Latest Newsletter

PO Box 344
Kotzebue AK
(907) 442-6034
[email protected]
JUNE 2006
Post Race Issue 2006
Dear Friends,
I hope this summer finds
you all shedding your winter
layers as we finally have
after getting a late snowfall
the first week of June. Winter didn’t want to leave us
this year, perhaps it was still
bursting with all we accomplished. I hope you enjoy
reading about our racing
kennel in this fourth issue of
our newsletter.
Iten Racing Kennel
BY RUTH ITEN
Many of you will recognize the picture on the front
of the mushers card we had
printed this year. It was
taken at the finish line of the
Kuskokwim 300 in January
2004, the year Ed won the
race. This is one of my favorite pictures of Ed. The
creases around his eyes
show how tired he is, the
smile shows how elated he
is at finally winning after
trying since 1993.
I think the only other
photos we have of him
smiling so big are those
from the Iditarod finish line
in 2005 when he came in
second. You’d think that
maybe he’d relax a bit after
doing so well but that second place finish has just
made him work harder.
First place is his goal now
more than ever.
The reporters and race
fans knew Ed would be
driven this year. Our Iditarod preparations were
very hectic with the extra
time Ed spent with the
press. He aired on Alaska
Public Radio’s Talk of
Alaska, he was featured in
the Anchorage Daily News
Special Iditarod section (if
you missed this article it is
on our web site), a prime
time German TV network
filmed a documentary on
him, and before both starts
you could barely talk to
him he was so busy talking
into the microphone.
All this attention didn’t
take his mind off the race,
however. He did an excellent job and finished seventh this year. He’s written
his account of the race for
you in this newsletter.
As this summer’s pups
are born we look forward to
another year of raising,
training, running and racing
long distance sled dogs. On
August third Ed and I will
celebrate our twentieth
wedding anniversary. Our
courtship was spent sharing
the runners of one sled,
traveling with all sixteen
dogs Ed owned.
Thanks to your support
we’ve built a successful racing kennel from these humble beginnings.
Thank you and God bless,
Ed and Ruth,
Katie and Quinn
The Team
This year’s Iditarod Team
consisted of lots of veterans.
They were: Hoover, Piker,
Jeb, Ona, Becky, Zoi, Guinnea, Bugs Aaron, Ford,
Cool, Fisher and Arrow.
Art, Rat and Flap were new
additions as three year olds.
For a description of these
dogs and how they preformed see our web site.
Quinn and I graduated
an outstanding group of one
year olds this spring. Cliff
Hyatt, one of our Iditarod
start regulars from H.Watt
and Scott, got to see a training run in action when he
ran a chase sled with seven
dogs behind my team in
April. His friend from Fair-
banks, Bill Rogers,
rode in my sled. I
was re-named
The General
after we got
home – training yearlings takes a kind of military
approach. They respond best
to firm consistency.
Ed got some good running in on the pups. We kept
an awesome selection and
were able to sell some nice
ones as well.
Tollef ran a team consisting of two and three year
olds in the Noatak 120, the
Iditarod, and the Kobuk 440.
Some of his team dogs have
been sold; others are waiting
Boomer, PeeWee’s pup
to join Ed’s Iditarod team
next year.
Three of the brown
Pee Wee pups seen in the
picture of Quinn and his
puppy palace in the Fall
2003 newsletter have become major players in
Tollef’s team. Next year
Cargo, Boomer and
Scrunch will be ready to
run in the race team.
2005-2006 Races
“Overall I was pleased with our race”
Noatak 120
For the first year in several the weather
was cold enough in December for a
safe trail up the Noatak River for the
Noatak 120, a Kotzebue Dog Mushers
Association (KDMA) sponsored race.
Ed in his race bib at the 2006 Iditarod start.
The teams left Kotzebue in ice fog
for the five hour run to Noatak the
morning of New Years Eve. After his
four hour layover Ed was the first to
leave the village located high on the
river bank. Ed’s fresh eighteen dog
team stormed out of the village. His
sled hit a snow berm on the ice covered
street and flipped. He drug a city block
behind the team while the checkers
chased him. Once upright, Ed kept his
first place lead over Joe Garnie by just
minutes. Both teams arrived back to
Kotzebue in time to see the midnight
firework show.
2006 Iditarod by Ed Iten
“In this competitive field a few hours can represent a few places”
The results from this year’s Iditarod
were good, but still shy of my expectations for me and the team. I set an aggressive schedule and felt good about
the dog’s performance. We fed Momentum Premium dog feed with good
results this year. The dogs all ate well,
had good energy and showed no signs
of diarrhea; the bane of long distance
racing.
My first bout of pilot error occurred
in driving the team from Ophir to Cripple and catching up to the trail breakers. Besides taking our 24 hour rest at
50 below, the soft trail we endured
firmed up later and increased traveling
speeds of teams behind us by 2 ½ - 3
hours.
The second mistake was to break
the river in half instead of breaking at
Galena and Nulato. The deep drifting
trail and a windy rest at Bishops Rock
took a lot of energy out of the team,
requiring an additional 4 hour break at
Old Woman’s cabin on the run from
Kaltag to Unalakleet.
I was able to secure a 7th place finish by driving through Shaktoolik to
Koyuk in one 100 mile run, and then
through Elim to White Mountain for a
second 100 mile run.
