TEEN TACKLES IDITAROD

KNIK — Wade Marrs races for solitude, but the 18-year-old’s sled, pulled by dogs, is pushed by an entire community.

This is the first Iditarod for the musher from Knik, the youngest in the 2009 race. But with help from decades of experience, he hopes to become one of the youngest to ever complete the race.

Even at 18, Marrs is no stranger to the sled. He has grown up with dogs his whole life and started running his own team when he was 7 years old. He ran the Jr. Iditarod twice, and competed in six junior races last year alone.

When asked what draws him to mushing, he sheepishly responds, “Being out there by myself, I guess.”

But getting him there is not a story of one individual. It’s a story of an Alaska sled dog community, of the support and teamwork it takes to get one musher from Willow to Nome.

Marrs’ support network runs deep with Iditarod history. When the race season slows, he runs sled tours for Rayme Redington. Redington is a descendant of Joe Redington Sr., father of the modern Iditarod race. Rayme Redington’s sons, Ryan and Ray, are themselves racing in this year’s Iditarod.

Visiting Marrs’ house on Friday, among the smell of dogs and strewn hay, Marrs pointed out which of the 38 excited dogs in his yard he got from the Redington’s.

The two lead dogs he hooked up for his practice run are both from the Redington’s. Gray Jack, a calm male husky mix came as an adult already trained to be a leader. Marrs got Lieutenant, a wiry white male more energetic than Gray Jack, from the Redington’s as a puppy.

“If I’m short dogs,” said Marrs, “they give me more. I actually just picked one up today.”

Continuing to hook all 16 to the rigging, he explained the pedigree of a few dogs. One finished second in the Iditarod a few years back with a different racer, one is a mix of a Martin Buser and a Redington dog.

“I mostly like bigger males,” said Marrs. A little while later, a dog started to tangle the lines and yelp like mad. “I think that swing dog is a female in heat,” he explained.

Despite the 40-pound bag of kibble and two meat tubes he goes through every day, the number of dogs Marrs has is essential. He has been able to do longer, 60-mile training runs without using the same dog two days in a row.

“I have six potential leaders,” added Marrs. “Rivers will be the main one in the race, but he’s laid up now because of a swelled wrist.”

While this injury would not normally slow him down, Marrs’ training schedule has been cut short lately. Beside the 40-mile run on Friday, he been focusing on the food drop this close to the race.

“Sometimes I don’t get to sleep until 3 a.m. because I’m worrying about the food. You have to have a certain amount of weight,” said Marrs.

Luckily, he’s had some help with this as well.

“The community has been very supportive, especially with putting together the food drop,” said Marrs. “The women at church cooked the people food for me, and the Redington’s helped with the meat for the dogs.”

Besides the people helping with cooking at Sunny Knik Chapel, and frozen dog food, Marrs will be carrying with him the advice that can only be learned with trail experience.

“Veterans told me how to run, the schedule for stops, where to take my 24-hour rest and where to stop for my 8’s,” said Marrs. “Takotna is where most people stop for the 24. Some like to go further to Iditarod, but they say Takotna has good food and hospitality.”

Even his mother, Eileen Marrs, brings 27 years of dog sledding experience to help him prepare, carrying the dogs over for the training run.

Asked how she feels about her son running the 1,131-mile race, “Good,” she says. “He’s ready for it.”

Even at 18, with 11 years of dog sledding experience Marrs speaks with the confidence of a veteran.

“Right off the starting line, the dogs can be difficult to control. But they’re pretty well-trained,” said Marrs. The most important thing, he says, is to “make the dogs run at a good pace. Settle them into a nice trot.”

Once he takes off from Willow, he will be faced with the cold reality all on his own. The Jr. Iditarod is only about 150 miles, and the other junior races are around 60 miles. The cold and the distance worry Marrs the most, but he knows the dogs are ready and the reception will be warm once he’s back in Knik.