2007 Cantwell Classic 200

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Road Report South of Cantwell to Anchorage | Sunday 14:00 hrs
For those of you mushers/handlers/spectators driving south of Cantwell after the race. The roads are in good winter conditions, visibility is clear up until Willow where there is light blowing snow with about 2 inches of accumilation. Drive safe and see you next year at the Cantwell Classic.

Quick Audio Update | January 14, 2007 | 12:05
Theresa called in from the road with this audio update.

Update: Sunday, January 14, 2007 | 01:34
It's currently 2:34AM PST and there has been no word from the Cantwell or Maclaren contacts. Unless an update comes directly from Cantwell early in the morning - the next news may not come until 12:00.

Update: Saturday, January 13, 2007 | 20:54
Reports are sketchy at best regarding the Sr. mushers in this race. We have heard several conflicting reports about expected arrival times, etc. Apparently, the deep "punchy" snow has really slowed the teams and obviously taken its toll on those who have already dropped out of the race. Many of the snowmachines (snowmobiles for you L48 folks) have even had their fair share of trouble with the deep snow.

Update: Saturday, January 13, 2007 | 12:41
Todd Mackinaw and Blake Matray have officially scratched at the Maclaren Lodge and will spend the night there resting their dogs. Read the Maclaren checkpoint update for details. 

Special thanks to the Time to Eat Cafe for providing a warm location with Internet access.

Read on about the history of how the Cantwell Classic got its start.

The first annual Junior & Senior Cantwell Classic is shaping up to be a fun race and it's getting a lot of attention. This newly organized race is generating excitement all over Alaska and Canada. There are quite a few interesting and recognizable mushers entered into this event including Dee Dee Jonrowe, The Seaveys and Emmitt G Peters, Jr.

The Senior Cantwell Classic will be a 200 mile mid distance race from Cantwell to the Maclaren Lodge, following the Denali Highway. The Junior Cantwell Classic will also run along the Denali Highway, running a 60 mile loop.

The Senior Cantwell Classic will be held January is 11th -14th. It will run along the Denali Highway, a 200 mile run from Cantwell to Maclaren River Lodge with a $5,000 purse. There is a 12 dog limit with a limit of 30 dog teams, (sign-up a filling up so hurry).
The Junior Cantwell Classic race will be held January 13th also run along the Denali Highway, 60 miles from Cantwell to Brushkana and back. Ages: 14-18  this will be limited to 20 teams. The entry fee $50 per junior.

Read more about the format of the races here. 

Each year, the Cantwell Race Committee plans to dedicate the Cantwell Classic Sled Dog Race to a person who has made contributions to the sport of mushing. This will provide an educational aspect to the race agenda.

In 2007, the Committee will honor George Attla, “The Huslia Hustler” legendary Athabaskan musher, appropriate because the Cantwell Classic will be run in Athabaskan country and George Attla is the one of the most famous Athabaskan mushers in the history of Alaskan sled dog racing.  Attla, open-class sprint musher, has won more Fur Rondy World Championships (10 wins) and more Open North American Championships (8) than any other musher. He also won 9 ISDRA Unlimited Class medals as well and has competed in the Iditarod, including the first one held, although the long distance race was not his favored type of dog sled racing.  George won his first Fur Rondy World Championship in 1958 and his first Open North American in 1969, in spite of having a permanently fused knee from childhood tuberculosis.  He continued to be a fierce competitor for more than three decades.

His book, Everything I know about training and racing sled dogs, was considered the musher’s “Bible” for many years and his life story became the subject of a film, Spirit of the Wind (later re-titled Attla!). Portions of the movie were filmed on the Denali Highway, where the Cantwell Classic will take place.
Two of the most famous foundation Alaskan Husky Sled dogs,  Scotty and Lingo, were Attla’s. These dogs were found in the lineage of almost every successful kennel of the 1980's and 90's. George Attla is recognized as one of the most successful and innovative caretakers of the Alaskan husky in sled dog racing history

For More information:
Don Holum - 907 768-2828
Brenda Mowery - 907 768-1131
or visit their web site at www.cantwellclassic.com

Comments (5)

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DirkWigdoubt said:

You can get a more accurate weather for cantwell here- the Denali Park weather is often quite different than Cantwell. http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/PATW.html dirk

January 12, 2007

alaskakaz said:

Thanks Dirk. Yeah, this weather bot has been odd...I have the correct Cantwell info entered, but about 70% of the time it keeps showing the Denali Park weather. If it keeps acting up, I'll pull it and link to another tool. Appreciate the link to NOAA

January 12, 2007

DirkWigdoubt said:

Did those last two mushers ever make it to Cantwell? Seems like a long time since the others teams got in....

January 15, 2007

leaddog said:

Thanks for the note...we are still trying to extract information from the field. Communications have been spotty and we are trying our best to keep an open channel with the officials. There IS a possibility that those 2 mushers are still taking their time with the deep snow. We assume that they are in by now - but we don't have the official word yet. I'm making calls again now....

January 15, 2007

Tundra (Theresa Daily) said:

Considering this was a first time race, the Cantwell Classic organizers did an excellent job pulling it all together. There were definetly some communication problems which we discussed out on the trail and ways to improve it for next year. It was indeed the best race I have ever been to. The folks in Cantwell are truely warm and treated me with open arms. I want to especially thank Mike & Caitlin Santos for their tireless efforts and probably very little sleep they got putting this race on and all the folks at the "Time to Eat Cafe" who stayed open 24 hrs during the race. Dogsled.com has all the intention of covering races until that last mushers in. Please feel free to send us information on races, updates stories behind races etc. we have a toll free number that you can call and simply leave us a message or drop us an e-mail, we encourage your contributions. Check the photo gallery on & off, we are editing and uploading more video and photos every day. Theresa Daily January 15, 2007

January 15, 2007 | url