Valley teen wins Junior Iditarod

Feb. 27, 2007

By JODI SNYDER/ For the Frontiersman

WILLOW - A record field of 26 young mushers, ages 14-18, started the 2007 Jr. Iditarod on Saturday morning at Knik Lake. The group raced to the half way point at Yentna Station and took their mandatory 10 hour layovers before heading back to finish at Willow Lake on Sunday.

Big Lake's Rohn Buser, 17, won the race, finishing at 8:26 a.m.

Buser said trail conditions were really fast.

&#8220I think I made it in about six hours, coming back,” Buser said right after he finished. &#8220And that's after getting lost. I got on the wrong trail after Scary Tree.”

Buser said he thought someone had passed him during the time he was looking for the right trail, and he seemed a little surprised to find himself the first musher to arrive.

Buser was followed by five female mushers. About a half-hour after he finished, rookie musher Megan Hedgecoke of Two Rivers came through the chute, finishing second.

Jessica Klejka of Bethel finished third, at 9:08, only five minutes behind Hedgecoke. Melissa Owens finished fourth, only two minutes later.

A pilot who flew over the trail said the three traveled together for much of the return trip.

Ellen King of Denali Park finished fifth at 9:44 a.m., followed by Ava Lindner of Two Rivers at 10:02.

Temperatures on the lake at the time Buser won hovered around 25 below, and the first finishers had a frosty coating of ice on their eye lashes and brows. By the end of the day, temperatures had warmed to 12 degrees and higher, but trail conditions were still reported to be good.

By 4 p.m., the remaining mushers had all returned to Willow Lake except Chrystiene Salesky, who finished safely at 5:44 p.m., to take home the Red Lantern.

Rohn Buser has run the race twice before, and finished second last year. In addition to the honor of being the 2007 Jr. Iditarod champion, Buser will receive tickets to Nome for the Iditarod banquet, he will drive the first sled out of the chute in downtown Anchorage on March 3 to start the Iditarod race, and he will be given a $5,000 college scholarship.

Three mushers scratched during the 2007 race. Kristen Crain scratched at the Trail Lake checkpoint going in, Ilsa Schwarzburg scratched at Yentna, and David May scratched on his return to Trail Lake.

Wade Marrs of Wasilla had to withdraw from the race after losing a dog on the trail.

Upon his return to Willow Sunday afternoon, Marrs borrowed his uncle's snowmachine and went to search for his dog. As of Sunday evening, Marrs' dog was still on the loose, according to Jr. Iditarod volunteer Ola Williams.

Alaska's Jr. Iditarod has taken place since 1978, and is held each year the weekend before Iditarod.

According to the Jr. Iditarod Web site, mushers must be at least 14 but not yet 18 to be eligible for entry in the

event.

Each driver must obtain a signed statement from a recognized musher or mushing organization attesting to the belief that the entrant is capable of handling themselves and a team in a safe, humane, and competitive manner in Alaskan wilderness conditions. Teams can be a maximum of 10 dogs but not less than five dogs on the tow line. Gear is basically the same as the gear carried by Iditarod mushers.

This year, the race had a record field of 26 mushers, all Alaskans. There were nine veterans and 17 rookies. It's the first year the race has started at one location and ended at another.

Typically, the Jr. Iditarod trail follows the Iditarod trail from the Wasilla area approximately 80 miles to the Big Bend of the Yentna River.

At that point, mushers take a mandatory layover, where they can experience camping out with their dogs and caring for their team and themselves. Race officials, medical and veterinary personnel are available at each of the checkpoints along the approximately 160 mile route.

Safety is very important. Snowmachine crews sweep the trail before and after the teams leave. Volunteer pilots fly cover over the race trail and reports of teams' progress are relayed by volunteer HAM operators located at each checkpoint.

Jodi Snyder is a free-lance writer for the Frontiersman.