Training for the Race
Dr. Tedford’s initial exposure to dog sledding was a one-hour introductory trip run by an adventure company in Algonquin Park, Ontario. The trip was a Christmas present from his partner Lauren Kimball, MD. He was immediately captivated by mushing and resolved to explore the possibility of participating in a full-on endurance run, such as the Iditarod.
Last summer, Dr. Tedford became interested in doing a 1,000 mile endurance sled dog run and contacted Mitch Seavey, a two-time Iditarod champion (who just finished second behind his son Dallas Seavey in the Iditarod on March 18). The three-generation Iditarod family also breeds and trains sled dog teams and leases teams to qualifying mushers. Mitch’s father, Dan Seavey, was the oldest musher, at 74, to run the race on the 40th anniversary in 2012.
Seavey explained that in order to run the Iditarod, Dr. Tedford would have to run several qualifying races and for the 2015 season, there wouldn’t be time. However, entry into the Yukon Quest, he noted, was possible, if Dr. Tedford were willing to run shorter qualifying races. The Yukon Quest began in 1984 (the Iditarod, its renowned counterpart, was first run in 1973). After relocating to Seavey’s kennel in Sterling, Alaska, Dr. Tedford ran in the Gin Gin 200, the Copper Basin 300, and the Northern Lights 300, exceeding the Yukon Quest qualifying requirement to run at least one 200-mile and one 300-mile race. “The qualifying races helped with my confidence level,” Dr. Tedford recalled. “I had no previous racing experience, so it was useful to get out and run the dogs during these qualifying races to see the effectiveness of our training and implement the tempo we planned to run during the Yukon Quest.”
Dr. Tedford at the finish line with his lead dogs Chile (left) and Woody (right).
Photo/Julien Schroder
Working with his leased sled dog team comprised the major portion of Dr. Tedford’s four-month training regimen. Learning to care for the dogs is both essential to bonding with them and a racing requirement—on the race trail, veterinarians examine every dog at the beginning of the race and at six checkpoints to be sure that they are staying healthy.
Dr. Tedford cared for the dogs daily, tending to their feeding and cleaning up their kennel areas. Working with the dogs every day, he said, allowed him to learn more about their individual temperaments. He learned it was necessary to put extra effort into making a connection with the dogs and to “make sure they felt comfortable around me.” While one of the dogs, Bumper, was friendly and extroverted, other shyer dogs needed a bit more attention. Dr. Tedford socialized with these dogs more, bringing them along on errands in the car, or letting them sleep in the cabin with him at night.
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