Junior race added to Bowers Memorial

WASILLA — Organizers in Willow are hopeful Alaska’s newest junior sled dog race will become an annual event.

“That would be great,” Chris Stitt, organizer of the Don Bowers Junior 100 said Monday.

Organized by the Montana Creek Dog Mushers Association, the Don Bowers Memorial 200- and 300-mile races are Iditarod and Yukon Quest qualifiers run each year in conjunction with the Willow Winter Carnival. For this winter’s race, which is scheduled for Jan. 25, Stitt said she approached Bowers Memorial organizers with the idea of running a junior race.

“They thought it was an excellent idea,” she said.

Stitt said junior races are few and far between, so the idea of adding a junior race to the Bowers schedule seemed like a good fit.

“There are hardly any races for them,” she said.

Since the Bowers Memorial is a Friday-Saturday race, Stitt said it’s family-friendly because parents don’t have to worry about racing back home to get kids back to school on Monday.

Bowers Memorial secretary Michael Bishop said the race committee is excited at the prospect of expanding the event to include the junior race.

“I think it’s terrific,” Bishop said.

The junior race will approximately 90 miles long and held at the same time as the Bowers Memorial 200- and 300-mile races, which begin at the Willow Community Center. Willow mushers swept last year’s races, with DeeDee Jonrowe taking home the top spot in the 200, and Sven Haltmann winning the 300.

The junior race will run to the Eaglesong Lodge, where racers will take a 6-hour layover before returning to Willow the next morning.

“It’s a race within a race,” Chris Stitt said.

The junior race is open to mushers ages 13 to 17, although Stitt said younger racers may be allowed in with a voucher from a veteran musher.

Mushers interested in signing up for any of the Bowers Memorial races can download applications at www.mcdma.org. The cost for the junior race is $50, while entry fees for the 200- and 300-mile Iditarod qualifiers are $200 and $300 respectively.

“All they have to do is pull it up on the Internet,” Stitt said.

The junior race will follow Junior Iditarod rules, and Stitt said mushers should be capable of handling a dog team and camping out on their own.

“The qualification is that you are capable of running a 10-dog team,” she said.

Dog teams of between six and 10 dogs will be allowed into the junior race.

Stitt said that the Junior Bowers is also seeking corporate and private support — both in-kind or financial — to help keep the event going.

“We’re definitely eager for sponsorship,” she said.

If interest in this year’s junior race is sufficient, Stitt said she’s more than willing to continue organizing future races.

“I plan on it,” she said.

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