Sheep Mountain Update (contributed by Susie Rogan)

Actually Hans finished third, not second. Both Hans and Newton were supposed to run no faster than 10 to 12 miles per hour. Newton was bang on, taking 5 hours to do the first 50 miles and so on but Hans couldn't control himself and started racing during the last 1/4 of the race! He said with a smile, "I had to set a few things straight." It was like Sundance Film Festival of dog racing with mushers such as Jeff King (4 time Iditarod winner), Ken Anderson, Sebastian Schnuelle, Gerry Willomietzer, DeeDee Jonrowe (second place Iditarod), Aily Zirkle (1st place Yukon Quest), and Hans of course (3 times first place Yukon Quest and champion of many other races), etc. etc. Many were running this as a first race of the season, being careful and checking out their dogs under race conditions. The race could have been a lot more competitive if these people were giving it all they had, but they were preserving their teams for bigger races later in the season. Jessica Hendricks the winner specializes in the shorter races and this was her race to win. Newton also could definately have gone a lot faster but instead ran a perfect race and finished with all his dogs in great shape. The race vet approached me and said, "In case I don't get a chance to talk to Hans and Newton, would you pass on to them that Newton looked extremely good out there. Very professional. He had his check point routine down almost perfectly. You could tell he was having to think, but he didn't miss a thing." During this race we were witness to an extremely large full moon, it was in the newspaper as appearing 14% larger than normal due to being low on the horizon, and a big meteor shower. It was a magical night with the race starting at 1 p.m. and finishing at about 4 pm the next day. Enough said for now. It's -38 C here today and the shower is frozen so Lisa (the handler), and I are heading into town to the gym to take a shower. It's been a few days! Susie"

And the Season Begins!!!

Great start to the long distance race season for the JDT. Newton placed 21st out of 48 in the 150 mile Sheep Mountain race held this past weekend in Alaska. Big smiles and huge congrats go out to Newton for his accomplishment........Folks at home are so proud of you Newton!!

Sheep Mountain Trail

Great finish for Newton in the Sheep Mountain 150

Newton Marshall finished in 21st place out of 47 teams that started the race. This is a great warm up for the Copper Basin 300, Jan. 10-13. Championship musher and team trainer Hans Gatt finished in 2nd place, the winner was Jessica Hendricks. Congratulations to all of the great teams who participated. Check out the race results.

Mush mon.

JDT founder Danny Melville and Head Musher Devon Anderson inspect the new Coolline Misting System

Everyone needs to cool down on those extremely hot days, and our mutley crew is no exception to this.The JDT now boasts an all new misting system by Coolline which allows our mutts to experience the joy of this doggy oasis. What does our Head Musher Devon Anderson have to say about this?

"A great idea! One of the best additions we have made so far. This system strongly enhances the JDT's performance."