Turning Heads Kennel

06/30/2024

Today Travis signed up for his 11th Iditarod. He also won a free entry! 🥳

The race is still a long ways away but training will start soon. We are already so excited for the 2024-2025 race season!

06/28/2024

Look at that handsome guy! Way to go Travis and team on a great run in 2024. We are looking forward to another amazing race in 2025. 👏🏻

We are so incredibly grateful to be celebrating 10 years of partnership with Bristol Bay Native Corporation. Investing in our communities and Native way of life is a priority for BBNC, they believe our heritage unites and connects us with the long arc of history, and our shared responsibility to future generations. Quyana, BBNC for being such a great partner in The Last Great Race on Earth® and for being such a pillar in so many Alaskan communities.

06/04/2024

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Congrats mama Blue on your five beautiful babies born on June 2nd. Three boys and two girls! 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Nothing like sweet little puppy noises to pull at those heart strings! 😍🥰

We are so excited about this litter as it is likely Blue’s last. She is almost 9! The puppies are mostly darker colored except for one white female. (We will get more
photos soon 📸)

BLUE x RICHARD
💙💙💙💗💗

Now we just need 5 names. Who has suggestions for us? Comment below. 👇🏻 We’d love to hear them!

03/16/2024

Congratulations Sevy! We are so proud of you and the dogs.

85 days ago Sevy joined our kennel. Today, they successfully complete a 1000 mile journey to Nome.

This finish was so cool for Travis and me. We’ve never had our team travel to Nome with someone else — and we couldn’t be more grateful for them to travel with Sevy.

Were you watching the live feed?! What a LOUD team! Unfortunately my phone died 😅

🥳🥳🥳

Turning Heads Kennel team 2 and SEVERIN CATHRY are INTO NOME 🥳

Shout out to all our crew: Matt, Ibi, Charly & Sam for all their help. Behind every team of dogs is a team of humans helping turn a dream into reality 🥳

🐾🐾

03/15/2024

Sevy is taking a little break in SAFETY. If the dogs, need a break it’s the right choice!

While we wait, we got some fun mushergrams from Travis. These are only a fraction of those sent out on the trail. Thank you SEWARD for all your love and for all the love our team was shown from all over the country. 💕

03/15/2024

🐾🐾🥳Sevy has left White Mountain and is on his way to NOME 🥳🐾🐾

03/15/2024

Big thank you to Last Frontier Eye Care for making the time to see Travis today after he got some good rest post Iditarod. Travis’ eye is starting on the road to recovery and currently has a “contact lens bandage” on it to help him recover from a corneal erosion. They also helped remove a bunch of fuzz he had stuck in his eye 😅😂

We appreciate their kindness in seeing him and working around his musher sleep schedule.

Meanwhile, Sevy continues to make his way to White Mountain. We are so proud!

Thanks to everyone who has wished us well and followed along on this crazy journey!

🐾🐾Sarah

03/14/2024

Go Sevy Go!

On his way to WHITE MOUNTAIN 🥳🥳🥳

If you watched the Tracker, Sevy & Lauro did a quick turn around outside Elim. We got word this was because they both decided to return a dog.

Go dogs go!

03/13/2024

TRAVIS and TEAM are in NOME 🥳

Congrats! One heck of a run! 6th place. First to Kaltag. Led 300 miles of the race — and learned a heck of a lot!

Switch - Zydeco
Tsunami
Ohmer
Nyvok- Brady

We can’t wait to share some trail stories with you all.
🐾🐾 Sarah

03/12/2024

Travis and team are in White Mountain! 🥳

They will get to leave at 5:21 this evening after a nice 8 hour rest. Jeff Deeter and Paige Drobny have made up some time on him and won’t be leaving too far behind. This will make it a bit of a battle for Travis — but on the plus side, I don’t think Travis has really run with anyone this race. Might be nice to give his leaders a bit of a break.

Regardless of how it all shakes out, I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud! What a race. We have taken on so much this year and Travis has gone out and raced his tail off, really putting everything on the line. He dominated the middle third of this race and gained some really valuable experience. Our post race “breakdown” will be super interesting. We always sit down after the dust settles to figure out what we could have done differently. You can bet that next year we will be packing eye drops from the get go!

Besides training for Iditarod, we welcomed Elias into the world. Becoming parents 🤯 what a game changer! Really shifted our priorities the season. We also bought a house, and moved in early October which required a fair amount of work — balancing training, an infant and building a dog yard was no easy feet — but Travis handled it all with grace.

