Big Lake dentist among racers to hit the Iditarod Trail

Editor’s note: Musher Kelly Maixner has agreed to participate in a series of stories for this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race as a means of telling the story of the race through his eyes. We will be checking in with him as the race continues up the trail to Nome.

WILLOW — As he got his sled ready to go, his daughter in a pack on his back, Kelly Maixner said he waited until the very last minute to make the final decision for members on his 2013 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race team.

“It was on the way here this morning, so I have an extra two dogs,” he said.

One of the dogs he picked was a dog that was older and bigger than its possible replacement. The other was one of his best dogs, Jace, who had some ankle problems in earlier training runs that he wasn’t sure had cleared up.

“I ran them yesterday and the day before and he wasn’t showing me any problems,” Maixner said. “I’ll probably put him in the lead out of here.”

Asked how he was feeling, he used the same single word a lot of mushers on the ice at Willow Lake did Sunday — “good.”

“Excited to get out of here and get going,” he said.

He said he was happy for the crisp weather. It was warm enough not to be uncomfortable, cold enough that his dogs won’t have to run in slush.

“If it stays this way I’ll be happy,” Maixner said.

And if it doesn’t he’ll just run in the middle of the night.

“My dogs seem to run better in the middle of the night anyway,” Maixner said.

But the weather seemed to be holding. By Monday afternoon he was in Rainy Pass, running in 10th place, according to updates on the Iditarod’s website.

He said he wasn’t worried about trail conditions except that he’d heard the gorge was rough this year.

Maixner said he’s looking forward to seeing all the villages along the way, like Anvik and Grayling.

“All those villages are cool,” he said. But his favorite checkpoint, he joked, is the final one in Nome.

“Because I’m there,” he said.

As he spoke, his wife came to relieve him of baby duty. A few minutes later she called him over to the pickup where the girl, Rosemary, was in the dog box playing with Jace.

The baby came between this Iditarod and last year’s, but already she’s an integral part of Team Maixner and the reason he left Willow in the middle of the pack wearing bib 25 instead of some other position.

“She drew my number for me,” Maixner said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.