A Unique Bit of Mushing History
The story of this historic race from Nome, Alaska to Anadyr, Chukotka, Russia is a testament to the courage and vision of a handful of Alaskans, and their counterparts across the Bering Strait, who saw the value in building a bridge between their countries via a month-long 1,200-mile sled dog race across some of the wildest lands on Earth. They brought together mushers from Alaska, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Japan and Chukotka, in an effort to share the skills and knowledge of long distance sled dog racing. Along the way they shared friendships, faced unimaginable perils, and inspired a renewed interest in the ancient sled dog breeding traditions.
This book came about during a visit to the Alaskan artist Jon Van Zyle in December, 2022, when I commented on an unusual sled displayed on the ceiling of his studio. That led to stories of the race, which led to pulling out a photo album, which led to an hour or more of poring over the photos, more stories, more artifacts from the adventures, and a few weeks later, Jon and I were working together on the book.
Jon was one of three people who officially co-chaired the race, the others being Leo Rasmussen from Nome, and Jerry Tokar from Anchorage. As a Race Judge, Jon was the only one of the three who physically accompanied the eight mushers from four countries who competed in the race, along with race Marshal Earl Norris, Race Judge Barbara Moore, Race Veterinarian Jim Leach, official photographer Frank Flavin, media coordinator Sandra Medearis, and the Russian race officials. The race route had the mushers leaving Nome by dog team and traveling to Teller and Wales, Alaska. From Wales they loaded their teams into big orange Russian helicopters–bearing the official race logo–for a flight across the Bering Strait to Uelen, and then continued by dogsled through many small villages, through the larger seaport settlement of Provideniya, and finally to Anadyr, the easternmost town in Russia. The total distance was between 1,000 to 1,200 miles.
Jon shared this commentary and announcement of the book project on Facebook in January, 2023:
“We sent the invitations to various mushers who would be willing to participate in a ”race ” that was not a race,” but a learning experience for the Chukchi … The Chukchi have driven dog teams for thousands of years, and certainly know how to travel, or hunt, etc. with them … But at that time, they did not understand the ”in’s and outs” of long distant racing … As you know, traveling and racing are two different things … Also, the Olympics were thinking about including dog races in the winter Olympics ( a spectator sport ), as it was in the 1930’s … and I’m sure the Russians had alternative plans to learn the sport from us to win the Olympics … We set the race up for the Chukchi mushers, as a ” learn how to do this, ” (learn feeding, learn conserving dogs, learn ”setting up ” a dog team, etc. etc. ) …and then at two or three checkpoints before the finish, then start ”racing ” … It worked well … Especially in the feeding of their dog teams … Proven by the race results at the finish line … And that the Hope Race is still active, ( albeit shorter ) but it still continues … which is a nice legacy for us all ….”