What’s crazy about all this is out of his team, there’s actually only a few dogs (the ones who came from Linwood) who’d actually ever been to Nome before. Between Travis and Sevy (still driving 13 dogs in UNK) the future is looking very bright for team THK. He’s also managed all this while dealing with a nasty stomach bug and severe eye issues. What a trooper!

🐾🐾 Sarah

03/12/2024

Travis is in and out of Koyuk after a solid 5 hour rest where he and the dogs both got some good sleep.

Travis currently feels pretty good about where he is sitting. He has a nice gap between him and a chase pack of mushers. His goal is to maintain that gap.

I arrived in Nome yesterday and have spent the day getting settled.

Elias and I are super excited to get ready to welcome Travis to Nome!

If you haven’t watched it, there’s a great interview with Travis on the Insider
🐾🐾 Sarah

03/11/2024

INTO SHAKTOOLIK 🐾👏🏻🥳

I talked to Travis briefly today. His right eye is really bothering him. This fall he was ATVing and a stick went in his eye and scratched his cornea. We thought it was ok but for some reason, the cold weather has been really irritating it. He’s had to keep his eye closed or covered for the most part and I have instructions to call around and find him an optometrist to check it out when he gets to Nome.

I’m always amazed by his fortitude! First a stomach bug, then an eye issue — nothing phases Travis. He is so darn tough!

In Shaktoolik, our good friend Sam (who helped us at the start) is volunteering. A familiar face can make a world of difference out there.

He’s trying to maintain the team and hopefully can make a push at the end.

Back at the kennel, handler extraordinaire Matt Reiss picked up some of the dogs that were sent home. He reported that Rump, La NiÑa & Zenik from Travis’ team all made it home and look good. Jitterbug, the old
man on Sevy’s team, also made it home from Cripple in good spirits. Thanks Matt!

Meanwhile Sevy and team have been motoring along and are currently on their way to Kaltag! Go Sevy go!

Sorry I have not provided more info on Sevy as he has raced. 🙃 I can only do so much 😅

So proud of the dogs, Travis, and Sevy!
🐾🐾 Sarah

03/11/2024

Thank you Hilcorp Alaska for your sponsorship. What an amazing photo of Travis and team

Looks like the team is getting some great rest in UNK. Let’s hope for a strong push up the coast!

The Iditarod is so grateful for Hilcorp Alaska's partnership for the 52nd Iditarod. Hilcorp Alaska is a great supporter of all things Iditarod EDU, including the IditaRead program, Insider in Alaskan schools and the annual EDU Conference that takes place before the race. Starting this year, Hilcorp Alaska will now be presenting the Most Inspirational Musher Award, in which the recipient is chosen by fellow mushers and the winner receives a paid entry fee for the following year’s Iditarod.
Thank you, Hilcorp, for being such great partners in The Last Great Race on Earth®!

03/10/2024

In and parked in UNALAKLEET in 3rd PLACE 👏🏻

What a race our guy is having 🥳

Was excited to see our good friend Lev there helping to guide the team to their parking spot after this hard run for Travis and the team.

Travis reported on the run that he was having some difficult with one of his eyes. He scratched his cornea this fall and during extreme cold it has gotten irritated a I am 🤞🏻 hoping he will get some eye drops here to help soothe it.

One thing for sure, Travis is TOUGH. He’s been dealing with a lot and yet… here he is right up front gaining valuable insight on running a competitive race as a true front runner.

Get some good rest doggos. Then it’s time to fly!
🐾🐾Sarah

03/10/2024

Travis is currently sitting with a pack of mushers at a shelter cabin at mile 676, after camping for about 5.5 hours at mile 642. He made the decision to go through Kaltag with the best information he had at the time but given the slow speeds he clocked in the bumpy hills outside of there, it seems that perhaps that may not have been the right move — and that’s ok. Leading the Iditarod for the first time is psychological challenging (and watching it sure is to!). I thought his decision to go through Kaltag was the right call to: take off 20 or so miles and give the dogs a nice run to UNK. Who would have known all the others mushers would have stopped in Kaltag? Or the trail would have been that bad? As they say, Hindsight is 20/20 — but we focus on moving forward!🐾🐕👏🏻💪🏻

Travis’ competition have made up time on him, resting in Kaltag seems to have given their teams a slight speed edge through the beginning part of the trail, and the buffer Travis had has been depleted. That just means this race is going to get real interesting up at the front. 🤓🤪

The good news is Travis is putting gas back in the tank. The dogs ran 35 miles to their current rest spot. Short runs always help bring speed back.