Overall I was pleased with our race.
In this competitive field a few hours
can represent a few places. To be able
to reflect on time cost or spent inefficiently is a luxury we don’t always
have. There will always be those races
where the wheels fall off and you are
left wondering what went wrong.
And yes, the schedule which I made
before the race was about right. Jeff
finished within minutes of it.
Kuskokwim 300
The Kusko was a mixed bag this
year. Ed entered the race with
good training miles but not tough
ones due to lack of snow. He felt
that the effects of this showed up
around the 200 mile mark with
several dogs developing leg
cramps. He managed a fifth place
finish and a pay check, but not
the results he was driving for.
Ed leaving the yard to go to the Iditarod, pulling his race sled with him into town
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Iten Racing Kennel
Kobuk 440
We had a perfect trail for the Kobuk 440 this year. Spring lasted
forever in our part of the world. The field was the most impressive it’s been since the late eighties.
Teams left Kotzebue in a mass start and settled into traveling
mode by Noorvik. The race doesn’t usually heat up until the upriver loop and it was the same this year. This year Lance Mackey
took the lead in the upriver loop. After that the question was, did
he cut too much rest to take this lead? Will the teams behind him
catch up? Ed finished second 14 minutes behind Mackey and 10
minutes in front of Jeff King. Besides these top three finishers,
Kotzebue and village people were excited to watch Mitch Seavey, Martin Buser, John Baker, and several other well known
teams pass through.
Stretching their Wings
Kate had a great run with the two
year olds in the 2005 Jr. Iditarod.
This year Tollef ran the two year
olds in the Iditarod and Kate spent
her time completing her ninth and
tenth grades. Her A average shows
how well she did.
Besides working on schoolwork, Kate and her brother went
downhill skiing for their first time
at Alyeska with friends of the
family in February. In March
Kate volunteered at the Jr.
Iditarod, helped both our
teams at the Iditarod start
Kate skiing at Aleyska
and finish, and traveled with Jennifer Johnston to Ambler, Shungnak and Kobuk teaching
cross-country skiing to school children.
Quinn running a team to go sheefishing down on Kobuk Lake
Quinn set his sights on the 2007 Jr. Iditarod early in
last year’s training season. He helped me train the yearlings all winter. He will get his pick of the best two year
olds from this group for his team. I don’t think we can call
him The General as by rights there is only one and that is
me. Like his sister, Quinn has become a competent dog
driver and trainer.
New Additions to the Farm
Since our last newsletter I’ve acquired a goat from our neighbor. In 40 January cold she gave birth to Nugak (caribou fawn in Inupiaq).
“Nugget” is now almost as big as her mom and we’re back up to a
quart and a half of milk a day—yummmmm.
The guys kept asking for eggs so this spring we got
eleven pullets from Fairbanks. Hopefully they’ll produce this fall. Keeping eleven chicks in a box next to the
wood stove all break up was no easy feat. Ed rose to the
occasion this spring and built a very spacious chicken coop.
I’m thinking the chickens brought back pleasant childhood
memories for Ed, the longer they lived in our kitchen the more
time he spent watching them and reading up on breeds and
care.
And, yes, the horses are all well. There are some new
pictures of them on our website.
Iten Racing Kennel
Iten Racing Kennel
T-SHIRTS FOR SALE
color: green
price: $20.00 includes shipping
Send check and size to me at:
PO Box 344
Kotzebue, AK 99752
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Thank You, Tollef!
After five years with our kennel
Tollef has decided to move on.
I’m glad that he’s not moving
far. This fall when he returns
from set netting in Kodiak
he’ll run John Baker’s
two year olds. I’ve
already told him
that Sunday dinner
at the Iten’s is a
must.
During his stay
here not only
did Tollef become a sled
Tollef
dog racer and
trainer, racing in two Iditarods, two
Kobuk 440s, two Noatak 120s and the
Knik 200, he also became an experienced outdoorsman.
Tollef helped Ed cut our major
training trail into the Squirrel Moun-
tains where they spent much time snowshoeing, camping and traveling. When
Ed was off working, Tollef and the children hunted our fall caribou. He also
was Ed’s major helper setting and
checking our sheefish nets. Tollef
learned how to build sleds from Ed and
this last year he kept the alpine snow
machine going with his newfound mechanic’s skills.
Whoever replaces Tollef will have
the opportunity to do all he has done.
This person needs to be dedicated to
living in the arctic—cutting wood for
heat, hauling drinking water from the
creek, and depending on a dog team for
work and transportation as much as for
sport. It’s a wonderful opportunity for
the right person. If you know anyone
with these interests please have them
contact us.
Iten Kennels
P.O. Box 344
Kotzebue, AK 99752
To:
Prime Sponsor
Lynden Air Cargo
Corporate Sponsors
H. Watt and Scott Contractors
Dr. Robert Mauer D.D.S.
White Mountain Sponsors
Momentum Dog Food
7-Up Alaska
Dr. Tim Hunt, Alaska Urological
Associates
Drake Construction
U.I.C.
Ophir Sponsors
NW Arctic Borough
Tiaga Harness
Dr. George Rhyneer
Rainy Pass Sponsors
Alaska Serigraphics
Printer’s Ink
The Steele/McVey Family
Chukchota Store
Katie & Jim Walker
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Iten Racing Kennel
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