Denali Doubles: Where Iditarod veterans play by Jeff King's rules

CANTWELL -- Dusk started to fall on the mountains, dogs started to bark and four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King fiddled with his iPhone, the official race clock.

Once it read 4 p.m., the fourth Denali Doubles Sled Dog Race was on.

King waved his arms wildly at the first racers -- a team of two mushers on two separate sleds linked to one team of 17 dogs. They took off, driving down the two-lane Denali Highway on a 226-mile out-and-back race for a $5,000 prize if they returned to Cantwell in the shortest time.

Sixteen more teams of two mushers pulled up to the humble, makeshift starting line -- marked by a large, white "No Road Maintenance" sign, where a tiny group of spectators gathered. The teams left at two-minute intervals onto a straight, wide and snowy trail bordered by mountains and spruce trees.

Playing by King's rules

And so began another edition of the quirky, lighthearted race dreamed up by King, who referred to himself as the "head honcho" of the Denali Doubles, which means he runs the show and makes the rules -- like a one-hour penalty for littering and a $75 fine for whining.

"Nobody likes a whiner and if there's a rule against it, it's easy to say, 'Hey, it's against the rules. No whining. Suck it up,'" King said. No one has gotten fined yet, though that doesn't mean it won't happen.

King wore an olive-colored puffy jacket as he walked up and down the snow-covered roadway in the hours leading up to go-time. He will celebrate his 60th birthday Saturday. The day before the race, he posted a photograph on Facebook of a Denali Doubles mimosa kit, given to him by his girlfriend and fellow musher Kristin Bacon, who ran the race Thursday.

"He makes everything look like it falls together so easily," said Bacon, 43, who will start her first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race this year. She said she treated the Denali Doubles as a training run, plus "it's just fun."

It was clear Thursday that a lot of mushers were having fun, King included, as teams of two worked together to Velcro booties onto their dog teams, preparing to run into ideal temperatures in the low teens.

The team approach to mushing is a cornerstone of King's Denali Doubles, a race that has drawn big names in its four-year history, including four-time Iditarod and Yukon Quest champion Lance Mackey and four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser.

King has put on the race on and off since 2010. This year's lineup drew six mushers who finished in the Iditarod's top 30 last year, on top of King, who has started the Iditarod 25 times, winning four of his own.

"Over the years it became very clear to me that I loved mushing with someone closer that I could talk to and banter with and share information with," King said. "Plus I loved the idea of trying to pair people who had never had the chance to drive a world-class sled dog team with a world-class musher."

The teams must consist of one veteran and one novice musher, which on Thursday gave those experienced in competitive dog mushing a chance for a long ride with a boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, parent, sponsor, friend, handler or, in at least once case, a last-minute stranger.

To meet the two-person-per-team requirement, some tied together two sleds -- one behind the other -- while others used one sled with two sets of runners. They raced with up to 20 dogs, an increase from the 16-dog Iditarod maximum and a chance for mushers to look at prospective candidates for next month's 1,000-mile race to Nome.

But before everyone made it to the starting line and got assembled, the teams met at the Cantwell restaurant Time 2 Eat Again, which offered a $9 musher special of a pulled pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw, served on tables with checkered tablecloths with three caribou skulls decorating the walls.

King stood in the middle of the restaurant, welcoming everyone to the race and establishing the rules: A total of 16 hours mandatory rest. No whining. No littering. He said he placed cameras along the trail, and encouraged mushers to sing songs as they passed by. Teams must carry one ax at all times, he said, plus one sleeping bag -- despite there being two mushers.

"The idea being if one of you is hurt, you would be able to snuggle them up and help them out," he said.

All dogs must also cross the finish line, though they can get dropped off at two lodges on the way out and picked up again on the way back.

"I don't want to see any limping dogs," he said.

He also told them that one woman along the trail was planning to drive 2 miles on a snowmachine to a certain hill so she can access the race's website to check the teams' trackers and ensure she's outside with coffee and pastries at the right time.

"You will pass her twice, just a mile or two before the loop," he said. "I just wanted you to know she's there and she's very excited about having coffee and pastries for you."

'Relationship tester'

Musher Kristy Berington, a six-time Iditarod finisher, listened from a nearby table with her boyfriend and Denali Double's partner, Andy Pohl, who described himself as a "total rookie."

Pohl, a 41-year-old mechanical engineer, said he got on a sled for the first time sometime around Thanksgiving, but "I've got a fantastic coach and mentor." Berington compared the race to riding a tandem bicycle.

"It's a relationship tester," she quipped.

The couple shared their table with four-time Iditarod finisher Nicolas Petit and his girlfriend, Emily Maxwell. Petit, 36, and Maxwell, 31, met over a game of pool in Girdwood this summer, they said, and depending on who finishes the story, she won or he let her win.

Either way, Maxwell was just visiting Alaska and she went home to Iowa. But she and Petit kept in touch. After a couple of visits, she moved to Willow last month.

"I've had nine or 10 days worth of running dogs," she said. She said Petit asked her in a roundabout way to run the Denali Doubles with him in a September text message. They're racing with 20 dogs.

"For us it's about going out and having fun and not freezing," Maxwell said.

Home by the Super Bowl

Two racers also means two people to give the dogs water, two people to put on booties and two people to to dish out dog food.

Despite the fun part of racing with a pal, there's still a financial benefit to getting back to Cantwell quick. The race has a $500 entry fee. The first-place team wins $5,000, the second place team wins $2,000 and so on until sixth place, which pays $250.

Paul Gebhardt, 60, has finished the Iditarod 18 times, placing second twice. He partnered Thursday with his friend Nichole Faille, whom he said he met hunting this year. While he expects to enjoy the race, he's also taking it seriously.

"I'm not here to come in last, that's for sure," he said.

Melanie Shirilla said she "came out of racing retirement" for this year's Denali Doubles and just wants to go out with the dogs and bring them back healthy.

Shirilla, 43, works at King's Denali Park kennel, Husky Homestead, and she's running King's Iditarod team, which adds to the pressure, she said. She joked there's a clause in her contract that says she won't have to race, but she gave in for the Denali Doubles and is mushing with Travis Taylor, the director of tour operations at Premier Alaska Tours.

"We're going to get them in safe and sound and then go drink some beer," Shirilla said.

Her goal: be home in time for Metallica's pre-Super Bowl show. King said he expected the first team to finish early Saturday morning.

On Thursday, Jim Lanier was the final team to set out. Lanier, the 76-year-old who has finished the Iditarod 16 times, was paired with longtime friend Gunnar Johnson. Lanier said he went to high school and then college with Johnson's dad.

Johnson visited Alaska as a teenager to stay with Lanier. He started to run dogs and raced the Iditarod in 1991 -- making a slow and arduous run that made Johnson realize dog mushing was not for him. But he still comes up to visit Lanier each year for about a week "and that was enough."

"A week ago I was at a political rally and Jim called and he said, 'Hey do you want to do the Denali Doubles,'" Johnson said. He agreed.

Lanier said he had run the race with his wife in 2010. He told her you can spend Valentine's Day with me out on the trail, or you can spend it alone. She was a good sport and took to the trail, he said.

Lanier, who wore rainbow suspenders to the afternoon lunch, and Johnson kicked off around 4:30 p.m. Their sled bag fabric was a mix of neon green and a print of cash.

Meanwhile, King prepared to get on a snowmachine to bring bags of dog food out to checkpoints. He wiped his nose with a neon-pink dog bootie that he pulled from his pocket.

The race -- "his brainchild," as he calls it -- was on.