Sigrid Ekran

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Sigrid Ekran

Postby tilstede2 » Sat Feb 09, 2008 2:18 pm

Found a looong article about Sigrid Ekran here: http://www.t-a.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article ... /986539647
Nice story, with a lot of information.

Going to bed soon, but will start tranlating it tomorrow.
If any of my translator collegues are planning to translate it, please notice me, so we can avoid double work.
There is also a possibility to cooperate by translating separate parts of the text.

Edit: got second thoughts. There might be some copyright involved here, so I'll do a rethink before I evt. start translating.
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Re: Sigrid Ekran

Postby MotorWerk » Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:16 am

Perhaps you could send them an email and ask if its ok to translate the article?
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Re: Sigrid Ekran

Postby tilstede2 » Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:21 am

Yes, that's an idea.
But the answer most likely would be "no".
There's a growing public interest, and if SIgrid do well in this years Iditarod, then this article should be easy to sell. It is well written and contains a lot on her background.
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Re: Sigrid Ekran

Postby MotorWerk » Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:34 am

Perhaps. It is a really good article, but I doubt one can copyright background information...
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Re: Sigrid Ekran

Postby tilstede2 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:04 am

Eskil asked the journalist, and we are granted permission to translate the article :-)

The translation will be done by both of us, and will be posted piece by piece, as we finish the different parts.
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Re: Sigrid Ekran Article (part 1)

Postby tilstede2 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:50 pm

First part of the article by Gøril Engesvik, Tronder-Avisa , febr. 4, 2008.
FInd the photos here: http://www.t-a.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/TEMA14/986539647

Living the dream in Alaska

Sigrid Ekran traded her old Nissan with a dog. Ahead lies her second participation in the world’s toughest sled dog race, Iditarod in Alaska.

Picture: TOUGH COOKIE: Sigrid Ekran (27) is happiest at -20c.

A bright red stripe is contrasting against a blue Alaskan sky and the mountain contures. The sun is setting, and the stars are popping out.

With a Norwegian flag on the tail, a large Ford is driving down the highway through the snowcovered landscape. Two dog sleds are placed on the roof, and inside the car lies 21 alaskan huskies. These are the muscles which are going to bring Sigrid Ekran (27) from Sparbu along the trail in the 1.800 km long sled dog race Iditarod.

The trail starts in Anchorage, sling over mountains, through empty wilderness and passes ghostly gold digger’s towns, and ends up in Nome, Alaska, USA.

After seven hours on the highway, the team finally reaches their target. – Hello Sigrid, nice to see you again!

The married couple Kent and Susan Kaltenbacher runs out of their house to greet the Norwegian visitor. They name themselves Sigrid’s Alaskan parents. They helped her to prepare for Iditarod 2007, where Sigrid came 20 of 82 mushers, best first time musher – Rookie of the Year, and also finished as best woman.

Now she and the dogs have returned to the couple living way out in the forest, one and a half hours drive from Anchorage. Around the little, blue house there are 30 dogs tied outside separate dog’s houses. They are jumping and dancing and barking. There are strangers approaching!

The blue Alaskan light gradually grows darker and Sigrid gets her head lamp. The dogs are to be trained, even if it soon is dark.

Picture: ALASKAN MAMA: Susie Kaltenbacher is naming herself Sigrid’s Alaskan mommy and compliments the Sparbu-girl’s participation in the dog sled race Copper Basin, even if she got lost and came in as no. 4.
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Sigrid Ekran Article part 2

Postby tilstede2 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:50 pm

Good help

After several hours in the car they are ready for a good run. Half of the dogs are going out, the rest have participated in a race and needs to rest, Sigrid says.

Mark Chin and Kristine Nyborg are the handlers in Sigrid’s team. They help her to look after the dogs. The three of them quickly gets the dogs out and fasten them on both sides of the big truck.

- I am lucky because I’ve got someone who helps me. I don’t like the administrative part af the job. What I want is to train the dogs, she says.

The Ford is owned by Team Norway and the Norwegian Robert Sorlie, the double winner of Iditarod. Sigrid helped him with the dogs and packing of food drops during the races in 2004 and 2005. As a pay back she is borrowing the car.

- I’m keeping the car warm, she smiles. – It has plenty of room for the dogs, but is expensive in use due to enourmous gas consumption.

Should have won the Copper Basin

The team is coming straight from Glen Allen, where Sigrid and the dogs not long ago raced in to a forth position in the sled race Copper Basin. But the 27-year old is not satisfied. She was leading the race halfway, but got lost the last miles.

- I was in lead and everything went perfect. The last leg should normally take 45 mins. Instead I got off track and followed a snowmobile trail in to the forest. I spent several hours before getting back on track. A very bad experience, she states, while putting black booties on the dogs.

- They protect their paws against snow lumps and ice, she adds. But Sigrid are very pleased with the dogs. They are in top shape, which they proved during the race.

Tonight Mark will be the one who is going out with the dog team. Sigrid is going to take three of the dogs to the vet. Islay and Puppi has got sore muscles, and the young dog Rapture is limping on one leg. All three dogs were left at a check point in the Copper Basin Race. Sigrid is worried. When only a month remaining before Iditarod starts, she wants every dog to be in top shape, and especially the lead dog Islay.

-When we are in trouble, she grabs responsibility, runs forward and finds the trail. Meanwhile the other dogs are confused and gets nervous. I trust her a 100 per cent and need her to recover for the Iditarod, Sigrid says.

Alaska-mommy calls the vet and asks for an appointment. And yes, they do have a free spot for Sigrid because of a cancellation, so she is welcome to come over.