Traditionally, Travis has been able to make a big push up the coast and our dogs typically excel in the wind and ice of coastal Alaska that cause other teams to falter.

He’s led the Iditarod a long way and while it’s anyone’s race — I still very much believe it’s Travis’ time to shine. ✨

GO DOGS GO!
GO TRAVIS GO!

🐾🐾 Sarah

📸 of Travis accepting the “First Fish” award for being the first team to Kaltag

03/10/2024

In and out of KALTAG. 🔥🐾🥳

Wow. Just amazing. What a smoking run time on his last run on the River.

🔥🔥🔥4 hours 22 minutes for an average pace of 10.46 miles an hour. 🔥🔥🔥

So so so happy with how the team looked. Just absolutely beaming with pride.

I’m in Anchorage today shipping out kennels. Need to give a HUGE thanks to Scott and Debbie Janssen for helping with that. Scott and Debbie own Janssen’s funeral home and have been HUGE supporters of THK over the years and even better friends. We are so grateful.

There are a number of people who have bought merch or sponsored miles over the last few days. To each and every one of you THANK YOU. We appreciate you. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

The race is sure heating up and getting exciting.

Go dogs go! Go Travis go! 🐾🥳🐾🐕🐕🐕
🐾🐾 Sarah

03/09/2024

Travis got into Nulato at 5:49am and took a 4 hour 50 minute rest before getting back on the trail at 10:41 AK time. IN FIRST PLACE 👏🏻

Hot on his heels are a chase pack of mushers.

Jessie Holmes arrived at 8:15
Paige Drobny arrived at 9:01
Matt Hall arrived at 9:43

These teams are all clocking faster run times right now so even though Travis has a bit of a buffer, they are slowly chipping away at.

The good news is that the dogs have now had two great rests back to back. They took 8 hours in Galena and were just shy of taking 5 hours here in Nulato. This should definitely help put a pep in their step.

What a fun race to watch.

We have a busy day getting things ready for our trip to Nome but you can imagine I will be hitting that refresh button about every 2 minutes 😂

🐾🐾 Sarah

03/09/2024

Sorry 🫠
Just realizing my post announcing Travis was “into Galena” never published 😅 whoops 😮‍💨

Instead of rewriting, I’m going to share a video of the team coming in and will write some longer commentary once we see when Matt, Jessie & Dallas get in.

Hope the dogs and Travis get some good rest. (me and Elias could use some too 🫠)

🐾🐾Sarah

03/08/2024

Out of Ruby at 8:55 in FIRST 🐾🥳

Travis reported on the insider that he is feeling better but still is having stomach issues. He’s happy with the team and just going to keep taking it one run at a time.

When the team came in, the live feed was focused on Travis and the team for quite some time. We got to watch them eat a good snack, hydrate, sleep and, in Switch’s case, pose for the camera 💁🏼‍♀️📸

Travis has about a 3 hour lead over the teams in front. He’s gained that through a combination of faster run teams and strategic trail maneuvers.🤓

It will be important that as he continues down the trail he works to balance maintaining his lead and giving the team rest.

It looks like La Niña and Zenik were sent home here. Way to go girls! Thanks for your hard work 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

13 dogs is a huge team!
🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕

Travis is certainly crushing this. How fun to watch.

If you haven’t, you really need to join the Iditarod Insider to watch this all first hand. The coverage has been exceptionally good this year! 🎥🐕

🐾🐾 Sarah

03/08/2024

👏🏻🐾 INTO RUBY 🐾👏🏻

Wow. Travis and team have arrived in Ruby at 4:48 this morning after 13 hours and 42 minutes on the trail. If you recall, Travis camped for almost 4 hours exactly on the trail about 15 miles outside of Cripple.

Right now, Travis is currently the front runner of the Iditarod. 👏🏻🥳👏🏻 This is so exciting but there is so much trail left and so many amazing teams and strong drivers behind him.

According to Bruce the team looked “really really solid” coming in to the checkpoint. Upon arrival, Travis gave the dogs a snack which they gobbled up and some clear cold water which they drank well — both indicators that the team is feeling good.

One thing that I’ve noticed in our dogs this year is just how focused they’ve been. They know what they are doing and nothing really seems to phase them.

