Yukon Quest 750 mushers Josi Shelley, Jeff Deeter, Jason and Patrick Mackey, Jonah Bacon and Keaton Loebrich were between the Central and Circle checkpoints overnight as deep cold settled on a notoriously chilly stretch of trail. Meandering Birch Creek is one of many physical and mental challenges the Quest throws at mushers, and dedicated volunteers are working behind the scenes to ensure the race runs as smoothly as possible.
Ryne Olson has run in five Yukon Quests, and she says she and her sister always celebrated their birthdays during the race. This year, though, was about volunteering.
“Of course, we had to bring the festivities. We’ve got tutus, glitter, a birthday squad t-shirt that has Ragnar, China Cat and Cassidy, with birthday hats – those are all dogs of Squid Acres Kennel – on it. So, you can pick out anybody who’s officially part of the birthday squad in one of these t-shirts.”
Olson says there are 10 official members, and they’re visiting from all over the country.
Their tasks as volunteers at the race start in Fairbanks varied but included security. And Kathy Carlson, who came in from Astoria, Oregon, for the birthday celebration, says they were doing a good job keeping folks in line.
“They were intimidated by us, frankly. They see us coming, and they go the other way.”
Meanwhile, farther up the trail…
“My job is to kind of run around and park all the dog teams.”
Justine Schmidt helped all the teams find a spot in a cleared field in Two Rivers. She managed the Chicken checkpoint in last year’s race. Her gig this year involves a little more cardio, but she says she doesn’t mind.
“This is fun because we just get to run around and get to go home tonight and sleep in a bed.”
Schmidt was waiting to park the final 80-mile fun-runner Saturday evening. I went inside for a few minutes to warm up and missed it. But here’s how she says it went down.
“They were parked way at the back end, so we had to do a big loop around and I’m tired, so I got run over by some dogs. But they were very sweet, and they gave me kisses.”
Early Sunday morning, it’s windy and around 20-below in a plowed-out lot on the side of the Steese Highway. Trucks are running, and a fire crackles in the bottom of a barrel that has the number “101” carved into its side. A few people huddle around it now and then – but the wind seems to sweep away the warmth about as fast as the fire can produce it.
The fire is a few paces in front of the Mile 101 checkpoint’s small trailer, where people can go to more thoroughly thaw out. Off to the right is a second barrel.
“We shovel snow into the burn barrel, and there is a propane heating element that’s up on a platform beneath it.”
That’s checkpoint manager Wendy McCartney, who says the process serves an important purpose.
“This way, when the dogs come in, they have fresh, actual liquid water to drink and not just mouthfuls of snow.”
It’s not all barrels and trailers at Mile 101. Right next to where handlers can get the melted-snow-water for dogs, volunteers built a windbreak out of shrubs and a tent footprint to help protect from the icy winds.
The structure isn’t always an installment at 101, McCartney says, although what it represents is.
‘I would say the ingenuity is pretty normal. We’re a pretty creative bunch, and so a lot of what we do when we’re building a checkpoint requires some creativity and problem solving.’”
McCartney says she’s volunteered at Mile 101 for three years, though it’s her first as a checkpoint manager. She says she does it because of how much the race matters to the community, and because it means a lot to help support the mushers.
Plus, it’s a chance to cheer on the dogs.
(Patrick Gilchrist)
