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| 28th
year of Alaska's great race
|
| 01/16/00 24 KLONDIKE 300 MUSHERS HIT TRAIL By J.R. Rardon Daily News Reporter BIG LAKE--Lynda Plettner left the starting line of the Klondike 300 Sled Dog race as the the top returning finisher from last year's event. But the seven-time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race veteran harbors no illusions about claiming top honors in the 2000 Klondike 300. Plettner, of Big Lake, has the bulk of her Iditarod-tested dogs dispersed among three mushers who are seeking to qualify for their first Iditarod run in March. ''The beginners get all the Iditarod veterans,'' said Plettner, who tied for third in the Klondike 300 last year behind winner DeeDee Jonrowe and runner-up Mark May. ''I've got all the top yearlings and one adult dog.'' Neither Jonrowe, who ran last week's Copper Basin 300, nor May is entered this year. Twenty-four teams are entered in the Klondike 300 and chasing a purse of $11,200, up from $8,100 a year ago. Plettner's kennel is represented this year by her husband, Dan ''Guido'' Govoni, Trish Kolegar of Wasilla and probably the most intriguing entrant in this year's 24-team field, 48-year-old Russian adventurer Feodor Konioukhov. Konioukhov, who lives in Moscow, has been training with Plettner's dogs since November. But this is not his first trip to Alaska. In 1996 he climbed Mount McKinley, completing his ascents of the Seven Summits, the highest points on each of the seven continents. Konioukhov also has completed two solo circumnavigations of the globe by sailboat and was just the third person to reach the north pole on skis. ''He is without a doubt the most famous explorer in Russia,'' Plettner said of Konioukhov. ''He's their Arnold Schwarzenegger, only he's the real thing.'' But Konioukhov is not considered the favorite any more than Plettner, thanks to the appearance in this year's race of three-time Iditarod winner Martin Buser of Big Lake and two-time Yukon Quest champion Charlie Boulding of Manley. The mushers departed from the Klondike Inn at Big Lake on Saturday morning at two-minute intervals for the trip through Skwentna to Forks Roadhouse. After a mandatory six-hour layover at the roadhouse, the mushers will return to Big Lake, where the winner is expected to arrive sometime Monday morning or early afternoon. The trail, dusted by light snow Friday, was hard and fast, and the temperature hung just below zero under a clear sky Saturday morning. The subzero cold proved just the ticket for Point Hope musher Russell Lane. Lane had planned to run the Kuskokwim 300 in Southwest Alaska, but bitter cold in the western part of the state prompted him to bring two teams to Big Lake. Lane said the wind chill in Point Hope fell to as low as minus 90 recently, putting a halt to training. ''We got a lot of setbacks,'' said Lane, who placed 31st as a rookie in last year's Iditarod. ''For a week it got so cold we couldn't do anything.'' Lane, like Plettner, will decide on his Iditarod team based on the dogs' showing this weekend and in other qualifying races. ''This is going to be a training run,'' Lane said. ''I've got a lot of young dogs on this team.'' That youth showed as Lane's two leaders briefly made a U-turn approaching the starting line and appeared ready to head back to his truck. But he got them lined out, and the team bolted from the line in solid form. The Klondike 300 should prove a good training ground for dogs and mushers entered in the 2000 Iditarod. The Klondike shares part of the early portion of the Iditarod trail, and Plettner said the first 15 miles of the race, to the Tug Bar on Knik Bay Road, are every bit as brutal. ''Just getting off the lake is a mini-Iditarod,'' Plettner said. ''You've got road crossings and soft new trail that the dogs don't like. It's gnarly until you get to the Tug Bar.'' In fact, each of the mushers left the starting line with just eight dogs for the trip to the Tug Bar, where the teams took a two-hour mandatory layover to add dogs for the haul to Skwentna. The first mushers were expected into Skwentna late Saturday night, where they were scheduled to take a six-hour mandatory layover. The first 100 yards of the race were gnarly enough for Aaron Burmeister of Nenana. Burmeister, who had just left the starting line, stopped his team and held out his arms questioningly when a ski plane landed and taxied directly down the starting chute. Numerous snowmachines also criss crossed the lake during the start, but there were no reports of altercations between machines and dog teams. Aaron Peck of Big Lake, who started third, was the first musher out of Tug Bar, at 2:31 p.m. He was followed two minutes later by Blake Freking of Willow. Michael Nosko of Wasilla, who was 11th off the starting line, left Tug Bar in third place at 2:37, followed closely by Boulding and Buser. Those positions are unofficial because the two-minute differential in starting times was to be factored into the layover at Skwentna. CUTLINE: Paul McLarnon mushes out of the Klondike 300 start chute at Big Lake on Saturday. McLarnon was one of 24 mushers to enter the race this year. Two members of Ellen Halverson's dog team peek out of their boxes before the start of the 2000 Klondike sled dog race Saturday at Big Lake. Ellen Halverson's dog team awaits the start of the 2000 Klondike 300 in Big Lake. Twenty-four mushers hit the trail Saturday, and the winner is expected to cross the finish line Monday. Reporter J.R. Rardon can be reached at jrardon@adn.com. |
©2000
Anchorage Daily News