- It is important to me to visit this special vet. She has herself been racing dogs and is very clever with huskies. What we are dealing with is top trained athletes, Sigrid says.

Edit (forgot the text for one of the picures):

Photo: LEGEND: Dog musher Susan Butcher won Iditarod four times before dying from cancer in 2006. Sigrid was Butcher's handler in 2005, and now she lives in her hunting cabin in Eureka.

[To be continued. Next part to be published by Eskil (probably on wednesday). This far about one third of the article has been presented.]
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Re: Sigrid Ekran

Postby SuldalsXpressen » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:57 pm

Ok. This is part two. Please don't be bothered with spelling, it is late and my fingers are not behaving ;) Oh, and the italic isn't all that well put, but :o I don't care. You'll figure it out!!


Lives in an old, worn hunting cabin

First she has to buy dog food. What cuts most into Sigrid's tight budget is just that; dog food. 500 dollars keeps the dogs well fed for fourteen days. Sigrid puts the "not-feeling-too-well" dogs into the car and once again takes off down the road.

-The distances in Alaska are long, but you get used to it. When I'm in this district I always buy the food at Underdog feed, she says.


After an hour or so she drives off the highway and parks at a large store by the road. It is now late and pitch dark.

-Dear me, I know that face, the shop owner Karin Skogen says in a clear norwegian dialect (Vågå).


She was bitten by the dog musher bug about 20 years ago. Now she sells dog food and sparkstøttinger (a norwegian sled-like thingy you can use as a means of transportation - you stand on it and kick/run to move forward. Will find pic later :D ) in the small city of Wasilla.

-You wouldn't happen to have some chicken skin?
-No, sorry. All out, Skogen answers. The conversation flows easily between the two norwegian ladies. Sigrid buys meat and dry food, before driving on through the forest.


Rapture is the first dog to see the vet in Nancy Lake. Unwilling he is dragged into the white painted office where three "retired" dogs lie in their own personal sofa covered in dog hair. They take a glance at the intruders but not being interested in the young dog with a bad leg, they return to whatever they were doing.

The vet, Susan Whiton, examines the hips and legs, and Rapture quickly whines to say that it hurts. Whiton beleives the dog has twisted his spine, or that he has a pulled a muscle. He is put on muscle relaxing pills for seven days. If he doesn't get better he'll need an x-ray.

-Good. If the pills help he'll be set for Iditarod, Sigrid says with relief in her voice.
The girls Islay and Puppi also get news. Rest is all it takes for the muscles to loosen up.


Sigrid lives in a worn down hunting cabin in Eureka, about 300km north of Fairbanks. She has not got any tap water, electricity or sewer system. An outhouse with three walls, a brook close by and a tiny shelter is just swell for the child of nature that Sigrid is. Her handlers, Kristine and Mark, live in the cabin too.

-This place is just so beautiful. I just love it there, and the dogs do too. At christmas we had close to 40 degrees Celcius.


We get water from the brook, but we need to make a hole with an axe first. Heat comes from firewood, and it really doesn't take much to heat up the small room where we eat, sleep and live, she says.

She lives without internet and telephone. The nearest village, Manley Hot Springs, is 20 miles away. The 40 people that live there enjoy a small store.

Bears are frequent guests

Sigrid often is paid visits from bears, wolves and other wild creatures.

-I've seen bears many times, but have no scary experiences with them. They come to the cabin looking for dog food, but normally takes off as soon as they are spotted. I'm not afraid of bears, but do have a lot of respect for them. And I keep a gun, just in case, she says.


The cabin in Eureka belonged to the best know musher in the States, Susan Butcher, who has won the Iditarod four times. Sigrid worked as a handler for Butcher, whom died of cancer in 2006.

-She is a legend in Alaska, and was a fantastic musher. I worked for her the fall of 2005 and learnt alot, Sigrid says.




Born and raised in Sparbu, Norway

Sigrid is born on a small farm in Sparbu, and has been in love with animals for as long as she can remember.

-We had a cat, dogs, a horse, rabbits, lambs and a couple of geese. And I was probably the reason we still had animals on the farm, she says and smiles.


The 27 year old has taken a degree in forestry and outdoors biology at a college in Hedmark, Norway.

-We had an awesome college environment. I lived together with two students that took the same courses I did. If possible, we went to school by dog sled. We only had six dogs, hence it was mainly a hobby.


In 2003 she had a chance of a year abroad, and decided to go to the University of Fairbanks to study wildlife biology. Since that time she has been a resident of Alaska.

-I finished a master in polar science and anthropology last fall. But I'm more interested in mushing. It has become a lifestyle for me. I get to combine the two things that means the most for me; being outside and being with the dogs, she says.

The first year Sigrid lived in Alaska, she helped Team Norway and Kjetil Backen with packing dog food for the checkpoints of the Iditarod. The following year she helped Robert Sørlie.

-That's when it all started. Robert wondered if I wanted to build a team of my own. Boy did I want to!! For helping him she was given four dogs, Sabene and Helene (female) and Sesar and Otello (male), she says.



Part three is coming up!


Eskil
Mmmmmm...... Unalakleet... DO'H!!!
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Re: Sigrid Ekran

Postby Gatekeeper » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:04 pm

I love this woman! She will finish top 10 and be a contender in the upcoming years. She has what it takes- the love of the sport, the will, and the skill. She is so tough!
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Re: Sigrid Ekran

Postby MotorWerk » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:20 am

The translation is coming along nicely I see. I hope the journalist got our gratitude.
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