Caricatures of the Yukon Quest Part 1

  Today I'll highlight some of the characters on the Quest.


1) Fan Favourite and 2012 Champion Hugh Neff: Hugh grew up in Chicago, Il and now resides in Tok, Alaska. His occupation is listed as motivational speaker/dog musher and he is known for his school tours where he advocates for literacy and accomplishing your dreams! Last year he completed the race in his token Cat in the Hat hat and this year he began the race donning it as well. Hugh's kennel's motto is: Its all about the dogs. About his lead dog, Walter, he says "Walter's my heart and soul." He is a goldmine of Yukon Quest quotes and loves the freedom, adventure, and energy of the Quest. He is currently in the lead and will likely win the four-ounce golden prize presented to the first musher in to Dawson City valued at $6,700.


2) Allen Moore: Not far behind is 55 year-old Allen Moore. Last year, he almost won the race, but Hugh gained on him in the last hour and won by 26 seconds! This year, Moore is very motivated to make up those seconds. His wife, Aliy Zirkle, is running the YQ300 simultaneously and is known as the first and only woman to win the Yukon Quest 1000.   He is from Two Rivers, Alaska and what he loves most about the race is the bond that takes place between dogs and musher.




3) Rob Cooke- One of my favourites, is the Englishman, Rob Cooke. Marcel wrote an article about Rob and very quickly realized the significance of this race for Rob and his wife, Louise. Rob is retired aircraft engineer from the UK and he moved to Canada because of the very dream of dogsledding in the Yukon Quest. He moved to New Brunswick and quickly realized it was not the dog-mushing capital of Canada, however, he developed his team there after buying a zoo. Check out the interesting article Marcel wrote about this guy here: http://www.whitehorsestar.com/archive/story/we-bought-a-zoo-the-story-of-musher-rob-cooke/
 His lead dogs left the chute dressed in the UK flag while Rob enthusiastically punched the air three times to show his utmost excitment that this decade-long dream had finally come true! I hope his first Yukon Quest 1000 (he has done the 300) experience is all he has hoped it would be! 

4) Susan Rogan- Whitehorse native, Susan Rogan, is one of 6 women on the Quest and she is doing so well! I underestimated her! She got started dogsledding by skijoring, a sport I would love to try (skiing with dogs!). She is 46 and her motto is "now or never". She said she "would regret not trying and her goal is to give it her best shot!" She is in the top ten currently so I'd say she is doing her best! I love her answer to the question: What do you love most about running sled dogs? "Setting out on adventure with the dogs like pirates on the high sea. The sense of exploration on different levels. The volunteers in the checkpoints amaze me, I feel true gratitude when I see them out there. What I love most on the surface changes all the time, but the constant is that I love the dogs most of all. They are magic in motion. " I also love that her sponsor is Bear Paw Quilting and they gave her a quilt :)

  5) Abbie West- This girl reminds me of one of my great friends, Andrea D. Yep. At the Musher's Banquet she stood in front of the mic kind of nervously, but with so much cuteness and spunk. She is known for her bright blue jacket and when she was released from the chute, fans heard her yelling "Get me out there!!!" She makes me giggle. Her kennel is named "Cosmic-Canines" because her dogs are "outta this world!" (see- giggle!) Hence, all of her dogs are named after stars, moons, planets... and even star-wars characters! Although she is a bartender by trade, mushing has been a childhood dream of hers. Her experience as a veteran musher also makes her consistent- not at the head of the pack, but just following behind inconspicuously. She is 11th place currently and when I see that she is steadily moving along a silent cheer inside my heart springs forth. To answer the question what she loves most about mushing, she answers emphatically: "The dogs! The adventure!" I'd love to know more about this 39 year-old, Alaska outdoorswoman.








*All the information was gleaned through the Whitehorse Star as well as the 2013 Yukon Quest Race Annual. All pictures were found through google images.


  As for Marcel. Thankfully, we've been able to communicate through our iphones- not texting- (his phone doesn't work out of Whitehorse)- but through internet messaging. When he has a moment he'll write me a little note-- "got three hours of sleep last night", "in Braeburn", "had cabbage soup today", "thanks for being my #1 Twitter fan"... etc. etc.
  This afternoon I was very excited to head to the Star and pick up the newspaper because I was very curious as to what his days on the trail have been like and what kind of writing he was doing on so little sleep. I was suprised to read five articles by him on pages 2-4 with some great photos by the Star photographer. I wish all the articles were online so I could post links to them all, but you have to pay for an online subscription to see all of them. I'm not usually such a proud, bragging wife, but I just can't believe how well written these last five articles have been, especially considering the amount of sleep he has had. Marcel has a gift of stringing together all the details, quotes, and information into well-documented stories that fans back home can visualize. Praise the Lord for this gift; I'm glad that God has also blessed him with opportunities like this to hone and develop it.
  And finally, if I have to be away from him for two weeks (I know, not that long, but still...) then to be able to pick up the newspaper every day and read about what he has been able to experience is a nice trade-off :)