May 30, 2011

I was withdrawn from the 2009 Iditarod at the Ophir checkpoint on March 14, 2009.  I subsequently appealed that withdrawal based on the fact that the race marshal, Mark Nordman, had both violated Iditarod rules and acted unfairly by withdrawing me without any warning simply for going too slow.  I had a healthy dog team and wanted to continue.  The Iditarod board of directors turned down my appeal without comment. 

In September of 2009, I filed suit against the ITC.  Among my key goals was to try and force it to be accountable and follow its own rules.  On September 29, 2010 judge Michalski ruled in favor of Iditarod in Loveman vs. ITC, throwing out the case in summary judgment based on a release.  While the ruling looks very weak and would likely be overturned, I decided not to pursue an appeal.  We had a signed agreement on November 23, 2010 allowing both sides to step away. 

The two years since my withdrawal have been laced with both disappointment and happiness. 

Without question, I was most disappointed with Iditarod’s lack of integrity.  This was best exemplified by Stan Hooley including a false statement in an affidavit (proof available for anybody who wants it) and Mark Nordman using a false statement to bully Hank Debruin into scratching (see Graveyard of Dreams by Craig Medred).

I was also disappointed that Iditarod fought for and won the right to disregard its own rules.

I was also disappointed that Iditarod continues to treat the back of the pack unfairly particularly when it would take only negligible effort to change this.  The Iditarod should tell everybody what criteria are being used for withdrawal, and then follow them.  And a warning to mushers whose teams are falling behind is simply the right thing to do.  The arbitrary manner with which they handle “non-competitive” withdrawals is wrong and dangerous.

More than anything else, I am forced to the conclusion that Iditarod has become exclusively about money and ego without regard to integrity.  It has no soul.

Thankfully, there were also a number of experiences that put a smile on my face. 

There were a lot of experiences prior to the race and along the trail that I can now focus on.  Getting a letter opener carved from the femur of a deer by a couple of Athabascans I met along the trail was among these.  How cool is that??

One of my goals, to make sure it was well known that Iditarod was getting rid of the back of the pack, has been accomplished.  I believe I played a role in this, but it was primarily Craig Medred’s coverage that accomplished the goal.  The blatancy with which Iditarod did this these past two years didn’t hurt the case.  Iditarod is now a professional race, plain and simple.  I can’t say this makes me smile, but I am happy for achieving the goal of getting the info out there.

With Medred’s coverage of the 2010 Iditarod, what I had been saying got credibility beyond what I could have ever accomplished.  I had a healthy dog team and wanted to continue.  I was removed without any warning simply because I was going too slow.  This was in spite of the fact that I was ahead of teams’ times from the previous running of the southern route.  In retrospect, one of my big motivations for the lawsuit was to establish all of this in court.  Medred’s coverage of Hank Debruin, particularly, showed what was really going on.  Hank’s completion of the 2011 Quest closed the circle and put a smile on my face.

Finally, I’ve been happy with how supportive friends were, even those who had doubted the legitimacy of my complaints. 

And with a little luck, I’ll publish a memoir that has all the gory details I’ve always said I’d release.  I do think that middle aged man moves to Montana to learn to run sled dogs, learns how, enters Iditarod, gets screwed by Iditarod, fights back and loses ^___ Dogs, middle age crisis avoidance, adventure, and David vs. Goliath ^___ should be a salable book, but we’ll see.  

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt, Speech before Hamilton Club, Chicago, April 10, 1899.