Fast and Furious
Unpredictable: That’s how last year’s Iron Dog race could be described after an early winter earthquake shook up the planning and had organizers scrambling to get the race start restaged. After that, countless mechanical issues and injuries sidelined otherwise incredibly talented riders, giving the 2019 Iron Dog one of the highest scratch rates in the race’s history.
Predictable, though, was how you’d describe last year’s winning team because they pulled it off again – Team 10, Chris Olds and Mike Morgan, not only repeated as race champions, but their time of 34 hours, 27 minutes, 31 seconds technically makes it the fastest race, mile for mile, since the Iron Dog first started in 1984. It took the team 1.046 minutes to cover each mile, narrowly edging out the record set by Tyson Johnson and Tyler Aklestad in 2016, when they took 1.051 minutes to cover each mile.
“Getting first place is the ultimate goal, but getting the speed record is definitely an added bonus, for sure,” said Morgan. He said he and Olds were fortunate in that their sleds gave them very few challenges and maneuvered well in the oftentimes heavy, parts-clogging snow.
“We haven’t had any issues on our sleds, they have been really consistent, these Polarises, so that’s a huge part of our success,” Morgan said. “My great grandfather started the oldest Polaris dealership in Alaska in Nome, and it’s all I’ve ever ridden. My grandfather is no longer around, but he would whoop my ass if he knew I was riding anything else.”
While it may have been smooth sailing for Team 10, the 2019 race indeed had its own challenges, said John Woodbury, Iron Dog’s executive director – starting with the Nov. 30, 2019, earthquake that shook up more than just the terrain.
“Ahh… the earthquake,” he said. “It was a gremlin throughout the ramp-up of the race from the minute it happened.”
“One of our raffle prizes was a chunk of land near Point MacKenzie, and I was excited about launching the raffle because I thought the land and tiny house as a grand prize was a pretty skookum deal.
“Turns out, the epicenter of the quake was exactly on that piece of raffle land. Not a mile away – smack dab in the middle of the lot. How do you market that? To make matters worse, the raffle tickets were printing at the time of the quake and got jammed in the presses. All you could do was laugh.”
Also, he added, the Woody’s Rookie Workshop had been slated for the next day at South Anchorage High School, but all the schools closed while the Anchorage School District inspected each building for safety. Woodbury said they scrambled, successfully, to relocate at the Iron Dog HQ in Anchorage.
“Thanks to our top shelf volunteers, the South High media team and staff, it went off smoothly,” he said.
The real challenge came a few months later, though, he added.
“There was now a potential of fractured ice and new hot spots at Big Lake,” he said. “We waited as long as we could, and we were mapping out three different start venues, but finally made the call to move the start to Deshka Landing. Again, thanks to volunteers, and the Deshka Landing folks going above and beyond with accommodating us, the start went smoothly.”
Megan Rolinger
Dr. Larry Levine and his daughter, Danielle, became the first
father-daughter team to successfully complete the Iron Dog Pro Class. They are back again for the 2020 race.
It wasn’t just Mother Nature that shook up the race, though. As any racer can attest, it takes more than superb riding skill to earn an Iron Dog victory. Mechanical breakdowns can derail the best-laid plans, as can accidents and injuries.
Within the first half hour after their departure from the Iron Dog race chute in Willow last year, Team 29, Danielle Levine and her father, Larry, encountered their first mishap – a mistake that would haunt them the rest of the trip.
“I had a wreck,” Dani said. “We kind of tucked in behind a team and smashed into a little hole. It messed up the cowling and we had to do a Frankenstein fix in Skwentna. The sled looked like that the rest of the race.”
Still, the father-daughter duo toughed it out, going on to be one of only 13 teams to complete last year’s race among a field of 24 teams. With 11 scratches, Danielle said she feels fortunate to have survived her rookie year.
“It was not a guaranteed finish year,” said Levine, 25, who returns with her father this year for Iron Dog 37. “Even though the weather was pretty OK, the snow was good, there were a lot of mechanicals. There were so many teams that were so strong and didn’t finish.”
Olds credits patience, few mechanical complications and experience for surging Team 10 to victory.
“That’s part of the reason why we did as well as we did because it was uneventful,” said Olds, who is back this year with Morgan to see if they can do a three-peat. “Other than some minor maintenance, that’s really what kind of won us the race.”
Olds said he and Morgan approached the 2019 race as they have become accustomed to doing – sticking to their own game plan, being willing to adjust to unforeseen circumstances and being able to communicate throughout the race, despite being exhausted and cold.
“We kind of know each others’ strengths and weaknesses and can help each other out – we have similar riding styles and that helps too,” Olds said. “We know what we’re going to do for training and what we’re going to do for building sleds; it feels like we really have those things dialed in.”
All of those routines over so many years have paid off, giving Olds his fourth victory – the first two were with Tyler Huntington in 2010 and 2011 – and Morgan his second, both with Olds, last year and in 2018.
Olds also credits Morgan with keeping the race positive – when he started fretting over heavy snow bogging down their machines, Mike was the cheerleader, keeping the focus on the positive. That’s a vital element to a successful race, Olds said, and Morgan delivered.
“Mike was very positive most of the race last year, when I was being negative, and it’s usually the other way around,” he said. “That ended up being a really good thing, to help us to the win.”
Woodbury, looking back over last year’s race and eyeing this year’s event, said once again, Iron Dog delivered – earthquakes, injuries and breakdowns be damned.
“It’s good to know we can react effectively and overcome sizable obstacles; that’s part of being an Iron Dogger,” he said. “But no more earthquakes, Mother Nature, OK?”