Cermonial Start- "Take Homes!"

You'll read a lot about the cermonial start of the Iditarod.  It a show.  It's a carnival.  Etc...

But it is the first chance you get to take a look at all the dogs together.  This was the first year since 2006 where I haven't had something else to do at the start- either running it myself or handling for a friend.  And it was really nice to get to wonder around and check out all the teams without any other worries.

What I saw was very interesting.  it was really clear that the top teams have much nicer looking dogs.  They are all close to the same size, same confirmation, same weight, AND equal hydration.  Meanwhile, the more middle of the pack teams (I didn't really see too many of the teams that will be battling it out for the red-lantern) looked more jumbled, made up of mixed matched dog with different sizes shapes.  Also, their weights and hydration levels were not consistent.  Some of these factors trace back to dog care- weight, hydration.  Others, to the Kennel Mangement of breeding programs.  In anycase, it was clear the top teams are made up of better looking dogs! 

Which, I guess, is kind of a no brainer.

So a little run down of the dogs I saw:

Aily Zirkle:  Nice looking dogs, very well socialized, good weights, etc...  Seemed to be strong on the husky side of modern breedings and all on the smallish to medium size range.

Ken Anderson: Very small, "sprinty" looking dogs.  Looked thin compared to the other top teams.

Lance Mackey: Bigger dogs than Zirkle's as an over all impression.  All at what looked like a really nice weight.  Judging by his son, Cain Carter's performance in a really hard Jr. iditiarod with long runs and deep snow, theses dogs are ready to GO!

Let's see those were the stand out teams I was able to spend some time looking at yesterday.  Today I will try to get a look at some of the others- John Baker, Jeff King, Hans Gatt (though I did see his from a distance and they looked fatter than others but all well matched and strong), and Hugh Neff.

Speaking of Hugh Neff- say what you will about his time penalty and the reason he got it in the Quest a few weeks ago- he had an awsome team that was super strong and fast at the end of a long race were short rests and long runs were the norm.  He could be a suprise, dark horse contender in this years Iditarod!

A team I was a little suprised to see looking so mix-matched and dehydrated, with fat dogs and thin dogs was Tim Hunt's.  He is from the lower forty-eight and has a solid mid-distance racing record.  I thought he might be in the running for Rookie of the year.... But... not so sure now.  However in the cerimonial start you dont have to run all the same dogs you will run in the "real" race so perhaps the bulk of his race team wasn't there yesterday.  I'll try to get a look today at the restart.

Well time to take the short drive down to Willow and see them all off to Nome!