Down the chute

KNIK — It’s easy to tell when a dog team is heading for the chute. The dull background noise created by a hundred barking canines suddenly rises into a full-on roar that echoes across the frozen surface of the lake. Dogs still chained to trucks or being fitted into harnesses leap toward the lucky team marching anxiously toward the starting line, as if yelling out encouragement — or maybe a bit of trash talk.

It takes several handlers to keep the team from running right through the starting chute and into the wilderness. As the starter counts down the seconds on a megaphone, the musher makes last-second checks to his gear. Sometimes he’ll trade a joke with the crowd, but mostly he’s just focused on the task at hand.

Like the dogs, it’s always pretty clear he’d rather be heading on down the trail.

As fans step near for a snapshot in front of the leaping dogs, the starter finally counts down the final seconds. The musher pulls his heavy steel snow hook from the snow and yells out a command the dogs are more than happy to take up.

They’re off.

That scene unfolded 32 times Saturday morning as teams took turns passing beneath the starting banner for the Knik 200 Joe Redington Sr. Memorial Sled Dog Race, which runs from Knik Lake to Skwentna, where teams must take a mandatory layover before following the trail back to Knik.

Last year’s race wasn’t decided until the closing minutes, when Kasilof’s Jon Little took a wrong turn shortly before the finish and was passed by Jeff King.

That won’t happen this year.

King didn’t make the trip from Denali Park, while Little said he’s not planning on making a competitive run.

“Running, but not racing,” Little said before start.

Whether Little was being truthful or just cagey won’t be known until sometime early this morning, when the first team is expected to appear at the finish line. King crossed the finish line just before 11 a.m. last year.

Trail conditions for the annual race were reported to be fair, with the weather forecast to remain chilly but not windy. Temperatures Saturday hung in the single digits — near ideal for a fast run.

A solid field of veteran mushers turned out Saturday, including Iditarod champion Mitch Seavey of Sterling and a host of veteran distance racers that includes Little, Sheep Mountain’s Zack Steer; Nome’s Aaron Burmeister; Gerry Willomitzer and Sebastian Schnuelle of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory; Paul Gebhardt of Kasilof; Ken Anderson of Fox; and the Redington boys — Ryan and Ray — grandsons of Iditarod founder Joe Redington for whom the race is named.

Ryan Redington was the first musher to reach the halfway point at Skwentna Saturday night, arriving at 6:11 p.m. He made the run to Skwentna in almost exactly six hours, setting a pace to arrive well before dawn today.

Not all the mushers reaching the starting gate were seasoned veterans. For Kristy Berington, 23, the Knik would be her first attempt at a distance race. The Wisconsin native said she and her twin sister, Anna, have been training with Dean Osmar in Kasilof all winter, working toward their dream of becoming mushers.

Both twins were at the lake Saturday, though only Kristy was racing. Anna and Dean left after the field, planning on taking a training run along the race course.

With her first race just minutes ahead, Kristy Berington confessed to being a little nervous, but said her work with Osmar has prepared her for a 200-mile trek across the frozen Alaska wilderness.

“Dean’s taught us a lot,” she said.

The sisters said they worked for a dog tour company in Truckee, Calif., last year, then hooked up with Osmar before this winter, handling dogs and getting the hang of the sport. So far, Kristy said, the experience has been all they’d hoped for.

“It’s been great,” she said.

She said preparing for a distance race — putting booties on dogs, loading the sled, making sure the dogs aren’t fighting as race time nears — isn’t quite like taking a training run in the Kenai Peninsula’s Caribou Hills.

“It feels like a lot to me because it’s my first one,” she said.

After Kristy made a flawless start, her sister remained behind with Osmar, prepping two other sleds for the training run. She said she would have liked to be the one racing, but was happy to see her sister hitting the trail.

“I’m excited for her,” Anna said.

Still, she said she’s certainly looking forward to the time when she can be the one pulling the snow hook.

“I’ll get the next one.”

Sprint racers meet in Montana Creek

MONTANA CREEK — A large field of mushers was met by ideal racing conditions Saturday for the first day of the 35th Annual Su-Valley Championship sprint races in Montana Creek.

Race time temperatures were around minus-10 most of the day at the Montana Creek Dog Mushers Association track. More than 10 teams entered each race Saturday, incuding 11 in the four-dog, 14 in the six-dog, 16 in the eight-dog and 21 in the open class.

Kris Rasey equaled a track record in the four-dog race, finishing the five mile course in 13 minutes, 31 seconds.

Jennifer Probert won the 6.5-mile six-dog class, Jennifer Sterling won the 8.5-mile eight-dog race and Egil Ellis was the top musher in the 10.5-miile open race.

Racing continues today at 10 a.m. in the two-day event, which has a $10,000 purse.

Contact Frontiersman sports reporter Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com