2017 Iditarod: Rising stars

WILLOW — With the ceremonial start of the 2017 Iditarod just a few days away, Willow’s Wade Marrs is calmly preparing for what will hopefully be another race to remember. This past weekend, though, he carved out some time to support a junior musher.

At the edge of Willow Lake on Sunday, Marrs and girlfriend Sophie DeBruin cheered 17-year-old Andrew Nolan into the finish of the 150-mile Junior Iditarod, his final qualifier for the full Iditarod next year. Nolan won the race with a mixed bag of yearlings to almost-3-year-olds from Stump Jumpin’ Kennel, run by Marrs and DeBruin.

The boys go way back.

“I actually knew his parents before he was born,” Marrs said, of Nolan.

Like Marrs, Nolan grew up around sled dogs. DeBruin recounted a story Marrs had told her about one of his dogs actually snatching a young Nolan from a sled his father was pulling and carrying the boy “down the trail a little ways” before Marrs could bring the team to a stop.

Rather than traumatize him, the event seemed to inspire Nolan (though he doesn’t remember it) to embrace a life of mushing.

Marrs, evidently, was also an inspiration.

“I think I learned everything I know from Wade,” Nolan said.

However, Marrs and Nolan’s connection seems to be less mentorship and more educational friendship.

“Every once in awhile I’ve gotta set him straight on little things here and there, but for the most part he does really good job of figuring out on his own,” Marrs said. “He learns from my mistakes and I learn from his.”

DeBruin said it’s been nice to have someone like Nolan to run Marrs’ younger dogs over the past four years, grooming them for the full Iditarod.

“Andrew most definitely has been instrumental in the success of Wade’s current racing team,” she said.

With the 2017 Jr. Iditarod complete, Marrs is now looking forward to the big event on Saturday in Anchorage, followed by the official start in Fairbanks on Monday.

The move from the standard Willow start is unfortunate, he said, but not insurmountable.

“With all the snow we had this year I didn’t really plan for Fairbanks at all; I didn’t even really consider it, but I guess it would’ve been smart to,” he said, since the race has been relocated before, and recently. The 2015 Iditarod followed the Fairbanks route, which Marrs completed in 9 days, 8 hours and 15 minutes for his first top-10 result.

Last year, he sliced almost 12 hours and four places off his finish. The 26-year-old crossed under the burled arch in Nome less than two hours behind third-place Aliy Zirkle, and nine hours behind champion Dallas Seavey.

Nine hours may sound like a sizeable gap to some, but given a peculiar pattern in Marrs’ finishes — and that of past champions — the soft-spoken redhead seems poised for a win.

Since the 2013 Iditarod, Marrs has cut his finish place in half every year — from 32nd to 16th, to 8th, to 4th.

“I know, I don’t think I can win, I’m due for second,” he joked.

Kidding aside, Marrs said he “would be happy with second,” given the nature of the race today.

“It used to be a good idea to stay back a ways and then shoot past everyone towards the end and kind of have a come-from-behind method, but the last few years we’ve seen Dallas just get in front and stay there, and when Lance (Mackey) was winning we (saw) him get in front and stay there,” Marrs said. “Right now this race is being ran at such a fast pace, there’s nowhere to really make up time.”

Marrs said his team was up with the leaders until about McGrath last year, but lacked a strong finish. Grabbing that lead and maintaining it, he said, is the goal.

Plus, if Mackey’s and Seavey’s careers are a model for what mushers on the fast track can do, Marrs looks to be in good shape. Both champions claimed their first win in their sixth race, and, not counting his scratch in 2012, 2017 would make Marrs’ sixth race.

“I hope they can win this, whether that be this year or next year or whenever,” DeBruin said, as Marrs chatted with other mushers. “Wade has worked really hard and is totally deserving of a win, I think, and I think you would hear that from others as well.”

The ceremonial start of the 45th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will take place in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, March 4 at 10 a.m. The restart will occur in Fairbanks on Monday, March 6 at 11 a.m.

For more information visit www.iditarod.com.