On February 9th, I went downtown to see the start of the annual Yukon Quest dogsled race. It’s a trek through a thousand miles of wilderness in the dead of the Arctic winter, from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, Canada.
It was a very cold morning in downtown Fairbanks, in the -30s.
Still, a large crowd gathered to watch the race, which starts out below a bridge on the frozen Chena River.
Enter the mushers:
Here’s #11, Lance Mackey of Fairbanks. He went on to win the race, and then to win the Iditarod just a few short weeks later. In 2007 he became the first musher ever to win both 1,000+ mile endurance races in the same year. He repeated that feat in 2008. If there were a dogsled racing hall of fame, Lance Mackey would have a whole wing of the building.
And some other mushers:
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3 comments so far ↓
1 Richard J. Papp // Mar 31, 2008 at 1:50 am
Much appreciate the photos.
Dogs facial expressions are a riot.
I would just love to visit Alaska.
Dick
2 Bruce // May 6, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Fantastic photos. You were so lucky to be there. One of my dreams is to visit and fish in Alaska.
3 Lana Bonin // Oct 19, 2008 at 11:44 am
I visied Whitehorse in Aug 2008 and just fell in love with everything about it.I visited Frank Turners Kennels and absoulutely loved all the people and the dogs are fantastic.I think I developed a real bug now because Im hoping to get enough money together to go down in Feb 2009 for the beginning of the Yukon Quest from whitehorse.Its all I talk about I just get so excited with thinking I might be there for the start.But since I was just there in Aug Im not sure if I can come up with the money so soon to go again,but right now Im exploring all my possibilites like flights or the greyhound bus which is the way I went the first time.Ive even been looking into some part time work just for the extra money to make this trip.I just love reasearching all the sites to see all th pictures and write ups.I jus read the book yukon alone and I felt like I was there and makes me want to go even more Im hoping to get the DVd of the race as soo as I can. well bye for now and keep up the good work on these fantastic sites
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