Here’s where things get a little interesting with the competition…

Both Jessie Holmes and Paige Drobny went through Cripple and camped roughly around the same spot as Travis and for about the same amount of time. They’re running about 2.5-3 hours behind Travis.

Drobny’s team has slowly been building speed. She and her partner Cody have a really great training program and top notch dog care. She is definitely a team to keep an eye on. (Also, love seeing a strong woman up front!)

Jessie feels like a wild card. It seems like historically he’s often been somewhat “sluggish” the middle third of the race only to rabbit down the trail the last third. He’s been in a top position before and knows how to make a strong push. He also is a heck of an athlete himself (ultra marathoner?) and I’m sure is working hard out there, running or ski poling up every hill. His interviews this race have been at opposite ends of the spectrum: “I don’t have a team to win, I’m going to throttle back” to the exact opposite a checkpoint later. Someone like that is very hard to read 🙃

Ryan Redington opted to stay in Cripple for 4.5 hours and ALSO camp for about 1.5 hours on the trail. The way Ryan has split this run could help build a little speed back into his team and potentially give him an edge over Travis and the other competitors further down the trail — especially with bad weather predicted.

Kaiser also stayed in Cripple and camped on the trail, but opted to give slightly more trail rest than Ryan. Kaiser’s team doesn’t appear to have quite gotten the speed they’ve had in years past back but historically Pete does best on the River which mimics his “home turf” of Bethel.

Then, we have Dallas. Man that guy is a class act. Humbly accepting and acknowledging his time penalty for not properly dealing with the moose, Dallas is still someone to watch. He’s currently camped between Cripple and Ruby. I don’t expect to see any large moves from him until the coast. He certainly has a team that could do a monster run when they near the coast. Will he?

As teams near the coast, temperatures are supposed to drop and the wind is supposed to start picking up. Mother Nature always provides a variable in this race! That being said, I feel that our team has always performed well in the wind. (Our home in Seward is basically its own mini blow hole).

With so much trail left, there is a lot that could happen. We are so proud of how Travis is racing and managing his team. It’s certainly been exciting to watch him have the most competitive race of his career thus far.

🐾🐾

03/08/2024

IN and OUT of CRIPPLE

Travis had a phenomenal run time of 13 hours and 22 minutes — and approximately 4 hours of that was rest — on his way into CRIPPLE.

He left CRIPPLE after a quick 15 minute break to gather supplies to camp along the trail. What a smart move! Doing this allows him to cut down the mileage to Ruby. I expect he will run for another hour or two depending on trail conditions before resting.

The biggest questions are what will Ryan and Jessie Holmes do?

I sort of expect both teams to follow suit, Ryan camping somewhere similar to Travis and Jessie going beyond based on his rest. Travis and Ryan should be on somewhat similar schedules because they 24’d in the same location. Jessie will likely be camping before Ruby and potentially then running straight to Galena. Hard to know.

There will lots of leapfrogging between these 3 front runners. With cold temps and high winds forecasted in the days to come, it will be extremely important to balance run & rest times to keep the team strong.

Also It appears that Travis dropped 1 dog in Cripple. We are thinking it was Rump.

I need to give some special shout outs today. First of all, huge thanks to Sam Paperman who came up this week to help out. Sam’s been with our kennel a long time and helps out whenever and however he can. Today He’s been dealing with a trailer tire that sheered off on him — fortunately at a gas station. He’s taken the reigns and I ran around for parts until Elias had enough. So many tears were had by all. 😮‍💨🫠🙃 Big shout out too to our friends at Stitt Construction for their help with this too.

Thanks to Ibi for stepping in and taking over. The adventures never stop 😝

REAL TALK 👉🏻My anxiety always is sky high while Travis races 🫣 — it’s definitely taking new heights with him doing so well and with a baby 😅 A Huge thanks to everyone who has sent supportive texts, messages, sponsored miles or bought merch in the last few days. I’m sorry I haven’t not reached out or responded. I’m totally over stimulated 🤯😑🙃😮‍💨

👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻Do you have Turning Heads Kennel merch? Put it on and let us know where you’re wearing it! I want some fun photos!!! 👕🐾🐕🥳

🐾🐾 Sarah

03/07/2024

Well, we are off the 24. Travis left Takotna and ran about 28 miles outside Ophir to a nearby cabin to camp. He spent 4 hours on the trail.

During that time Jessie Holmes, passed him. Jessie did his 24 in Ophir. Will he run straight to Cripple?

