I wanted to do something for the foundation… I thought should I give some of my time? I live in Alaska, so that would be kinda tough. Should I make a donation? I could, but I thought I would make it more fun than that. I thought it would be a bit more exciting if I could get something unique to donate or auction off for to the DTRF.
Being an Alaskan, like may others, I follow the Iditarod. From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days. It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won worldwide acclaim and interest. You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world! A race over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain mother nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow (when a frozen river cracks and floods), long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska.
Since people outside of Alaska like it too, I thought there might some interest in some Iditarod stuff. Since I am an autograph collector, I figured… why not… maybe I’ll auction some Iditarod autographs. The first group of items I listed on eBay were from my collection. There were cachets: envelopes that were carried by the musher for the entire length of the 2004 race. They were postmarked in Anchorage (start of race) then in Nome (end of the race) the day the musher crossed the finish line. Then it is personally signed by the musher. This was part of the official rules by the Iditarod committee that all mushers were required to do this (this practice is no longer done). The cachets auctioned were: Ramey Smyth (came in #2 this year), Jason Mackey, Cindy Gallea, Paul Gebhardt, Hugh Neff (finished 5th this year), Ken Anderson, and the 2011 Champion: John Baker.
Then I thought I would try to get every musher form the 2011 Iditarod, so I bought tickets to the Musher Banquet in Anchorage Alaska. I got two things signed by EVERY SINGLE MUSHER (62 racers) of the 2011 Iditarod for the fundraiser. The first was a Race guide (or program) the second is a unique possibly one of a kind item. This is a genuine food drop bag. Each musher uses these bags to send the food that is needed for them and their dogs to each village for the race (of course carrying all of the food that is needed would be way to heavy).
Drop bags consist of large poly bags filled with food and supplies for the dogs, and a wee little bit for the musher. Drop bags go to each checkpoint, where the musher must register, as they either stop for a rest or pass through. So before a race, the musher thinks about a race plan and what they'll need and where In the Iditarod, mushers are allowed 3 bags for each checkpoint. Most of the bags are filled with dog food; the rest of the supplies consists of dog booties, vet supplies, dog blankets, and a little people food. Several mushers mentioned to me that this was a neat item to get signed!
The bag and the race guide were signed by:
Lance Mackey, Hans Gatt, Martin Buser, John Baker, Rick Swenson, Jessie Royer, Mitch Seavey, Hugh Neff, Sebastian Schnuelle, Ken Anderson, Dallas Seavey, DeeDee Jonrowe, Aliy Zirkle, Newton Marshall, Gerry Willomitzer, Paul Gebhardt, Bruce Linton, Ramey Smyth, Zoya DeNure, Ray Redington Jr, Sonny Lindner, Cim Smyth, Michael Williams, Jr, Nicolas Petit, Jodi Bailey, Melissa Owens, G.B Jones, Brennan Norden, Kelley Griffin, Kristy Berington, Wattie McDonald, Scott Janssen, Ellen Halverson, Judy Currier, Bob Storey, Billy Snodgrass, Jessica Hendricks, Michelle Phillips, Allen Moore, Karin Hendrickson, Magnus Kaltenborn, Trent Herbst, Angie Taggart, Lachlan Clarke, Kris Hoffman, Tom Thurston, Mike Santos, Robert Bundtzen, Kelly Maixner, Heather Siirtola, Matt Giblin, Cain Carter, Peter Kaiser, James Bardoner, Paul Johnson, Robert Nelson, Kirk Barnum, Justin Savidis, Sven Haltmann, Ed Stielstra, Gerald Sousa, Matt Hayashida.
So, the auction ended and the items sold to Alaska, Washington, Minnesota as even as far away as Germany! With that I was able to raise $270.24 for the DTRF!
Bill Raften
March 2011
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