Number of Dogs - Poll
An online poll was conducted on
the North Wapiti Yahoo News Group regarding how many of Karen's dogs
will finish the Iditarod this year of the sixteen she will start the
race with. Here are the results and some additional feedback from
the musher.
POLL QUESTION: How many dogs will
Karen finish this year's Iditarod with?
CHOICES AND RESULTS
-
16 dogs, 2 votes - 6.67%
-
14-15 dogs, 17 votes,
56.67%
-
12-13 dogs, 11 votes, 36.67%
-
10-11, 0 votes, 0.00%
-
9 or less, 0 votes, 0.00%
Well, I hope that none of you are
going to be disappointed.....
Finishing Iditarod with a large team
of dogs is in of itself a big accomplishment - often one that is not
compatible with fast finishes. It often requires spending extra time
at checkpoints for individual dogs and makes for a lot of extra work
(translation - little sleep) for the muster.
In 2001 our goal was to finish with
the 'biggest, healthiest and happiest' dog team I could. I did that -
15 healthy, happy dogs barking in the doglot in Nome, looking like
they could turn around and do it all again.
This year that isn't the goal.
Certainly a happy, healthy team is a mandatory part of the equation,
but I anticipate if we reach our goal of an under 12 day Iditarod, the
team will not be near so large and we will all be a lot more tired
then in 2001. Me - I'd vote for a 10 - 11 dog finish.
Karen
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