In an era when high-tech equipment and training dominate athletics, competitors in the world's most prestigious sled dog race dedicate their efforts to nurturing man's traditional best friend.
'I think nothing of myself or my own comfort,' says Susan Butcher, who enters this year's Iditarod as the world's premier musher and two-time defending champion. 'I worry about the dogs and their comfort. I sleep between one and two hours a day.'
Butcher will try to extend her winning streak in the Iditarod starting March 5 in the 1,152-mile race across frozen Alaskan terrain from Anchorage to Nome. She has taken 30 hours off the Iditarod record over the past two races, completing last year's trail in 11 days, 15 hours and 6 minutes. The year before capturing her first title, she dropped out of the race when two of her dogs were killed by a moose.
Although she drives and rests in four-hour stints, her stops are dedicated to preparing food and beds and changing the boots on her team of Alaskan huskies. When she's fast, she can take care of her dogs and squeeze in a 15-minute nap before returning to the trail.
'My gear is good, not great,' says Butcher, 33, who works full time training and breeding her dogs in Eureka, Alaska. 'There are a lot of people who spend a lot of time on gadgets, but that's not going to win you the race -- your dogs are.'
Temperatures varyfrom 40-below Fahrenheit to above freezing on the trail across the Alaska Mountain Range. Mushers generally use 15 to 20 dogs, with more dogs providing extra power but requiring additional care. Tired dogs can be left with veterinarians at the 27 checkpoints that dot the course.
Butcher uses both male and female dogs, mainly between the ages of 3 and 6. She chooses a team from her kennel of more than 100 dogs, keeping about half her pack from the previous year.
John Patten, whose 45th birthday falls one day into the race, will be making his first Iditarod appearance. Patten has trained himself for the grueling race, but like Butcher, says his dogs are the key to victory.
'First of all, you have to know animals,' says Patten, a youth minister who lives in northern Minnesota. 'To know means to spend many hours with them over months, so you know every dog like you know every member of your family -- their idiosyncrasies, strengths and downfalls. You have to relate to each one individually.'
For both the rookie and defending champion, traveling across frozen terrain by sled offers an experience unaffected by where they finish in the Iditarod.
'I think there's a real spiritual element in it,' Patten said. 'When you go into the unknown, you communicate with a power greater than you. For some people, it's simply nature. Personally, being a Christian, I feel a strong communication with God.'
Butcher relinquished all her other jobs to work full time with her dogs in 1982. In addition to a strong shot at the $50,000 first-place check from the Iditarod's $250,000 purse, she has a sponsorship deal with Raslton Purina pet-foot manufacturers. Still, the costs of training dogs year-round makes the Iditarod a tough economic proposition even for the world's top musher.
'I barely make it (financially) and I'm not interested in getting rich quick,' Butcher said. 'I'm doing what I enjoy doing -- living in the wild with my dogs.'
adv weekend Feb.