Nic Petit has indicated he’s going to continue up the trail before he takes his 24. He’ll lead the race briefly before getting leapfrogged.

In other news, My parents arrived yesterday, which is really great. Turns out obsessively watching the tracker and taking care of an 8-month old don’t go well together. It’s good timing too because although Travis is feeling better… I’m now feeling under the weather 🙃

Shout out to Marianne Schoppenmeyer for dropping everything to sew a new zipper on a fur ruff so we could send a different parka to Travis further down the trail. Although temps have been warm, it’s supposed to get VERY cold and he’s been having some trouble staying warm. From being sick? From his parka? We aren’t entirely sure. He had trouble in Kusko staying warm too. Either way, He wanted a different parka so we are going to make that happen.

Sevy will be coming off his 24 in McGrath at 1:36 pm. He still has 16 dogs 🐾🥳🐾

Let’s watch this race unfold.
GO TRAVIS!
GO DOGS!

🐾🥳🐾 - Sarah

03/07/2024

“The dogs are doing great,” Travis tells me on a brief chat this afternoon while on his 24 hours layover. “But me, hah, not so much.” He laughs at the irony of having an incredible dog team while he himself is sick — “but I started some antibiotics so hopefully I’ll start feeling better soon.”

“I’ll be leaving off my 24 with 16 dogs so that’s a pretty incredible feeling.” We chat briefly about logistics before he says hello to Elias. I put the phone on speaker. Travis wants to tell Ibi thanks: “On my first run Tsunami ate my sled bag so I spent my camp sewing it back together. Good idea on the dental floss and needle.”

I tell him everyone is proud and regardless of how the rest of the race unfolds, he’s done great. Keep it up, we tell him! We chat a bit about logistics, the team and his race. He says hi to my parents who just got here to help me with Elias and we try to offer solutions so he can start feeling better. Hopefully something will work.

“I could talk to you all forever but I should probably get another nap in.” It’s tough saying goodbye but boy are we proud of dad! 🥳

In other race news, Sevy has reached McGrath with 16 dogs where he will 24. It’s great seeing both teams from THK excelling. We’re hoping we will get an interview of Sevy before too long on the insider 🤞🏻

Enjoy the last of the break before the action resumes.
🐾Go dogs do 🐾

📷 family photo before the start on Sunday

03/06/2024

FIRST INTO TAKOTNA 🥳🐾

Wow. Just wow.

Travis has declared his 24. The dogs look great: focused and happy.

Although he’s declared his 24, he could still move
On. Cripple would be the next logical stop but I feel good about this rest spot. From here, he will split the run to Cripple into approximately (2) 50 mile runs which is perfect for a dog team.

I have a baby I need to soothe and get to bed but will provide more analysis in the morning.

💕🐾🥳 Sarah

03/06/2024

Travis is through McGrath and on his way to Takotna, currently running in FIRST PLACE. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Once he reaches Takotna he will have to decide: will he stay and 24 or will he take a shorter break and push on to Cripple?

Watching this unfold is such a mix of emotions. In some ways, this has been the least stressful race preparation we’ve ever had. It’s also been the least stressful to watch…. In other ways. WOAH. 🤯 Travis is in FIRST!

Of course, we are only 300 miles into the race but there is SO much I am absolutely LOVING about his race so far:

🐾 Travis is still running 16 dogs & they all appear happy and focused
🐾 He is currently posting some of the fastest run times
🐾 He is 👏🏻 sticking 👏🏻 to 👏🏻 his 👏🏻 schedule 👏🏻

Interestingly, both Jessie and Dallas have chosen to stay in McGrath. Dallas, at least, appears to be on his 2022 schedule which would have him taking his 24 in Cripple.

How will these different decisions play out for the front runners?Who knows.

What we do know:
👉🏻 It’s now snowing hard in McGrath and Mother Nature is always the unknown factor in this race.

🐾🐾 Sarah

📷 pic of Travis in between Rainy Pass and Rohn
📷 current standings
📷 Tug, looking very happy and proud of himself

03/05/2024

2nd INTO NIKOLAI 🐾🐾🐾

Wow! The dogs and Travis had an amazing run last night and even led the race for some time! The team is doing well and has had consistent speed so far throughout the race, having some of the faster run times for the “front of the pack.”

Still going strong with 16 dogs, the team seemed happy and alert pulling into NIKOLAI in 2nd place. Teams are now jockeying for position as they approach the checkpoints where the front runners will typically take their 24-hour layover.

