Mushing legends, rookies compete in Knik 200

KNIK - It was hard to tell who was more excited for the annual Knik 200 - mushers or their dogs. Although temperatures were a balmy 2 degrees leading up to Saturday's race start on Knik Lake, and people were wearing more pelts than the sled dog teams, the coffee and camaraderie were warm.

"Ah, this ain't cold," said musher Lev Shvarts. "This is just another day at the office. This ain't nothing. It's mellow, actually, should be a pleasant trip."

As his team yipped and howled, perhaps sensing the impending start of the race, Shvarts was thinking about a years-long journey that led him to Alaska and to the starting line Saturday to mush with some of the world's best. He's been mushing for seven years, but the Knik 200 is his first Alaska race.

Schvarts said he is high on his young team, led by Bluie and Goldie, along with their sister, Greenie. The dogs "are named after my three favorite blends of Johnnie Walker (whiskey)."

He's also a little star-struck to be in the same field that boasts Martin Buser and Lance Mackey, both four-time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champions, and DeeDee Jonrowe, a local fan favorite.

"It is a little unbelievable," Shvarts admits. "Well, if I see them, it's ‘cause they'll be passing me, and I'll just pull over quietly. Or, I might drive my dogs real hard and beat them, you never know."

If he sees any of the favorites - like Buser, Mackey or Ray Redington Jr. - out on the trail, that won't be a good sign, Schvarts said.

"When they're starting 40th and I'm starting sixth, if I see them I know there's a problem," he said. "I'd like to see them in Skwentna, but not before that."

Skwentna is a checkpoint and turnaround mark for the race, and its only mandatory layover.

Shvarts won't be alone as a Knik 200 rookie. Also making his Alaska debut is Mike Miller. In fact, at age 59, this year's race is his first ever.

Miller and his family moved his business to Wasilla last year, and while he had cultivated a love for the sport over the years, Miller said he never thought he'd become involved. That changed when he met Buser and started working as a dog handler for him.

On Saturday, he was preparing to take out one of six entries Buser's kennel entered in this year's Knik 200.

"I wasn't planning on this at all, and I really didn't think it was going to happen," Miller said. "I've been following the races from the '80s from my home in Seattle and Portland, Ore., and I've always wanted to come up here. We finally did it."

Not only is he running his first race, he's in the same field as some of the legends of the sport.

"This is just great. It's truly and honor," Miller said. "This is what I've been dreaming about for many, many years. I couldn't ask for a better mentor."

Miller's wife, Mary, and daughter, Jessica, who were busily trying to stay warm before the start, share his enthusiasm for the adventurous sport.

Although the temperatures will dip well below zero on the trail and there are miles of wilderness to cover between Knik and Skwentna, Mary said she's confident her husband will "have the time of his life."

"I'm thrilled for him," she said. "He's Mr. Safety, Mr. Rules and Regulations, so he'll be fine."

So, could Miller pull off a Tim Tebow-like upset and beat Buser to the finish line?

"Well, I don't think that's going to happen," Mary said.

One musher who will give Buser a run for his money is Ray Redington Jr., grandson of Joe Redington Sr., who's known as the father of the Iditarod. Ray Redington Jr. finished second in the Knik 200 in 2009, fourth in 2008 and fifth in 2007.

"I'm feeling good," he said about 20 minutes before teams started running out on the lake. "It's good training for the Iditarod. We can see what we've got and it's a little bit of competition. I have a couple of young dogs I think are really good, but we'll give them a go here and see if they'll handle it for the Iditarod. I think they're good, but that's why we're here, to find out."

Veteran competitor Ray Redington Jr. started No. 22, but said he planned to move to the front of the pack quickly.

"We're starting No. 22, but we won't be there that long," he said.

Aaron Burmeister of Nome has run the race "a handful of times over the years," and is in it again this year to get his team in shape for the Iditarod. "We need to kind of give the dogs a little tune-up, get them stretched out. The goal is the Iditarod."

While the Knik 200 has struggled in the past with a lack of snow at times, that's not the case this year.

"We have an incredible trail this year," Burmeister said. "We have awesome snow, it's going to be a good run. My hope is to finish in 23 to 24 hours. Wherever I finish in that (time), whether it's first or 15th, it doesn't matter."

On the trail for long, cold hours alone, many mushers use music to keep their minds occupied and to stay alert. For Ray Redington Jr., the selection "depends on if you're trying to race or you're going alone."

Anyone observing Shvarts, however, can guess what he's listening to - something upbeat.

"I have these headphones - big honkin' headphones - and I just roll with the tunes, man," he said.

Usually, those tunes will be some vintage punk rock, like the Subhumans or Dead Kennedys, he said. "It's something that can be background music, and you'll see me out there waving my ski pole, bopping around."

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.