Livermore woman on 2008 Iditarod support team

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

Being primary dog handler for 20 Alaskan huskies during the Iditarod sled dog race in subzero March temperatures in Alaska might not be everyone's idea of adventure travel, but Livermore resident Elaine Gazdeck is thrilled to be going.

She signed on with her friend Liz Parrish of Klamath Falls, Ore., who qualified this year to do her rookie 1,150-mile Iditarod race in March 2008 - in time to coincide with Parrish's 50th birthday year.

Parrish said the annual Iditarod race commemorates when there was a diphtheria outbreak in Nome and the only way at the time to get serum to the sick was by dogsled from Anchorage. Mushers moved the serum by relay to Nome in six days.

Gazdeck met Parrish when she and a friend stayed at Parrish's Crystalwood Lodge in Oregon for Thanksgiving 2004. While they were at the lodge, Gazdeck said, she had the opportunity to help with the dogs and took her first sled dog training ride.

She said she was very surprised to get a call from Parrish two weeks later asking her to be a dog handler for Parrish's first long-distance race the following January. Gazdeck has continued to serve as a dog handler for the team ever since.

Gazdeck said even though she would like her own team, this is a great way to do dogsled racing vicariously. She is taking three months off from her day job as a consultant to a biotech firm in Boulder to go to Alaska, and by extension the firm is going along through sponsorship of the team.

Parrish, who stopped in Colorado on her way to Minnesota for extended training before she leaves for Alaska in January, said people don't usually associate dog sledding with Oregon. After training with Minnesota mushers, however, she became convinced she could train her dogs without snow by using four-wheelers.

Parrish's team is named Briar's Patch Sled Dogs after the first sled dog she acquired from a friend - a 10-year-old retiree named Briar with 25,000 miles of competitive experience.

Gazdeck is familiar with all of the team's dogs, their personalities and particular needs, but her most crucial responsibility will be to make certain all provisions are positioned ahead of the team and adequate for their needs. She will be helped by four to six other people.

Parrish explained how the Iditarod is a nonsupported "run and rest race," which means the support team will not be in proximity, but it will receive updates as Parrish passes through various check points along the route.

"It is mostly about absolutely thorough preparation ahead of time," she said, "and being available to meet a bush pilot should it be necessary for me to drop a dog from the team."

Run and rest means the race goes on around the clock, although there are buildings at the check points where mushers can get a little sleep and rest the 16 dogs on the team, Parrish said. She noted in a typical race the dogs run 50 to 75 miles at a stretch, or for about eight hours.

She said the dogs have to be conditioned to all kinds of conditions and obstacles, like no snow, or deep snow, or running through water or on ice, while it is her job to make certain they don't get lost along the route.

Parrish started her dog sled experience nine years ago with what she calls "a motley crew" - one Aussie, one Norwegian elkhound and a beagle mix - which she succeeded in training to pull her for one mile during a one-week "mushing boot camp."

"It wasn't great," she said, "but it planted a seed."

She said her team now is made up completely of Alaskan huskies, which aren't a breed, but a description. They are all shorthaired mixes, lean, neutered or spayed, with various strengths. Some are closer to the red Alaskan village dogs, she said, while others have the classic husky facial mask and features.

To follow Briar's Patch Sled Dog team this winter, go to www.briarspatchsleddogs.com. Gazdeck will be keeping it up to date with Parrish's progress along the trail.