DIVERSITY RULES

WILLOW — If variety is the spice of life, then the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has plenty of spice.

Offering multiple flavors for any participant or observer, this year’s race features as its eldest musher Jim Lanier, who was born during World War II, and its youngest Quinn Iten, who can’t legally buy tobacco products yet.

Lanier and Iten are just two of a 71-musher field that showcases a diverse spectrum, including 15 women, 22 rookies and five countries represented in the competition.

As the most seasoned musher, Lanier is 69 years old and has 13 years of experience racing in the Iditarod. He thinks that experience may give him an edge on his younger competitors.

“Well, of course I got an advantage,” he said while lacing up the hockey pads he wears for protection against bumps and falls. “I have seen just about everything out there on the trail that there is to see.”

Lanier believes the pads underneath his winter gear may be one part of his secret to success.

“These here,” he said, pointing to his knee and elbow pads, “protect me when I take the falls, which are going to happen. You turn an ankle on the trail and that can be the difference in finishing or not.”

When asked if his age factors into his race strategy, Lanier is quick to say he makes the most out of any situation. What some could consider a disadvantage Lanier turns into a racing strategy.

“Heck, I am already used to getting very little sleep anyway, so out there on the trail I will be a bit more fresh than these other guys,” he said.

Lanier completed his first Iditarod in 1979 well before the youngest competitor in the 2010 Iditarod Sled Dog Race was born. But that youth is what rookie musher Iten, 18, believes may give him a leg up in the race.

“Yeah, I am the youngest rookie out here, but really I am just excited to be out here in competition,” Iten said. “Sure, I am young, but maybe I can use that to my advantage.”

Although he is labeled a rookie, Iten is the son of Iditarod veteran Ed Iten and has been mushing since he has been able to handle a sled.

“I have been mushing for quite a bit now. I did the Junior (Iditarod) and even some races where I had to fill out paperwork to get in because I was too young,” he said.

This lifelong mushing experience and constant coaching from his father helped him prepare for the race, he said.

When asked if veteran mushers had any pearls of wisdom to impart on his first Iditarod, Iten smiled and said, “Yeah, I get plenty of tips from dad before I leave every race.”

While Iten and Lanier fight the battle of youth versus experience on the trail, other mushers from around the world will be competing for national pride.

Wattie McDonald of Scotland and Newton Marshall of Jamaica are rookie mushers trying their hands at the biggest and roughest mushing race on the planet.

“This is it, this is the one that I have been training for so long now, both in Scotland and in the U.S.,” McDonald said. “It’s the Iditarod, the best of them all.”

McDonald, who works in the oil industry, said he became involved with mushing in the late 1990s with Siberian huskies, but his desire to compete in the Iditarod came from watching the 2008 start while on a trip to Alaska.

“Oh yeah, I came over and saw the start and I knew that I had to do it — just had to,” he said.

McDonald’s training spanned both countries as he originally started in Scotland, but moved to Alaska later to have more experience in conditions he may see during the race, he said.

It is a strategy his Jamaican competition Marshall also followed.

“Yeah man, I started back at home many years ago, but I moved up here for the real thing,” Marshall said.

Wearing a huge grin, Marshall expresses a genuine excitement to simply be a part of what’s been called The Last Great Race on Earth.

“You know, it is something I never thought I would be a part of, I never even dreamed of it,” he said. “It is going to be a good race, man.”

Marshall considers himself lucky to a be member of the 2010 Iditarod as only a few years back he was working as a horse handler for a Jamaican tour guide company.

“It has been such a long road to get here, I just am happy and proud to be here,” Marshall said.

Together McDonald and Marshall compose two the five countries represented in the Iditarod. Besides the United States, the international makeup is rounded out by another musher from Scotland, one from Belgium and eight from Canada.

Contact Lanier Hutcheson at lanier.hutcheson@frontiersman.com or 352-2265.