Race of their lives

A contribution from the folks at Walter Reed:

Race of their lives: Walter Reed Soldiers meet life’s, Iditarod challenges
By Sharon Taylor Conway
Stripe Staff Writer

It’s a long race through some of the most extreme terrain known to man and it’s easy to quit.

They run cross steep mountain ranges, intense forests, unmoving rivers and isolated tundra. Man and his team of 16 dogs take on perilous climbs and side hills in long hours of darkness and winds that threaten loss of visibility.

Not unlike the challenges and obstacles our Wounded Warriors face on the road to recovery.

This is the Iditarod.

The 1,049-mile sled-dog race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska commemorates the historic trail that mushers (dog team drivers) used to carry serum to inoculate Nome residents against a deadly outbreak of diphtheria in 1925.

Walter Reed Chaplain (Capt.) Darrick Gutting, an Alaskan native with a rich family history of Iditarod racing, saw the annual race as an opportunity to prepare Wounded Warriors to face the multiple challenges they face.

The Chaplain led a small group of six servicemembers from the Army, Marine Corps and Navy, and their loved ones on a trek to Alaska for a spiritual fitness retreat centered on the Iditarod, Feb. 28.

The retreat focused on spiritual formation, social reintegration, physical courage and team building through close family relationships for servicemembers recovering from traumatic injury.

“The easy thing would be to quit. I could drive into any of the 18 to 20 checkpoints [along the race trail] and quit,” said Gutting’s uncle Dan Seavey, a four-time veteran of the race who took third place in the very first Iditarod Challenge in 1973.

“Think of the checkpoints as intermediate goals and progress to the finish line. You can quit anywhere you want — it’s very easy to quit,” said Seavey. “Niney-six teams started this year’s race. Seventeen teams scratched this year. Generally, about 20 to 25 percent normally quit.”

Each of the six Wounded Warriors rode with a sled team for the race’s 11-mile ceremonial start.

“The start of the race is completely chaotic: puppies are barking, the crowd cheering,” said Marine Corp 2nd Lt. Andrew Kinnard. “There are all these dog handlers. [These] dogs are built to run. They don’t know that they have to wait [so another team can start]. All they know is that they have to run. It takes three or four people to keep them from running ahead [before they’re supposed to]. It’s like running on a treadmill on the ice,” said Kinnard who rode with rookie musher Martin Koening.

The musher took a turn too sharply and Kinnard took a spill from the sled twice, halfway through the race. Kinnard says he wasn’t afraid at anytime.

The double-leg at the hip amputee didn’t need any assistance to get back into the sled. Kinnard is a 25-year-old Marine platoon commander who has spent nearly two years at Walter Reed recovering from an improvised explosive device blast in the Al Anbar province in Iraq.

Walter Reed occupational therapist Maj. Matthew St. Laurent said Kinnard was not injured from the spill in the race.

“They were aggressive in pursuing. No one held back because of their injuries,” said Seavey.

“It was an incredible experience. Seeing those mountains and that part of the country makes you feel closer to God,” said Navy Petty Officer Third Class Paul Hurley, from Washington, D.C.

“People were cheering the whole way,” he said. “It was a big moral booster.”

“Being in Alaska, you’re out of your element. Walter Reed is like a self-contained bubble. [In Alaska] We would catch some people staring — they’re not used to seeing us [amputees].”

The elder Seavey, whose son Mitch was the 2004 Iditarod winner, said the Soldiers participation was a reminder of the war amidst the excitement of the race.

“It let the rest of us know the war is still going on. The civilian population hasn’t really sacrificed and these fellas have. They personify the fact that there’s a price to be paid,” said Seavey.

Iditarod champion Mitch Seavey helped relate the Iditarod race to the Warriors’ struggles. The champion musher explained training, discipline and teamwork was an interesting parallel.

“Our dogs are very pack-oriented and loyal to each other and me, as their leader. The tougher things get, the more they rely on the pack. As things get more difficult later on in the race, they become more loyal to the musher — the guys seemed to relate to that,” said Mitch.

Gutting explained there is a critical point in training a dog team when, “You realize it’s not you. You can’t say ‘I built this team’. There’s trust there. They let you in — to be a part of the team.

“Patients are allowing us in. That’s the greatest compliment anyone can give me: when someone trusts me enough to let me in, to run the race [to recovery] along with them. Running along with folks, encouraging and empowering one another, that’s what you find in a dog team. Everyone is pulling together.”

“Not one of us is as good and strong as all of us,” said Gutting.

(Seated) Sgt. 1st Class Josh Ferguson of Fort Richardson, Alaska began the ceremonial start of the 2008 Iditarod Race in Anchorage, Alaska with rookie musher Rich Corcoran.

(From left) Juanita Robledo, Iditarod veteran Dan Seavey, Spec. Marco Robledo, WTB, and Shirley Seavey at the ceremonial start.

all pictures courtesy of Marty Cooke