By Joseph Robertia
Photos by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Merissa Osmar, a third-generation musher from Ninilchik, will be defending her title in this weekend’s Jr. Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
Redoubt Reporter
It won’t be long until the big dogs begin the Iditarod, but this weekend the young pups get a chance at the trail, running 160 miles during the Jr. Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
Among the youth, ages 14 to 17, are three Kenai Peninsula dog drivers.
Merissa Osmar, 16, of Ninilchik is the defending champion, having won the race last season for the first time in two attempts. She said she’d like to have a repeat performance in this, her third season.
“I’m really looking forward to the race,” she said. “I’m going to try my best to keep the title.”
Osmar is the daughter of Tim Osmar, who is the 2001 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race champion, and a three-time Jr. Iditarod winner himself, having dominated the race from 1982 to ’84. Her grandfather, Dean Osmar, is the 1984 Iditarod champion. Her sister, Nicole Osmar, also won the Jr. Iditarod, in 2004.
With so many in her family already famous in the mushing world, the youngest Osmar said keeping up the winning streak often weighs on her.
“There’s always pressure to win it,” she said. “I’ve done that, but now there’s the pressure to defend it.”
Osmar prepares herself for the Jr. Iditarod by conditioning her dogs all fall, having them pull a four-wheeler, and then a sled in winter. She also trained by running other races, including the Tustumena 100 in January, in which, because of her age, she needed a signed waiver from her folks in order to compete.
She placed second out of roughly a dozen mushers, and was only minutes behind the winner, Kasilof musher Paul Gebhardt, two-time runner up of the Iditarod.
“I like the adult races,” she said. “You learn so much more from the adults around you, especially when they’re Iditarod and Quest veterans.”
Osmar said she is happy with how her training has gone, but she knows several of the 14 other competitors in the Jr. Iditarod can claim the same, based on how their own racing seasons have gone.
“There’s going to be some good competition again this year,” she said.
Some of that competition will come from fellow peninsula musher Conway Seavey, 14, of Sterling. Like Osmar, Seavey is a third-generation musher. His father, Mitch Seavey, won the Iditarod in 2004. His three older brothers have also competed in the Jr. Iditarod, including Tyrell, who won the race back 2001, and Dallas, who just last week became the youngest winner of the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest.
Conway stuck to the junior races this season and he won the Jr. T in January and the Jr. Willow 100 race earlier this month. This will be his first Jr. Iditarod, but he said he is ready to race it.
“I can’t wait for it,” he said. “My brothers have all run it, so I think I know what is coming.”
Like Osmar, Seavey said his training has gone well, especially considering he typically gets third pick of the dogs, after his father and their handler, Matt Giblin, who will also be running Seavey dogs in the 1,000-mile Iditarod this year.
“All the dogs we run are my dad’s. He gets to pick, and then Matt, and then I get the crumbs,” Seavey said. “The dogs I’ll be running I’ve been training with for several months, and some of them I’ve trained for several years.”
Being so comfortable with his team, and with numerous hours on the trail training and racing, Seavey said he might have what it takes to win this weekend, even if he is a rookie.
“If there’s an opportunity to win, I won’t let it go to waste,” he said. “But I’m just going to do the best I can and I’ll be happy with wherever I finish.”
Shameka Nelson, 17, of Anchor Point, also has been around dogs most of her life. She
Shameka Nelson, of Anchor Point, will be running her third and last Jr. Iditarod, since she is almost 18. She is hoping for her best finish yet.
began mushing when she was 7, after begin introduced to the sport by her grandmother, the late Joanne Alexander. Nelson has competed in two Jr. Iditarods, placing 18th in 2008 and 11th in 2009.
“This will be my third and last one, since I’ll be 18 soon,” she said. “This year my goal is to place in the money,” she said, referring to first through fifth positions.
Nelson also ran the T-100 earlier this year, placing 10th out of 11 mushers. Living a little farther south, her training has been hampered by warm weather earlier this season, but she said that competing in the T-100 helped get her dogs fit for the Jr. Iditarod.
“It was definitely the toughest trail I’ve ever been on,” she said. “It was good training for me and good conditioning for the dogs.”
Nelson said she would do the best she could in this weekend’s race. Beyond that, she isn’t sure what will be next on her race, or life, roster.
“A lot of people are rooting for me to do the Iditarod next season,” she said. “But I’m also thinking about college, so I’m not sure what will be next.”
To learn more about the Jr. Iditarod, or to follow the race, visit the race’s website at www.jriditarod.com/index.php3.
