Saturday, March 06, 2010

Heh, they're off, mon!

I've no idea what happened to my brain last night. When I went to the Iditarod musher list not only did I miss #49 Lance Mackey, who has won the last three races, but I forgot to mention a young rookie I will definitely be following: #14 Oswald "Newton" Marshall of St. Anne, Jamaica! (No, not Queens in NYC. Jamaica as in rum and coke, sunny beaches, Caribbean waters, etc. Not exactly a hot bed of dog sled racing.)

Newton has been sledding since 2005 and has done well in several shorter events finishing in the middle of the pack. He finished 13th (out of 29) in the 2009 Yukon Quest--a race that is 1,000 miles long--becoming the first Jamaican to finish the Quest. It looks like he may be ready to make the leap to the Big One. In preparation for the 38th running of the Iditarod, he's stepped up his training under the mentorship of Lance Mackey. It will be real interesting to see how he does.

2 comments:

threecollie said...

Love Iditarod time!

Rev. Paul said...

I just put up more pics from the ceremonial start. The last two are the Jamaican and Scot you mentioned.