Open North American Sled Dog Race

Last weekend Fairbanks hosted the 64th annual Open North American Championship sled dog race. This three day race comprises of twenty mile sprints the first two days and a thirty mile sprint the third day. It's hard to convey how much fun it is to watch a sled dog event. The only comparison I can really think of is to have you imagine how excited your dog gets when you pull out the leach to take them for a walk around the neighborhood. If your dog doesn't go crazy with enthusiasm something is wrong. Now add another twelve dogs to that leach and watch the energy explode! The races are particularly exciting at the start where the dogs are waiting for their chance to run. Once in their harnesses and hooked into the line they start jumping and barking with excitement, then...... the snow hook is released from the sled, the dogs are free to run, and all goes silent as you see the dogs focus on their task at hand.

50 Years of Statehood

January 3, 1959 President Eisenhower signed the official declaration making Alaska the 49th state. With a little elementary math it's easy to figure out that means this year Alaska celebrated it's 50th anniversary. And what better way to celebrate 50 years than an extravagant display of fireworks. Becky and I have the good fortune of having a friend that works for the Geophysical Institute. That may not seem like much on the surface, but that friend has keys, and those keys were able to get us on top of the tallest building on the UAF campus which was right beside the firework launch location. Ahhh... what a good friend and what a great firework display.
Side note, other historical notables celebrating 50 years this year include: Castro becomes leader of Cuba as the Cuban Revolution unfolds, the Dalai Lama was run out of Tibet by the Chinese invasion, the USSR launches Luna 1 becoming the first craft to leave Earth's orbit, and Barbie makes her first debut.

Ice Art

Every spring, as the sun starts coming back and the temperatures consistently stay above -20F, all the pent up energy from a cold dark winter manifest itself in creative ways. In March one of the most intriguingly popular events is the World Ice Art Championships. That's right, people pay to enter a competition where they stand around their very own piece of ice, spend a week carving some shape from their imagination, then watch it melt.

The displays created at this event are no small feat of artistry. With sculptures ranging from 1-10 blocks of ice, each block about 6'x4'x3' in size, the size of these objects are breath taking. And the detail..... the detail is phenomenal! Most competitors start by rough cutting their shape with a chainsaw followed with more detail oriented tools such as chisels, files, hair dryers and sand paper. Their imagination is the limitation on their tools.

As one of my favorites from this year, Godzilla stands at close to thirty feet tall with a small crushed bi-wing plane in his upper hand. To see more on the event go to: http://www.icealaska.com/

Race Hard Play Hard

On your mark... Get set.... Go! It's time for the dogs to earn their keep. Becky, Charlie, Riga and I have been involved with a local group of fun loving folks (and dogs) in the greater Fairbanks area that like to get together once a month during the winter months to race. It's completely informal. No entry fee. No official organizer. No ESPN coverage (yet). Some time before the snow falls the dates and locations are set for the season. Here is how it works: As long as you are non motorized you can compete. The most common form of competing is skiing, skijoring and dog mushing but on occasion someone will run or bike the course. Normally you would not think a team of 8 dogs would be fair against a skier or runner. True, so a point deduction system is used where you get a set number of minutes added to your time for each dog. Strategy plays a big part in preparing for the big day. Do you take two fast dogs and travel light or four steady dogs with good endurance and sacrifice the minutes? Beck and I only have two dogs (one if you consider Charlie lets Riga do all the pulling) so we skijor with two. They are not the fastest dogs but it's a grand ol' time. So far our best placing was 10th out of 70 competitors. We don't have fancy high dollar prizes such as the Chevy truck the Iditarod hands out but we do get prizes for top finishers. Normally it's something inappropriately funny from the thrift store. That's all for now, I've got to get back to training for next month's race.