Off to the Races!

Meet two young sled dog racers hoping to win this year’s Jr. Iditarod

February 13, 2017

By Amy Barth

Courtesy of Mahoney Family

When Hannah Mahoney was 3 years old, her pet dog pulled her around the house in a sled made out of a laundry basket and a harness created from ribbons. When she was 8, she started training her dogs to pull her in a real sled. She watched YouTube videos to learn how to train the pups and taught them sledding commands like “whoa” (stop), “hike” (go), “gee” (turn right), and “haw” (turn left).

Today, Hannah is 17 and about to compete in one of the toughest sled dog races. On February 25, she will race in the 40th annual Jr. Iditarod. Over two days, teens ages 14 to 17 will compete in this 150-mile race in Alaska. The race is designed to teach young mushers (dog team drivers) how to travel long distances with their dogs. It’s a stepping-stone for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race—the famously grueling 1,000-mile trek across Alaska.

TOUGH TRAIL

Courtesy of McCready-Debruin Family

On the morning of February 25, the Jr. Iditarod mushers will gather at the starting line in Wasilla, Alaska. Each musher travels with a team of 8 to 10 dogs. The dogs are usually huskies that have trained for months, building strength and learning commands.

“The start of a dogsled race is insane. The dogs are so excited, jumping, barking, and trying to get the sled moving so they can run,” says 17-year-old Logan McCready-DeBruin from the Canadian province of Ontario. Logan will compete in the Jr. Iditarod for the first time this year, but he’s been sled dog racing since he was 8. “Once the announcer starts counting down, it’s just you and your dog team,” he says. “The adrenaline runs high for both me and the dogs!”

The Jr. Iditarod trail stretches over part of the main Iditarod Trail (see map). Conditions are often icy, windy, and snowy. Ice can cause sleds to swerve. Mushers pay close attention to the health of their dog team. If a dog is struggling, it can be dropped off at a checkpoint to recover while the rest of the team completes the race.

Logan thinks that racing at night will be the biggest challenge. “I’m not from Alaska, so I’m not very familiar with the trail. To run in the dark with just your headlamp will take a lot of concentration,” he says.

Halfway through the race, the teams take a 10-hour break. They camp at a rest stop, where the mushers cook dinner for themselves and their dogs. The mushers also hang out around a bonfire. Many mushers get only a couple of hours of sleep. In the morning, they race back to where they started. The team with the dog whose nose crosses the finish line first wins!

TRAINING FOR THE WIN

Training for the Jr. Iditarod can be just as tough as the race itself. Hannah runs and kickboxes to stay physically fit in the off-season. Since Hannah lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, she flew to Alaska during her summer, Thanksgiving, and winter breaks to train with the team she’s leasing from racer Wade Marrs, who lives in Alaska and finished in fourth place in last year’s Iditarod.

Hannah trains the dogs by having them pull her in an all-terrain vehicle. She also takes them out on the Iditarod Trail. “It’s usually beautiful and quiet. It’s really amazing,” says Hannah.

Logan practices karate to stay in shape. Luckily for him, he can train his dogs at home: His family raises purebred Siberian huskies. When the temperature in Ontario started to get cold in September, he began training the dogs to pull him in the sled. He started out with 2-mile trips and increased the length each week. By Christmas, the team hit 100 miles.

“I’m looking forward to the time out on the trail, with just me and my dogs,” says Logan. “And to accomplishing a goal I’ve had for a long time—to compete in the Jr. Iditarod.”

THE IDITAROD TRAIL

Native Alaskans traditionally used dogsleds to get around the region’s snow-covered winter landscape. American settlers adopted the practice when they arrived in Alaska in the 1800s. The Iditarod Trail became the main route traveled by mushers to deliver mail and supplies to towns and outposts across the territory.

The trail was made legendary in 1925 when a group of sled dogs set out on a life-or-death mission. Their task: Deliver medicine to the town of Nome, where a deadly epidemic of the respiratory infection diphtheria had broken out. The first team to arrive was led by a dog named Balto, who became an overnight celebrity.

READING BOX-AND-WHISKER PLOTS

A box-and-whisker plot shows the distribution of a data set along a number line by splitting the data into four parts called quartiles. Each quartile is a particular number that marks one-fourth of the data set. Box-and-whisker plots allow you to quickly examine a data set.

The distribution of race times for the past five Jr. Iditarod races are shown in the box-and-whisker plots below. Use the chart to answer the questions that follow.