Former Iditarod racer Charlie Boulding was spotted in Manley Hot Springs Tuesday helping unload drop dogs to be taken home to Anchorage, but he didn't have nostalgic feelings about the race.
"I don't miss it," he said in his characteristic North Carolina drawl.
Boulding, who still has his trademark braids tucked under a Kuskokwim 300 winter cap, lives about 25 miles from the Tanana River community of Manley. Boulding was a common name in sled dog racing during his peak in the 1990s. He won the Yukon Quest twice and placed in the Iditarod top 10 eight times over 13 races before retiring and selling most of his race dogs his last race in 2005. He said he still has a few dogs, but that his daughter, 7-year-old Tori, runs them for fun. She likes it so much that he has to limit her short runs to only four times a week.
"She'd run them every day if she could," he said.