Hardcore Huskies Fan Blog.
This is where you can check for updates and status reports from our adventures. Frequent updates are made so make sure to check back often! | Hardcore Huskies Newsletters
Download the newest Hardcore Huskies Newsletter.
Hardcore Huskies Newsletter 08 Race Edition.pdf [ Archive ] |
| Own an Iditarod Mile for Only $20 | Sun, Jun. 27th, 2010 | |
The 2011 Iditarod is nine months away but the Hardcore Team is already at working training for the last great race. Now you can be a part of it all!
For only $20 you can buy a mile of the race. Each mile purchased helps get the Hardcore Team that much closer to the finish line in Nome. It helps to cover the cost of food, harnesses, coats for the dogs, booties and more. Every bit goes towards the care and training of my beloved dogs.
Bottom line is the race costs the Hardcore Team nearly $30,000. In addition to costs mentioned above, there is a $4000 entry fee, about $1500 for staging the food for the dogs at the various check points, vet checks and care, runners for the sleds, and more.
There are officially 1031 miles in the race although the actual distance we drive is more like 1100 miles. You can buy one mile, five miles or more. Heck you can buy all 1031 if you want! Each person who donates will be listed on my website with the specific list of miles they bought for 2011 Iditarod.
As you know, we sat out last year’s race because we moved into our new home. The dogs now have a great yard and I have nice house and great facilities to train the dogs, store their food and my gear and work on the sleds. Now, I can just concentrate on training for the race.
Right now I am free running dogs, meaning I let them loose to run and have fun while I walk with them. In August, I will start quad training on the 4 wheeler. Then, as soon as we get snow, we start getting serious with increasingly longer training runs.
I want to again thank everyone for their past support of the Hardcore Team and hope you will continue to help us. I know and understand economic times are tough for a lot of folks so that is why I set up this “Buy An Iditarod Mile” program.
Donations can be sent to:
Heather Siirtola
P.O. Box 190
Talkeetna, AK 99676
Again, thanks and well keep you in the loop with Hardcore Training updates.
|
| |
| Iditarod 38 Starts Today Without Hardcore Team | Sat, Mar. 6th, 2010 | |
IDITAROD XXXVIII countdown to the start is now just hours away. At 10 am Saturday morning Alaska time, the first musher to leave the 4th Avenue in Downtown Anchorage will signify the end of an entire year’s worth of training for seventy one teams headed for Nome Alaska.
This year’s race features five Iditarod Champions including three-time Iditarod Champ Lance Mackey. Twenty eight of last year’s top thirty teams have also returned. They’ll be joined by a 22 rookie mushers including two (Wattie McDonald & Jonathan Stewart) from Scotland and one (Oswald “Newton” Marshall) from Jamaica.
One musher missing from this year`s event will be our own Heather Siirtola, owner/operator of the Hardcore Husky kennel. Heather is taking this year off but is already looking toward Iditarod 39 next year.
Reporter Brian Gehring of the Bismarck Tribune recently spoke to Heather and filed this article that recently appeared in the Bismarck Tribune.
Local Iditarod racer sitting this year out
Brian.Gehring@bismarcktribune.com |
When the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race begins March 7, a name familiar to many North Dakotans will not be among the mushers.
Bismarck native Heather Siirtola is taking the year off after competing in the previous three races.
Last year, Siirtola finished the 1,150-mile trek in 15 days, 11 hours and 35 minutes, to finish in 37th place out of 67 teams.
Siirtola said she decided to take the year off for several reasons.
She moved her kennel to a new home near Talkeetna, Alaska, and the move came right during the time of the year when she would normally be training her team.
“With my new home being built and us moving in during the training season, it gave us little time to increase our miles,” Siirtola said, responding to questions via Facebook.
Siirtola said the year off also will give her the opportunity to train some of the younger dogs in her Hardcore Huskies kennel of 35 huskies.
That, and hopefully pad her bank account some for 2011.
“I also wanted to take time to reflect on some things for the next Iditarod race. I’m happy with finishing all three races we have been in, but I would like to finish in few days and in a higher ranking,” she said.
Siirtola works year-round at a pub near her home and with a monthly feed bill topping $1,000 a month, it takes a while to bank the $12,000 she figures it takes to compete in the race itself.
She said sponsorships are getting hard to come by with the struggling national economy, and it’s no different in Alaska.
Like every race, last year’s Iditarod had its share of setbacks.
Siirtola and her team lost about 24 hours when a white-out prompted race officials to hold teams in Grayling and another day was lost with the flu.
Siirtola, 32, will have the next year to work her younger dogs and hopefully be more competitive — something she is confident she can achieve.
“I would like to see the pups have a positive experience,” she said.
“I would like to move throughout setbacks with a little more ease and grace. Basically, I would like to see us higher in the ranks because I know we are capable.”
You can follow Siirtola and her team at www.hardcorehuskies.com
|
| |
| Hello from Our New House!!! | Mon, Dec. 14th, 2009 | |
As you all know one of my big dreams was to race in and finish the Iditarod. I have achieved that dream three times now with hopefully more to come. The other big dream I have had was to get my own place and to firmly establish my own kennel.
