Well… that sure didn’t go how I planned. I’d say there are a fair number of 2022 Iditarod mushers who would say the same thing. Mother Nature combined with luck (or lack thereof) threw some curve balls this race, and for the RK team, we called it at 300 miles in McGrath. The standard press releases always say- for the welfare of the team- and honestly that’s the exact reason. I entered the race confident and excited, accompanied by more or less the same team (if not better) as our 2021 Iditarod team when we finished in 18th with 12 dogs. The dogs were well-conditioned and healthy. I had a brand new sled built under the expert supervision of Allen Moore. We had new gear (leggings and fox tails) sewn by Kalyn. The team was fired up. We were ready to rock!
But unfortunately it was just one of those years. It started with Oryx tripping going down the infamous Happy River Steps and straining her tricep. Then Dracula developed a swollen wrist. The run between Rohn and Nikolai was filled with first 30 miles of no snow then 40 miles of extreme moguls, jerking the dogs backwards as my sled bobbed up and down the moguls like a boat in waves. By Nikolai, I knew that my only hope was putting in some serious time massaging and resting to see if the small issues would go away, so we opted to take an un-planned 24-hour rest in Nikolai. Yoshi’s sore feet and hamstrings weren’t 100% by the end of our 24-hour rest, so Yoshi stayed in Nikolai. After a very slow run through a blizzard to McGrath, Faff and Sherlock were added to the list of returned dogs. I’d like to mention that 4 of the 5 returned dogs had never been dropped before in a race, and all except Sherlock had finished at least one (and up to three) one-thousand mile races. It just didn’t make sense.
At 300-miles, we were already down to a team of nine dogs, and it wasn’t nine dogs without their own issues. In reality, only about seven of the team were 100%. I stayed 24 hours, thinking that maybe we could still move forward, but after another long break, it was apparent that a 1000-mile run just wasn’t in the cards for us this year. Why? I have no idea. I’m inclined to think heat and hard trail are the culprits. I never once put my parka on during the 300-miles, which is astonishing. The trail was also hard-packed, and we’ve only run in soft conditions all winter. Yet other teams ran through these same conditions and continued on, so I’m at a little bit of a loss as to the cause. We can’t blame lack of rest because over the 300 miles (not counting our time in Mcgrath), we took 45 hours of rest. For comparison, a normal Copper Basin 300 is 18 hours.
I honestly just don’t know. But what I do know, is that the decision to scratch was the right decision. All the dogs are happy and healthy. The injuries that cropped up on the race were not major, and each dog just needed a few days to re-coup. We’re all back and running and gearing up for the multi-day trips starting on Thursday. Honestly probably the only lingering effect is the damage to my pride, but well, I’m getting over that pretty quickly too. And actually, probably the hardest part is knowing that so many people have helped us get to the starting line- sponsors, family, friends. We’ve had a badass crew this year of Simon, Tucker, Mandy, Kalyn, Derek, and I all helping in some way to get this team to the starting line. Tyler and Kelsey were providing in-home, super care for the dropped dogs. So many people have supported us financially and by following along. So that decision to scratch didn’t just impact a team of 9 dogs and one musher. It was a team of 9 dogs and so many amazing people (all of you) who were scratching. But I guess that’s what makes the Ryno Kennel team special, is that I knew it’s a team of people who care about the dogs and know that even though it would be disappointing to call it quits at 300 miles, the decision wouldn’t be questioned. We’re in it for the dogs. So thank you to everyone for supporting us and our decision. I feel very lucky to be surrounded (both in person and virtually) by so many incredible people and dogs.
