I want to give special thanks to GP Strategies for every thing and all of my other sponsors friends and family for all of the efforts they made to make this year a huge success.

Raising the bar for Iditarod 2012!

We have spent the last 3 years building a team of Iditarod vetrans and after last years successful run to nome we have the group we are looking for. Our goal this year is to finish in the top 20 which is a huge jump. Essentially that is taking almost 3 days off of our finishing time or simply stated running the trail 30% faster. With a few additions from Doug Swingleys kennel and the culmination of our own homegrown athletes it is more than possible it can be a reality.

This seasons training has gone extrtemely well. We spent the majority of the winter training in Montana were we can run from the dog yard and do 150 to 300 mile camping trips. Camping the dogs is an essential part of preparation and the dogs have not completed a single training run since the end of December without camping. The training season was rounded off last week with the completion of the 350 mile Race To The Sky. Our plan was not to run the race competitively but rather to use it as a training run. The dogs were phenomenial and they maintained their speed throughout the race. The run to the remote checkpoint of Owl Creek yeilds 6700 vertical feet of climbing with 6500 vertical feet of decent. Then we turned around after a 4 hour rest and climbed back up and over repeating the climb in reverse order. In this 50 mile run we made it over in 5 hours and 3 minutes and although we were breaking trail in whiteout conditions through 8 inches of new snow on an already soft trail we made it basck in 5 hrs 45 min. Upon returning to the seeley lake checkpoint the officials thought we had not taken any rest at owl creek due to our time on the trail. when informed that we had rested 4 hours they simply stated wow. The final leg of the race is an 81 mile stretch that took the average team well over 10 hrs. we made this run which includes a substantial mountain pass 60 miles into the run in 8 hrs and 50 min. Not bad at all. Granted we did have 10 hrs more rest than the winner of the race but he finished just under 7 hrs infront of us. Again a very successful run. We have one more 150 mile camping trip remaining on the schedule then it will be time to load up and head North.

Our confidence is high and as always dog care will be paramount. The plan is to take the best possible care of the athletes and get to Nome as quickly as we can with a happy and healthy team.

We appereciate all of your support and enthusiasm. Please follow our progress on Iditarod.com and keep us in your prayers and wishes.