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Newton Marshall becomes first Jamaican to complete Iditarod dog-sled race
Newton Marshall cares for his dogs at a checkpoint. "Two were on heat. My male dogs kept turning back," he complained
James Bone, New York
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The first Jamaican to complete the world’s toughest dog-sled race said that he almost died as he fought his way across the icy wilderness of Alaska for more than 1,000 miles.
Newton Marshall, 27, finished 47th out of 71 starters in the Iditarod race, suffering frostbite and surviving on very little sleep over 12 days, four hours and 27 minutes.
Mr Marshall, from St Ann Parish in Jamaica, is the first black “musher” to finish the epic course. His feat recalled the achievements of the Jamaican bobsleigh team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics, inspiring the film Cool Runnings.
“The toughest moment, when I thought I was going to die, was when we were up in the hills and it was windy and there was zero visibility,” Mr Marshall said, after finishing in Nome.
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Jamaican competes in Alaskan dog-sled race
I'm thrilled that the Games relight my fire
Advice from Alaska
“You could not really see the trains or the dogs. You would have to point your headlights at the reflectors on the trail to get the dogs to follow the reflectors to stay on the right trail.
"The dogs took the wrong trail one time. We went in the deep snow up to my chest.”
He faced an unforeseen problem with his 16 animals. “I had two female dogs who were on heat. My male dogs were always turning back and trying to mate and I was trying to get them to take the right path.”
Exhausted, he sometimes found himself falling asleep on his moving sled. “I dozed off a couple of times. There were many times I found myself rocking off the back of the sled and I grabbed myself back on,” he said.
A former horseback tour guide, Mr Marshall became an unlikely musher after he was asked to train dogs to pull buggies along sand dunes in Jamaica by Danny Melville, a partner in the package tour operator Chukka Caribbean Adventures. His maverick quest to compete in the Iditarod was sponsored by the legendary Margaritaville singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.
Mr Marshall trained with the reigning race champion Lance Mackey — who won again this year, for the fourth consecutive time, in eight days, 23 hours and 59 minutes. It was the second-fastest finish on record.
Mr Marshall suffered frostbite on his nose and cheek during the race but never thought of quitting. “You have to have a strong mind to do a 1,000-mile race. You need to be tough and you have to want to finish. You are risking your life going out in 50 degrees below and freezing parts of your body. It’s a crazy thing to do. After you have finished, you can appreciate what you did.”
Mr Melville said that he planned to host a reception at one of Mr Buffett’s Jamaican restaurants to give Mr Marshall a hero’s welcome home. But before that Mr Marshall wants to take a holiday — skiing and snowboarding in Alaska.
Champions of the snow
• The Iditarod, the world’s most famous dog sled race, began in 1973 in record cold temperatures of minus 90C (-130F), allowing for wind chill The course includes mountain ranges, frozen rivers, forests, desolate tundra and a coast swept by icy winds.
• It originated as a mail and supply route to remote mining camps.
• Manned by hundreds of mainly Alaskan volunteers, the course from Anchorage to Nome was first run by dog sleds in 1925 to bring serum to a diphtheria epidemic.
• Colonel Norman Vaughan, an explorer who had been to the South Pole, took part in the Iditarod 13 times after the age of 68. He died in 2005, at the age of 100.
• Dog-sledding was pioneered by Alaskan Inuits. Pound for pound, the sled dog is said to be the most powerful draft animal.
• Every musher is greeted at Nome by a fire siren that summons a crowd to line the end of the route — no matter the time of day or night.
• Campaigners against the race say that 142 dogs have died since it began — from dehydration, viruses, hypothermia and heart problem.
source uk times online
Newton Marshall becomes first Jamaican to complete Iditarod dog-sled race
Newton Marshall cares for his dogs at a checkpoint. "Two were on heat. My male dogs kept turning back," he complained
James Bone, New York
6 Comments
Recommend? (8)
The first Jamaican to complete the world’s toughest dog-sled race said that he almost died as he fought his way across the icy wilderness of Alaska for more than 1,000 miles.
Newton Marshall, 27, finished 47th out of 71 starters in the Iditarod race, suffering frostbite and surviving on very little sleep over 12 days, four hours and 27 minutes.
Mr Marshall, from St Ann Parish in Jamaica, is the first black “musher” to finish the epic course. His feat recalled the achievements of the Jamaican bobsleigh team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics, inspiring the film Cool Runnings.
“The toughest moment, when I thought I was going to die, was when we were up in the hills and it was windy and there was zero visibility,” Mr Marshall said, after finishing in Nome.
Related Links
Jamaican competes in Alaskan dog-sled race
I'm thrilled that the Games relight my fire
Advice from Alaska
“You could not really see the trains or the dogs. You would have to point your headlights at the reflectors on the trail to get the dogs to follow the reflectors to stay on the right trail.
"The dogs took the wrong trail one time. We went in the deep snow up to my chest.”
He faced an unforeseen problem with his 16 animals. “I had two female dogs who were on heat. My male dogs were always turning back and trying to mate and I was trying to get them to take the right path.”
Exhausted, he sometimes found himself falling asleep on his moving sled. “I dozed off a couple of times. There were many times I found myself rocking off the back of the sled and I grabbed myself back on,” he said.
A former horseback tour guide, Mr Marshall became an unlikely musher after he was asked to train dogs to pull buggies along sand dunes in Jamaica by Danny Melville, a partner in the package tour operator Chukka Caribbean Adventures. His maverick quest to compete in the Iditarod was sponsored by the legendary Margaritaville singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.
Mr Marshall trained with the reigning race champion Lance Mackey — who won again this year, for the fourth consecutive time, in eight days, 23 hours and 59 minutes. It was the second-fastest finish on record.
Mr Marshall suffered frostbite on his nose and cheek during the race but never thought of quitting. “You have to have a strong mind to do a 1,000-mile race. You need to be tough and you have to want to finish. You are risking your life going out in 50 degrees below and freezing parts of your body. It’s a crazy thing to do. After you have finished, you can appreciate what you did.”
Mr Melville said that he planned to host a reception at one of Mr Buffett’s Jamaican restaurants to give Mr Marshall a hero’s welcome home. But before that Mr Marshall wants to take a holiday — skiing and snowboarding in Alaska.
Champions of the snow
• The Iditarod, the world’s most famous dog sled race, began in 1973 in record cold temperatures of minus 90C (-130F), allowing for wind chill The course includes mountain ranges, frozen rivers, forests, desolate tundra and a coast swept by icy winds.
• It originated as a mail and supply route to remote mining camps.
• Manned by hundreds of mainly Alaskan volunteers, the course from Anchorage to Nome was first run by dog sleds in 1925 to bring serum to a diphtheria epidemic.
• Colonel Norman Vaughan, an explorer who had been to the South Pole, took part in the Iditarod 13 times after the age of 68. He died in 2005, at the age of 100.
• Dog-sledding was pioneered by Alaskan Inuits. Pound for pound, the sled dog is said to be the most powerful draft animal.
• Every musher is greeted at Nome by a fire siren that summons a crowd to line the end of the route — no matter the time of day or night.
• Campaigners against the race say that 142 dogs have died since it began — from dehydration, viruses, hypothermia and heart problem.
source uk times online
shut down a breeder, the animals were not cared for well at all -he previously had reared them for dog sled teams... I wish there was some way the dogs could have been looked at and perhaps some purchased towards Newton having his 'own team'.
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