were watching the rookies trying to qualify in case they needed help. There was a gentleman I hadn’t seen before watching the start and I quickly signaled him I needed help. This guy must have been part mind reader and part genius because he got my leaders, followed my hand signs (you couldn’t hear for the screaming dogs wanting to go), and saved my neck. To whomever you are, a hearty “Thank You”. Once Platinum and Dash saw the stakes they followed them and we were off. Meanwhile I’m thinking this is not an auspicious start to a race. I found out after the race that several teams had problems with the start and I wasn’t alone, just the first. A quick trip off the lake, through the trees, across the road and we were on the groomed 14 feet wide snowmachine highway to Eureka. We started with good snow, occasionally going to ice where overflow / melt water had frozen, but as we went west the snow thinned and bare spots appeared. The bare spots grew larger until we had football field length sections of trail over tundra, moss, and occasional branches where they were doing trail work, shades of the trail leaving Rohn this year. There were three teams ahead of me at the start and I caught two of them. We were traveling at nearly the same speed. I would pass them and then they would catch and pass me (dogs like to chase). This continued for 20 miles until we turned north into the hills. Hills are not our forte and we were passed by several teams during the various climbs, but the views from up on top were gorgeous. Finally we crested the last major climb and started back down to Lake Susitna which connects to Lake Louise. The dogs finished strong, but we were the 12th team to arrive (with a 6:42 run) and because of the start differentials we would be the 14th team to leave. I knew we were not a 14th place team and fully expected to climb to the middle of the 18 team field before the race was over. Chores were quickly performed and I crashed in a corner of the lodge for what was left of our mandatory 8 hour rest. That was a major mistake. The night before the start I slept in the same location and got a reasonable rest, but Tuesday night was race night and some fans were thoroughly enjoying the hospitality at the bar. With all the noise I rested, but could not sleep – with the warm temperatures I should have slept outside with the dogs.

Keep ‘em Northbound Eric