👉🏻 Takotna
👉🏻 Ophir
👉🏻 Cripple

How teams manage their run/rest going into their 24 will offer some insight on what a team plans to do.

Jessie Holmes, having grabbed supplies to camp on the way between Nikolai and McGrath is setting up for a 24 in Ophir or possibly Cripple.

Travis and the other front runners who are in Nikolai are giving themselves options.

OPTION 1 - 1 run to Takotna
Run from Nikolai to Takotna [66 Mile run]
24 in Takotna.

OPTION 2 - 2 runs to Ophir
Run from Nikolai to McGrath. [48 miles]
Rest.
Run to Ophir [41 miles].
24 in Ophir

OPTION 3 - 3 runs to Cripple
Run from Nikolai to McGrath. [48 miles]
Rest
Run from McGrath then ~10 miles past Ophir [51 miles]
Rest
Run from the camp to Cripple [63 miles]
24 in Cripple

I prefer option 1 or option 3. The problem with taking a 24 in Ophir is that the run to Cripple is a notoriously long & difficult trail. It’s better, overall, I think to split that run up. I think that if you 24 in Ophir you then set yourself up to have to do a lot of camping. Some mushers like that. Maybe Travis will opt for that route — it is quieter — but I like the amenities checkpoints offer and you are sort of committing yourself to a few camps before getting back into a routine where you can stop in checkpoints. Checkpoints makes dog care easier and allows you more rest.

Speaking of which, Takotna is likely the “most comfortable” set up for teams. Ophir is nice and quiet but if Cripple is remote.

Anyways, my thoughts for now. I expect Travis will stay about 4 hours in Nikolai before hitting the trail.

🐾🐾 Sarah

03/05/2024

Oh boy 😮‍💨😅🐾🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

SO AWESOME.
Travis is LEADING the Iditarod. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

We’ve got a long way until we get to Nome but wow. 🥳
It’s great seeing Travis out front. Even better was watching him make a plan and now work to execute it. (Travis is notorious for making plans and ignoring them 😅)

Of course, this early on there will be lots of leap frogging as teams run / rest but we sure love seeing Travis put himself in good position right now… and wow! Running in FIRST. Awesome 👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻

Running in the front must be exhilarating. (I definitely have butterflies in my stomach!)

Some key take aways:

🐾 Travis still has all 16 dogs in his team
🐾 Travis is having some of the faster run times in/out of checkpoints
🐾 Travis is so far maintaining the schedule he wrote before the race 💪🏻

Travis will travel a little further down the trail before giving the dogs a good long rest before heading to Nikolai.

03/05/2024

While we wait for Travis to make his way to Rohn, I thought I’d provide a little info on THK team number 2 driven by musher Severin Cathry or, as we know him, Sevy.

By all standards, Sevy came to our kennel late in the game for Iditarod. He called us up around mid December because he felt as though where he had been training was not conducive to the race he envisioned running.

Travis and I hemmed and hawed. Travis had had a majority of the kennel in training (with me occasionally helping) but he had started to eliminate dogs from his training pool. With our winter help not yet started, the dogs we’d have Sevy run had sat recently and a little more than we would have liked.

“Is it possible?” Travis asked me. He wanted me to figure out if the team could be ready. I set out with an excel sheet and started logging Sevy’s intended start date with us vs the Iditarod start day. We looked. Looked again. “Yea,” I said “given what they’ve done already this season and this summer, it’s definitely doable.”

I picked Sevy up the Friday before Christmas and he drove dogs Saturday. He slowly built their mileage up and willingly helped however he could around the kennel.

Meat needed cut? No problem. ✅
An outhouse needed built? Sevy was on that too ✅
Oh you booked tours? Don’t worry, Sevy will help run them ✅✅✅

Sevy met everything head on graciously and with a smile. His work ethic is truly impeccable and I can’t imagine how our season would have looked without him as part of our team.

Sevy’s goal isn’t rookie of the year. It’s not to be competitive. It’s simply to finish with a happy and healthy dog team. Expect Sevy to run checkpoint to checkpoint with 3-6 hour stops. On checkpoints with long mileage between them, expect him to break up the the run with a camp.

We know the dogs are in truly capable hands and feel very very fortunate that Sevy joined our team to help bring a younger group of dogs to Nome.

Go Sevy!
🐾🐾🐾 — Sarah