Iron Dog field growing

Nov. 28, 2006

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

The 2007 Tesoro Iron Dog is still more than two months away, but preparations are already off to a solid start.

Twenty-five pro class teams are slated to leave Big Lake on Feb. 11. That number is already larger than the field of the 2006 race, and drivers still have until Friday to sign up.

&#8220We're pretty excited,” Iron Dog executive director Laura Bedard said on Friday.

Bedard said 27 teams would be a good number for the pro class. The 2006 race featured 21 teams at the starting line, and 10 finished the race that covers nearly 2,000 miles of Alaska wilderness.

Last year, Bedard said the Iron Dog only had 13 pro class teams sign up by the initial deadline, and that was Dec. 31. That alone is

promising.

Bedard said she definately sees more of an interest this year. There are 10 teams of rookies, doubling last year's totals.

The numbers in the trail class have increased substantially. While only six teams participated in the trail class race in 2006, 21 are slated to run in 2007. Drivers in the trail class run from Big Lake to Nome, while competitors in the pro class leave Nome and continue on to Fairbanks.

Bedard said Iron Dog officials made changes to the races schedules to better suit the trail class participants. Rather than following the pro class racers, the trail class drivers will start

ahead.

&#8220The appealing part, they get fresh trail that's not beat up,” Bedard said.

Plus the schedule is arranged so the pro class racers - who generally travel at much higher speeds on the course - will arrive in Nome about the same time as the trail class participants. Bedard said in the past, some have complained that those in the trail class get sort of forgotten. Iron Dog officials have focused on changing

that.

While six trail class teams in the 2006 race is extremely low, Bedard said as many as 50 trail class teams have participated in the past. She said she would like to see the Iron Dog draw those types of numbers once again.

Bedard said she credits the spark in interest to a few different reasons. An improved Web site, www.irondog.org, has helped to give the race more exposure. The Iron Dog is also staging its finish in Fairbanks once again.

Among the additions to the Iron Dog this year, is the use of GPS tracking. Bedard said GPS tracking was used on a trail basis in 2006, but this year fans will have the ability to follow every team in 2A007.

The pro cast features its usual cast of savvy veterans. Wasilla's Andy George and Dwayne Drake, of Fairbanks, return as the defending race champions. Perennial contenders Todd Palin (Wasilla) and Scott Davis (Kenai) also return. Among the other participants hailing from the Valley are Wasilla's Korey Cronquist, teamed with Soldotna's Dusty Van Meter; Wasilla's Nick Olstad, teamed with Anchorage's Marc McKenna; and the Wasilla team of John Faeo and Todd Minnick.

The 2007 race begins Feb. 11 at the Islander on Big Lake.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.