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‘We will always choose to venture into the wilderness’: How one mushing family is keeping the ‘last great race’ alive in remote Alaska

Husky racing has been around for thousands of years, but it’s still relatively unknown and unwatched around the world. Alan Dymock speaks to three generations of the Seavey family about crowdfunding, controversy and animal rights

Friday 02 August 2019 14:45 BST
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The typical training run for the dogs consists of running 20 miles, resting or setting up camp, and then another 20 miles
The typical training run for the dogs consists of running 20 miles, resting or setting up camp, and then another 20 miles

On the ride down towards the Kenai Peninsula, everything draws your eye skywards, as white-capped mountains jut up towards the never-ending blue. Yet, as the truck swings round into Seward’s Glacier Road, towards the IdidaRide camp where the Seavey family train their brood of excitable huskies, the sight of smaller structures pulls you back down to ground level. Then the barking begins.

This is the site where potential four-legged stars of the world’s premier dog mushing race, the Iditarod, learn to run. But mainly it is a draw for tourists keen to experience a little of the musher’s life, albeit half a year away from the frozen challenges of March in Alaska or the sleeplessness of sledge racing for eight-plus days.

This is the business part of the family business – a way of life predicated on the husbandry of one family and their canine kin. However, the real passion is for heading forth into the rugged out-there of vast Alaska, running hard.

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