Meeting an Iditarod (dog racing) legend

Mary chains one of her dogs to its kennel for the night

The dog yard behind Mary’s house

The gate says ‘May I be the person my dogs think I am’

It’s winter in Australia and we’ve had wonderful soaking rain yesterday, with more drenching us today.

The weather got me thinking that if our winters were much, much colder we’d be completely blanketed with snow by now. And that got me thinking about our snowy time in Alaska in March.

I’ve already written about our first visit to the world ice art championships in Fairbanks, but I haven’t told you about our amazing afternoon with Mary Shields. In 1974, she was the first woman to finish the famous 1000-mile Alaskan dog sled race, the Iditarod.

Mary welcomed us into her log cabin on the outskirts of Fairbanks. She and her then husband designed and, for the most part, built the house. It’s a simple design with two floors (ground floor and basement) and a large kitchen with a wonderful wood stove/cooker (I still love my wood stove and should write more about it).

A wonderful kitchen

Mary’s wood stove in action. Mine isn’t nearly as beautiful

After a tour of the house, Mary led us outside to her largish backyard where her team of huskies is corralled. The dogs were overjoyed to see her, and happy enough to see us too.

We had the chance to meet and pet the dogs, and see the range of sleds she keeps on hand. Mary still does a run most days and can range for 20–30 miles on any given expedition. She says the dogs love to run, and it’s pretty obvious that she loves to hang on the back.

Mary makes sure each dog changes their kennel every day so they don’t become possessive about one place. She also keeps them chained to the kennel of the day, so that fights don’t break out while she’s inside or away.

Each kennel is low, square and filled with straw for warmth. If I recall correctly, there are eight kennels for six dogs.

Mary brings the dogs inside regularly, but they don’t stay for long. Their coats are long and they are bred for living outdoors, so they overheat when they are inside for too long.

Mary with one of her sleds

Looking down to the bedroom

Eventually, we retreated to the house and got comfortable in Mary’s warm and cosy living room and kitchen. That’s when she told us of her experiences in the Iditarod as well as her runs in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and the Hope Race from Alaska to Siberia.

She told us how she came to love mushing and how it still gives her so much joy. And, as I said before, she still runs (hope I’m using the right terminology) them regularly. In between, she’s had time to write five books.

For our visit, Mary wore what I think is called a kuspuk, a traditional garment for Alaskan women (and now men, too). Even though they appear to be lightweight, they must be lined and super warm because Mary showed no signs of being cold. Maybe she was warmed to the bone by her gorgeous wood stove, which also produced the lovely hot drinks and biscuits we enjoyed for afternoon tea.

If you make it to Fairbanks, we can highly recommend a stop at Mary’s for a Tails of the Trail experience.

Oh, and if you’re interested in reading a wonderful story about dog sled racing, I can highly recommend Gary Paulsen’s book Winterdance: The fine madness of running the Iditarod.

Sprint dogs are raring to go. Notice how lean they are

Our first mushing of the day
Before we visited Mary, we stopped at a dog sled racing competition. It was an important international competition, but I can’t remember what it was called.

It helps to know there are three kinds of sled races that require different kinds of dogs.

The competition we saw was for sprints only. These races range from four to 100 miles. Then there are mid-distance races, 100 to 300 miles, and long-distance races that can exceed 1000 miles.

We watched 15 or 20 race starts, but the great bonus was to meet Leonie Tetzner. At age five, Leonie won the Montana Creek World Championship, making her the youngest dog racing champ in the world.

It was fascinating to watch her. Remarkable confidence. Keep an eye on her.

Leonie Tetzner, junior champion at dog sled racing