Musher's Tales: Sheep Mountain 150 Part 3

Jamaican musher Newton Marshall's blogger Susie Rogan had an interesting update and perspective on the Sheep Mountain 150:

It was like Sundance Film Festival of dog racing with mushers such as Jeff King (4 time Iditarod winner), Ken Anderson, Sebastian Schnuelle, Gerry Willomietzer, DeeDee Jonrowe (second place Iditarod), Aily Zirkle (1st place Yukon Quest), and Hans of course (3 times first place Yukon Quest and champion of many other races), etc. etc. Many were running this as a first race of the season, being careful and checking out their dogs under race conditions. The race could have been a lot more competitive if these people were giving it all they had, but they were preserving their teams for bigger races later in the season.

Also a great note about Newton's race effort:

Newton also could definately have gone a lot faster but instead ran a perfect race and finished with all his dogs in great shape. The race vet approached me and said, "In case I don't get a chance to talk to Hans and Newton, would you pass on to them that Newton looked extremely good out there. Very professional. He had his check point routine down almost perfectly. You could tell he was having to think, but he didn't miss a thing."

Mush, Mon!

Musher's Tales: Sheep Mountain 150

As we come across websites and blogs of the mushers from the 2008 Sheep Mountain 150, we'll share the links and interesting excerpts:

Kasilof musher Jon Little shares his experiences at his Trail Notes blog:

My goal going into the race was to maintain a good, fast pace but not go overboard. I kept my pledge for the first leg, but had a tough time keeping my dogs’ speed down as we took off from the Eureka checkpoint for the second leg. It must have been about 11 p.m. and in the single digits below zero F, under a full moon. The dogs were amped. I was a few minutes behind Hans Gatt, Sebastian Schnuelle and Allan Moore, and 14 minutes behind the leader, Jessica Hendricks.

Jamaican musher Newton Marshall's site sports a victory picture and warm congratulations:

Newton placed 21st out of 48 in the 150 mile Sheep Mountain race held this past weekend in Alaska. Big smiles and huge congrats go out to Newton for his accomplishment........Folks at home are so proud of you Newton!

There's a quick note from Zoya DeNure at her Crazy Dog Kennel Journal:

We're here at the Sheep Mountain 150 sled dog race, parked quietly on a plowed road about 13 miles from the start watching teams go by....hard to sit and just watch!

Zoya, John Schandelmeier and their baby girl Jona were on their way home from Anchorage the opening day of the race...

Got a link to a Sheep Mountain 150 musher's site or blog? Send it to helen@northernlightmedia.com - and thanks!

Jessica Hendricks wins Sheep Mountain 150

Judy Currier of Fairbanks, Alaska at the Sheep Mountain 150 on Saturday, Dec. 13. Photo: Helen Hegener

The Go Mush site reported the Two Rivers musher Jessica Hendricks won the Sheep Mountain 150 at 12:30 pm Sunday:

...with 11 strong dogs and a smile on her frosted face.

An article by Jillian Rogers in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner also reported Hendricks' win:

The 26-year-old Iditarod veteran won the race with a total running time of 12 hours, 52 minutes, beating out Allen Moore of Two Rivers by six minutes and Whitehorse, Yukon’s Hans Gatt, who was just two minutes behind Moore. Kasilof’s Jon Little was a minute behind Gatt, the three-time Quest winner. Jeff King, who has won the Iditarod four times was fifth in his first Sheep Mountain 150 with a total time of 13:17.

The News-Miner article reported more about Whitehorse musher Hans Gatt:

Gatt is mentoring Jamaican musher Newton Marshall with the goal of getting the rookie dog driver through the Yukon Quest in 2009. Marshall entered the Sheep Mountain race with some of Gatt’s top dogs for more practice before the 300-mile Copper Basin in January and the Quest in February. Marshall finished the 150-miler in 21st place.

Complete race statistics for the Sheep Mountain 150 are available at the Go Mush site, and photos of the race are available at Go Mush, with additional photos in separate albums from photographers Helen Hegener and Donna Quante.