By Joseph Robertia
Photo by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Tustumena 200 race organizers and volunteers meet at Tustumena Elementary School on Monday to go over the roles everyone will play in putting on the event.
Redoubt Reporter
For Kasilof resident James Banks, being a volunteer for the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race seems more like fate than a choice. Growing up in Michigan, dogs were a part of his daily life for as long as he can remember, but these were family pets or bird dogs used for hunting, not the powerful pulling huskies of the north.
“I’ve always had dogs since I was born. When I was four, my parents used to find me outside, sleeping in the doghouse with our St. Bernard,” he said. “But when I got here I knew nothing about mushing or sled dogs.”
Moving to Kasilof, it is tough not to bump into someone who has or had sled dogs, or who doesn’t take part in the T200 in some capacity, as the race annually relies on dozens of volunteers.
“The T200 starts right in Kasilof, not far from where I live, so right away I started hearing about it from locals,” Banks said. “They started telling me about it, and how they volunteer for it. They told me to come to a volunteer meeting to check it out, so I did, but none of them were there.”
Rather than being stood up, Banks figured out on race day when he saw the folks who had told him about the meeting, that some volunteers have been doing it so long they just show up for the event to do the volunteer jobs they always have done.
“They were all there doing something,” he said.
Banks talked with race organizers and found out what he could do to help. His love of dogs drew him to trying to help with the canine athletes, assisting teams as they moved up to the starting chute, and lending a hand however else he could. After seeing that first team blast from the starting line, he knew he was hooked.
“Seeing all those dogs working together and working so hard pulling their musher down the trail. I had never seen anything like it. I had never seen anything so amazing. I knew I wanted to do more,” he said.
That was back in 2006, and Banks has helped every year since, and was recently voted onto the T200 board of directors. He also has started acquiring his own sled dogs and is up to 11. He hopes to run them himself in the T100 next season.
“Now you can’t tear me away from all of this,” he said.
Banks’ experience is reflective of many volunteers who came to a T200 event not knowing what to expect, then had so much fun they began making it an annual experience. Some attend volunteer meetings to find out what they can help out with, since there are myriad tasks that must be done behind the scenes to make the race happen and run smoothly.
From building the start chute and hanging the race banners, working the checkpoints and keeping times or staying out late Monday evening to wait for any back-of-the-packers who may be running hours behind the front runners, there always seems to be more jobs than people.
Some volunteers, such as Nicole Sweetland, of Clam Gulch, look for what they can do personally to make the race better than the previous year. She has helped at the start for four years, but last year realized something was missing.
“Getting up early and standing out there for hours in the cold, I got hungry, so after everyone left I went home and made breakfast burritos and thought, ‘We should have brought some out there,’ so this year we are,” she said.
Sweetland got the OK from race organizers and will have breakfast burritos, and biscuits and gravy available for mushers, volunteers or anyone else who may have rushed out of the house before breakfast.
While Sweetland pioneered a new race role, some volunteers enjoy serving in the same position every year. Bob Monroe, of Nikiski, got into volunteering after helping his mushing friends. When that wasn’t enough, he volunteered for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and for the last six years he has used volunteering for the T200 to also get his fix for helping out others.
“I liked it from the start and wanted to do more of it,” he said.
Monroe frequently helps out during the veterinary checks before the T200, and at the start and finish line once the race gets going.
“It’s really something fun to do in winter, and I would recommend it to everyone,” he said. “The mushers are all nice people for the most part. Some get grumpy when they’re tired, and a few are just that way all the time, but most are fun to be around.”
In the past Monroe has endured temperatures below minus 20 while waiting for teams to cross the finish, and given up hours of sleep. He said it’s all part of the experience.
“You just dress for it and catch up on sleep when it’s all done,” he said.
