A view of the world from the eyes of a
human being...
Reporting in from the 2008 Iditarod in Anchorage, Alaska, where our
very own reporter calls home, we welcome Robin Rosay.
Iditarod Update #18
Nome continued to be a very busy place today. The top fifteen mushers
crossed under the burled arch in a little over thirteen hours. Remember
Lance Mackey's neighbor Ken Anderson? He edged four-time champ Martin
Buser out of a fourth place finish by only 44 seconds. Sebastian
Schnuelle was 31 seconds ahead of Zack Steer when he claimed his 10th
place spot on the roster. Crowd pleaser and Iditarod sweetheart DeeDee
Jonrowe came in at fifteenth.
At the moment the Nome web cam shows officials gathering for the arrival
of Sigrid Ekran. She was top rookie last year in 20th place, crossing
under the arch in 10 days, 13 hours and 21 minutes. This year she beat
her rookie time by two hours and placed 24th. By 4 a.m., William
Kleedehn will officially be rookie of the year with a 27th place
finish.. I thought Melissa Owens, who is from Nome, would pull ahead as
she got closer. Sometimes the dogs perk up when they're near and/or on
their home turf. And maybe they did, but it just wasn't enough. Who
knows? Because there are so many really good mushers out there, and
good mushers getting better, I've been saying that the top fifteen is
the old top ten. It's going to be harder and harder to get a top ten
finish in the future.
I was marveling at another thing on my walk today. These people have a
lot of guts. As an example, as I type this, only two mushers are on the
55 miles stretch from White Mountain to Safety. They are out there all
by themselves. In the dark. In the middle of nowhere. With wild
animals that could do them great harm. With acts of nature that could
put them in perilous, life threatening situations. Two mushers in this
race are still in high school. These people have a lot of guts.
In this photo, Melissa Owens and her Iditarider wave at me after
crossing the Tudor Road overpass in south Anchorage..
Kjetil Backen wears a nordic hat during the ceremonial start. In his
rookie race, he missed Rookie of the Year by one place, which was taken
by fellow Norwegian Robert Sorlie. The next time Kjetil did the
Iditarod, he came in third. This year he placed ninth.
I've been waiting for a photo like this all day long. Of the six
mushers I saw finish the race on the Nome web cam, this one happened to
refresh at just the right moment. Sigrid Ekran, welcome to Nome!
Robin
Sledding anyone?
(Photos courtesy of Robin Rosay.)
Who are these 2 teams from the Afterburners Flyball Club in Ottawa,
Ontario -- Formula 1 and Pit Crew? Find out here.
What is Flyball? Find out more about this interesting sport by clicking here.
A view of the world from the eyes of Robin Rosay continues on the
next page...
(Copyright,
2008. Used with permission from Robin Rosay.)
Keep an eye open for different topics of interest such as: profiles on
people and their dogs, to name but a few interesting topics...Also, have a look at what Rita Susanto and "Justin" have been up to these
days.
Why not be part of "out and about" and send in your canine
companion's accomplishments to us. To do so, please send us a brief description of how you
both did in the event(s) along with the location(s) you and your canine were both in to: NK Concepts - Dog Supply Training Specialist.
