Facebook rich with Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race tidbits

MAT-SU — Think of your favorite ways to follow the Iditarod.

There’s television, newspaper and online reporters on the trial. There’s Iditarod.com, both the free and premium versions.

What about Facebook? Surely mushers aren’t updating their pages from the trail, are they?

Perhaps not, but their family members are.

“I’m not the only wife that does it, Dallas Seavey’s wife Jen does the same thing Jake Berkowitz’ wife does it,” said Margaret Maixner, wife of Kelly Maixner, who is participating in a series of Frontiersman stories about this year’s race. “Either friend their kennels or friend their wives and you’ll get all the updates.”

Dallas Seavey — last year’s champion and a Willow resident — has a page that’s been updating multiple times a day, often with short profiles of his dogs.

“Ombre is the son of the 2012 Iditarod Golden Harness award winner Guiness. His unique fuzzy coat gives him the appearance of a very old dog. His entire life, he’s insisted on sleeping outside of his dog house on the ice,” reads one from Sunday evening.

Berkowitz, who mushes out of Big Lake, has a constantly updated page tied to his business, Apex Kennel. An update on his page Sunday that dealt with something a lot of mushers have been running into this year — sick dogs.

“It seems he and the dogs are having a decent little run out there! 19 miles to go! I wonder if they are feeling better now, I don’t see much stopping so far on the GPS,” read the update.

Maixner said one of the possible explanations is that warm temperatures have allowed meat to thaw out and possibly spoil. Berkowitz’ page floated that as an explanation as well.

Last year’s third-place finisher, Ramey Smyth of Willow, known for bursts of speed late in the race, is also updating fans on the Facebook page linked to the Smyth Racing Team and Homestretch Kennel.

“Okay, is this when we’re supposed to say, ‘Never say never?’ We’re keeping the faith here at Homestretch Kennel and keeping our finger’s crossed and keeping an eye on the tracker and hoping that our superhero-come-from-behind-musher is pulling his cape out his drop bags in Shageluk,” read an update Friday.

Maixner said that updating from the race can be difficult; she’s got little more information than anyone else with a premium Iditarod.com account. But her goal isn’t to do a definitive blog about the race.

“I just want to tell people where he is and how he’s doing,” she said. “I will admit that sometimes I’m just guessing.”

But it’s an educated guess. This is, after all, her husband’s third Iditarod.

“If I’m at work it’s tough, because I’ll just be like checking it on my phone when I have a free minute,” she said. “When I’m home the laptop is just open. Sometimes I’m sitting here for 10 minutes just watching him crawl along.”

What you might have noticed thus far is that little of her information seems to be coming from her husband directly.

It’s hard for a musher to call from the trail, and not just because it’s hard to find a phone out there.

“If he’s just going to stop for a few hours that whole time is spent on dog stuff,” Maixner said.

She said this year she’s received three calls; one at the start of his mandatory 24-hour rest, one at the end and one Sunday night from Kaltag. That’s three more than she got his first year, she said with a laugh.

Facebook, she said, has been great for mushers like her husband. It helps them nurture a fan base.

Though sometimes the communal nature of the medium can create some interesting dynamics. A lot of Kelly Maixner’s fans, for instance, are in North Dakota where he’s originally from. And folks in North Dakota have an advantage in time zones. Sometimes they pick up tidbits before Maixner can.

“Sometimes they jump me on the story,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a little bit of a competition, like I’ve got to keep ahead of North Dakota.”

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