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Karen Ramstead should be home in Canada right now

by June Price

03/02/2006

Karen Ramstead should be home in Canada right now. Instead, she’s preparing to join 83 other mushers on 4th Avenue for Iditarod 2006.

Ramstead had planned on running the Yukon Quest this year. Arriving in Alaska in a brand new truck, one that quickly became the envy of other mushers, Karen planned to run a few shorter races in preparation, then head to Fairbanks for the start of the Quest. Although an Iditarod veteran, Karen would have been a rookie in the Quest.

Although he prefers to remain in the background and simply handle, her husband Mark was to run their puppy team in the Knik 200 in early January. The goal was to get as many miles as possible on as many dogs as possible. Both finished the race in good time, Karen’s race team showing improvement from last year, just as they had the year before. She even won the “Happiest Musher” award at the Knik 200 banquet.

Her happiness didn’t last long, however. As they were unloading dogs back at their Alaskan base kennel in Willow after the banquet, Mark slipped on ice and fell. To make a long story short, the rest of that evening was spent in the emergency room. After surgery and more screws and plates then either care to remember being placed in his leg, Mark only received a walking cast a few days ago. Since one of Karen’s main reasons for running the Quest had been that it allows a far more important role for handlers, something reflecting how closely Mark and she work together with the dogs, Karen was reluctant to run it with another handler in place of Mark. Most of us assumed her racing season was over.

Enter a little known Iditarod rule that allows for late entries. I won’t bore you with it here, you can find it in the rules, but a call to Iditarod Headquarters just before the deadline passed allowed Ramstead to join the ranks of mushers who’ll be starting Iditarod 2006. Somehow, that seems only right as her team of pure Siberian Huskies is prominently featured in a full color ad by the Anchorage Convention and Visitor’s Bureau this year.

Of course, this isn’t anything new. When you’re checking race results and photos, it’s almost inevitable that photographers focus on her team, one that has shown steady improvement in racing while continuing to win in the show ring. In fact, they’ve already been the focus of one movie, “Pretty Sled Dogs,” by Husky Productions’ Donna Quante. It followed Karen’s 2005 Iditarod.

BTW, Karen’s name may not be listed in the official race program due to her late entry, but thanks to the Anchorage ad, you’ll find her team of “Pretty Sled Dogs” in a full color spread on the back of the program cover.