Guess what? I’ve finally done that too!
On November 1, 2009, I moved into my own new house. It is a 900 square foot, two bedroom one bath house located in Moose Meadows near Talkeetna, about 12 miles from where I used to live. I have a total of about 5 acres. I also have a 24 foot by 32 foot shop with a complete bathroom with plenty of room to store all of my mushing gear; including my sleds and 4-wheeler. It is truly more than I could have hoped for.
The house and shop were built by John Anderson out of Willow, AK. I have known John for years since he serves as a race judge with the Iditarod. It was great to see the house take shape over the summer but it was even better when he handed me the keys on Nov 1st and said “It’s all yours!”
Thanks to help from friends I was able to move rather quickly. Moving the dogs took a while but now they are all settled in and appear to be really happy. That is important to me.
The only downside to achieving this dream of homeownership is that I will not be able to afford to run in the 2010 Iditarod. As you can probably guess the expenses of getting into a new home are always more than you plan. We had to dig a little deeper for the well to get water, costs of a water softener were more than planned, and insulation costs for both the house and shop were higher. Then there is costs of getting appliances and furniture. After a while it all adds up!
But not all is lost. I do plan on entering at least two races early next year. The first being the Don Bowers 200 and the other Kubok 440 which runs from Kotzebue to Kobuk, Alaska and return.
You may recall that I had some new puppies born about two years ago. My plan is to run the puppies in both of these races. The experience of running in these races will prove invaluable and should get them ready for the last great race, the 2011 Iditarod.
For those wondering, yes, I still need sponsorship help. I spend nearly $1000 a month feeding all of the dogs. Bags of dog food cost about $50 each so if you want to sponsor a bag of food, please send your donation.
I still have a few sweatshirts for sale. Pictures of them can be seen at HERE
Now that we are getting settled I’ll try and do a better job of keeping you up to date with our training and life in general. Please know that all of us at Hardcore Huskies appreciate all the help that you all have given us over the years. None of this would have been possible without the help of family and friends. All of you who have sent us money are considered family so again, our “heart filled thanks!”
Heather & the hardcore Team
|
| |
| Life Lessons Learned from Iditarod and the Hardcor | Sun, May. 10th, 2009 | |
Iditarod is not just for mushers! Iditarod is for students and educators. Iditarod is an incredible teaching tool that leads students to academic success in science, math, and all other curriculum areas. Iditarod is used in private schools, public schools, and home school environments as a theme to connect this real time event with what students must know and understand academically. Educators of preschool students, elementary, secondary, and university students use our lessons and activities to engage learners and empower students for success. The Iditarod is found in classrooms in Alaska and all 49 other states, many foreign countries, and on most continents. It is used in year round programs, summer camps, and even retirement communities as an inspiration for setting and reaching goals. Iditarod is "The Last Great Teaching Race".
Georgette Roty is in the 6th grade at Arnold Mill Elementary School in Woodstock, GA. Her teacher, Mrs. Morgan, had them follow the 2009 Iditarod as a learning tool this year too. Georgette said each student reviewed the biographies of the mushers in these years Iditarod and chose one to follow.
“I chose to follow Heather because I am a girl, and I wanted to follow a female musher throughout the race,” said Georgette. “When I read Heathers bio, it said that she likes four-wheeling and hiking, so do I! Since we had so much in common, I knew that she was the musher for me.”
One of the major assignments for Georgette and her fellow students was to do a podcast to tell others about the musher their chose. You can hear those reports by CLICKING HERE and then clicking on the podcast link.
Georgette says their teacher had them read a book titled Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott O`Dell about a young girl named Bright Dawn who runs the Iditarod in place of her father who got an injury while practicing. Her lead dog was named Black Star.
“Like Heather, she didn’t win her race but she never gave up,” said Georgette. “Even though Heather didn’t win I still support the Hardcore Team.”
Rote says Heather is improving her time each year. She says she wants Heather and the Hardcore Team to know they are her idol.
“Keep up the good work Heather because you inspire me,” she concludes.
|
| |
| Siirtola`s goal is to be one of top Iditarod mushe | Sun, Mar. 29th, 2009 | |
Siirtola`s goal is to be one of top Iditarod mushers
Mar 29, 2009 - 04:05:11 CDT
By BRIAN GEHRING
Bismarck Tribune
There`s a saying that goes "Life is like being a sled dog; unless you are the lead dog, the view never changes."
Bismarck native and Iditarod musher Heather Siirtola says she`s ready to make the jump to the front of the pack, or at least somewhere nearer the middle.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE
NOTE: The article made a reference to Heather and sponsorships. The question posed to Heather was how many corporate sponsorships she had. She responded by saying “None, just family and friends.” The reporter neglected to include Heather entire response where she thanked her family, friends and many supporters who sent her donations to help her complete this race.
|
| |
|
|
