Study of Iditarod dog sled race leads Hightstown Borough fifth-grade student to Alaska.
By: David Pescatore
HIGHTSTOWN Mitch Seavey traveled 1,102 miles from Anchorage to Nome to win the 2004 Iditarod, and motivate a borough fifth-grader to travel 3,375 miles to meet him.
Christine Ray, 11, began studying the dog sled race as part of a unit on Alaska in Susan Stringfellow’s class at the Ethel McKnight School.
"I didn’t know anything about it, except that there are dogs that race," Christine said.
As part of the lesson, each student picked the name of a dog sled driver, or musher, out of a hat and tracked their progress on the Internet. Christine drew Mitch Seavey, 44, who had two top-10 finishes in his 10 prior attempts.
"I didn’t think he would win. It’s not like I got Jeff King (3 wins) or Rick Swenson (5 wins)," Christine said like an Iditarod veteran herself.
Christine’s mother, Jean, said that they would check their musher’s progress several times per day.
"We checked every morning. She checked at school. Then, we would check again before bed," Ms. Ray said.
Christine said she was "very excited when he won."
How long did it take?
"Nine days, 12 hours, 20 minutes, and 22 seconds," Christine and her mother said together.
As luck would have it, Christine’s father, Richard, was scheduled to attend a mining seminar in Anchorage during May.
"He is a mining engineer and a ventilation expert," Ms. Ray said. "He goes to seminars every year. He has gone to Denver, Cleveland, Ontario…. Sometimes we make a big vacation out of it."
As Ms. Ray said, "The Totem Pole gods of the Pacific Northwest were smiling on us."
A little more research, and Christine discovered that Mr. Seavey was conducting a sled dog tour in his hometown of Seward, Alaska.
"We e-mailed him and one of his people answered," Ms. Ray said. "They couldn’t assure us that he would be there because there were several events going on at the same time. It’s like the Iditarod owns you for a year."
But, luck shone on the Rays once more and their hero was there.
"He was very nice, and polite," Christine said. "He was like a regular person. He didn’t have sunglasses or anything."
"He wasn’t a superstar," Ms. Ray added. "He is a simple guy, very humble."
While at the tour, the Rays got to ride on a training sled and see Mr. Seavey’s scores of dogs.
"They each have their own barrel," Christine said.
Each of Mr. Seavey’s dogs has an overturned 55-gallon sized drum to use as a doghouse.
"And the dogs are really skinny compared to the dogs you would buy in a store. It’s because they run so much. They love to run," Christine continued.
Christine said that she got to ride on a wheeled cart behind some of Mr. Seavey’s dogs, a common training technique when there is no snow on the ground.
"They were not that fast because there was a lot of people (on the sled), but they were pretty fast," she said.
Christine said that some people feel that it is wrong to race dogs for 1,000 miles across the tundra. In fact, many are injured and some do die, but after seeing them, she does not agree.
"Lots of people think it is bad to mush dogs, but they love to run," she said. "It is what they were born to do."
She added that she wanted to thank her teachers, Ms. Stringfellow and Ellen Ogintz, who started the project.
"I wouldn’t have known about the Iditarod without (them)," she said.
When not in Alaska, Christine plays soccer, the piano, and trombone. She also practices Irish dancing and sings at the First Presbyterian Church of Hightstown. Christine said that she would someday like to be an Egyptologist. Next year, she will attend the SciCore Academy, where her mother works.
Christine hopes to remain in contact with her musher, and maybe visit him again someday.