IditaProject Forum

Posted: **Sat Mar 12, 2022 3:39 pm**

From that APM article:

Neff, in an interview in Ruby, said race officials then gave him a choice.

“I was told I had a choice of scratching or being disqualified,” he said. “For the sake of the mushing community, I told them I was a scratch.”

Neff said veterinarians told him his dogs weren’t in good enough condition to run, and that there were no other options like taking a longer rest in Ruby. He said his dogs had diarrhea when he arrived in Ruby, but they had started to recover.

“I was on brakes most of the time. These girls are fast dogs,” he said. “Whatever happens to me happens to me — I love these dogs.”

I'm guessing from the above that the dogs were very thin (the one thing we couldn't see about them in their coats). Musing on it - once they've lost that weight, it's going to take a while to regain it. And unless he packed a week's worth of food in his Ruby drop bags (unlikely), it doesn't leave him much choice. If the dogs were sick, then the only thing to do is slow down, which he didn't appear to be doing, so it was a slow train wreck going down the trail.

Posted: **Sat Mar 12, 2022 3:47 pm**

Sounds reasonable, and as you say, it takes time to gain..

Posted: **Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:24 pm**

Here we go: https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/ ... disagrees/

Hugh, being Hugh, paints himself as the victim.

Nordman: "Hugh had told me that he had been struggling from issues from early on in the race and he felt that they were getting better, but you know for the best interest of his dogs and Iditarod and the sport, it was time for him to leave,” Nordman said. “If he didn’t scratch I would disqualify him." and "This is in Ruby. It’s a long way from Nome and it was obvious that he was struggling and I didn’t know how much he was struggling until he told me that".

Posted: **Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:56 pm**

Crooked Creek Kennel - Joshua McNeal:

After leaving the checkpoint of Galena today and hitting the river I made the decision to turn the team around and scratch. Everyone is in amazing condition and spirits, and even playing in the dog yard. They are eating like monsters and are in great shape. I had zero injuries this race, and the dogs were seriously killing it.

Since Ophir I had been dealing with leader issues, but had been able to move things around to make them work. Eventually I started running out of options on who could lead. I made the decision to scratch for the best interest of my dogs and my leaders. There was a ton of trail left to run, and I couldn’t see myself pushing them anymore to a potentially unsafe, and not fun situation. Although disheartening, I feel good with my decision knowing that I am putting my dogs interest above my own ego, and making sure they are always happy and healthy. Thanks for everyone who followed along to this point and I am sorry to disappoint. There’s always next year.

Posted: **Mon Mar 14, 2022 4:30 am**

Hugh, being Hugh, paints himself as the victim.

Sun comes up in the east.
Flowers bloom in the spring.
Hugh blames the corrupt establishment that is out to get him for his misfortunes.

Posted: **Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:25 am**

i think what Hugh is failing to realize, is that he is on a "close to watch" list.There are a few others that are on this list. Rookies, of course, mainly those, that this their first 1000 miler. But also those that are getting old, and seem to no longer be able to handle the difficult situations. I am thinking of Jim Lanier. With Hugh, also Lance Mackey, it is how they have managed their dogs, or themselves in this race or other races, that has put them on a watch closely list. When others stopped to rest between Cripple and Ruby. Hugh did it in one run. You can do this with healthy dogs. But with dogs that are not healthy yet, this long run was probably a red flag. And who knows what arguments and discussions the check point vets and Hugh had earlier. My guess is that, the vets needed the race marshal to step in. Because Hugh wasn't listening to them.

Posted: **Mon Mar 14, 2022 6:27 am**

" My guess is that, the vets needed the race marshal to step in. Because Hugh wasn't listening to them.[/quote]

I'd second that. The vets leapfrog from checkpoint, so it is also a good bet that Hugh was facing vets who had seen his team earlier in the race. That would mean a who could easily recognize loss of weight and condition.

Posted: **Mon Mar 14, 2022 6:28 am**

Veteran Iditarod musher Josh McNeal (bib #45) of Fairbanks, Alaska, scratched at 8:05 p.m. today at the Galena checkpoint.
McNeal made the decision to scratch in the best interest of his race team.
McNeal had 10 dogs in harness at the time he made the decision to scratch.

I read that the dogs were all fine, but he was having leader issues.

Posted: **Mon Mar 14, 2022 6:45 am**

For those of you who saw my picture in Facebook of the food left by Hugh's dogs at Rainey Pass, I wonder if that was an indication of his issues.

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2022 4:06 am**

sc-race-fan wrote:For those of you who saw my picture in Facebook of the food left by Hugh's dogs at Rainey Pass, I wonder if that was an indication of his issues.

I thought you posted it was from Redington's ? Or maybe there's another picture that I didn't see?

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