I had been thinking of running the Junior Iditarod for the past year, but made the final decision to begin training specifically for it at Christmastime.

The Junior Iditarod is the weekend before the Iditarod and is usually about 150 to 200 miles long. You have to be 14 to 17 years old to compete. I'm 16 years old now.

I trained mostly with my dad. The snow wasn't very good so we were driving to get to better training trails north or south of us. The first run we took was out the Denali Highway. It was just a day trip and I spent a little time riding the gee skiis. These skiis are tied into the towline behind the wheel dogs but in front of the sled. Traditionally they were used to help steer heavy loads. It's a different kind of balance than the sled or anything else I've tried to do, but after a while I got used to it. I took two overnight training trips and slept outside on only one of them. During the Junior Iditarod we have a ten hour layover and we're not allowed to go inside. We have to do all the chores, make water from snow and sleep outside. I trained a total of over three hundred miles in January and February. I had to ask my basketball coach to let me miss some games and practices so that I could train on weekends.

Penya

The race began on February 24th at 10:00am. There were 15 mushers competing. We had to be at the start at 9:00am for sled checks. There was a list of mandatory gear like extra food, sleeping bag, dog booties, headlamps, extra socks and gloves, rain poncho, can of HEAT, snowshoes, ax, etc. My start number was #8. I felt amazingly calm considering I was a nervous wreck when anyone mentioned the race the week before. I think it had to do with the fact that I've been to so many race starts before with my dad that it was familiar to me. I was never really nervous the first day.

It was a foggy morning but as the sun warmed up the fog went away. I had Kansas and Penya in lead and everything was going smoothly. I passed two teams before the first road crossing at Knik Lake. My friend Hannah Moderow was ahead of me in #3 position. We had hoped to travel together if it worked out that way. Hannah has raced in two other Junior Iditarods. I ended up catching her around Flathorn Lake. Tyrell Seavy caught up to me just before Yentna, the half-way checkpoint. Hannah was the first into Yentna Station, then me, then Tyrell. We had a ten hour mandatory layover plus any time adjustment from the start positions. So, Tyrell was to leave first at 3:12am. I was to leave at 3:19am and Hannah at 3:22am.

The layover was less comforatble for me than being on the trail. It wasn't as cold as I thought it it was going to be. It only got to 10 degrees below zero. I had a chance to meet a lot of other racers as we sat around a big bon fire. Most of the time I was doing what I had to for the dogs, fixing their food. heating water, setting up and taking down camp. etc. I got about 3 hours of sleep which is good. I woke up at 12:30am to get ready to leave.

I had some excitement leaving the checkpoint. I had everything ready to go and as I was taking down the picket line the team decided to leave without me! The Trail officials were able to stop my sled on the edge of the river bank. One of my leaders was immediately chewed free from excitement. The race Marshall ran back to the camp spot to get my picket line and my mittens while I called Kansas, my leader, back to me and tied up a new tug line for him. I signed out quickly and took off before I had any more trouble.

Mozart

It was snowing and dark on the river and difficult to find the trail markers but we managed to stay in the right direction anyway. I caught Tyrell before Eagle Song, the next checkpoint about 18 miles away. I followed him until the sun came up, occassionaly taking a turn in lead. We continued to be close the rest of the day. We were close enough to be able to hold a conversation while the dogs trotted along. It was really fun. I was leading for a while as we got into the hills and it became obvoius that he had a faster team in the hills and mine was faster in the flats. He passsed me in the last section of hills. I had another dog, Penya, chewed free (Mozart, a yearling female, has a bad habit of chewing!) so I had to take time to call her back and rig up another make-shift tugline. I never caught Tryell after that and crossed the finish line only 34 seconds after him.

The finish line was very exciting. I was really happy and I could tell that Tyrell was happy ,too. There was a lot more commotion than I had expected for the finish. Hannah finished just after me for her highest place finish ever. We were all pretty thrilled with how it all went.

The finish banquet was that night and I really enjoyed it. Everyone was relaxed and we all sat together. Along with my Second Place Trophy, I also got the Rookie of the Year Award for the highest placing Rookie. But the best part of all was that I received the Sportsmanship Award that is voted on by all race participants. Hannah received the Humanitarian Award for ourstanding care of her team.

I made a lot of new friends that weekend and it was an experience that I'm sure will have a great affect on my future even though I may not realize it yet.