Karen Land Speaks at Roanoke Main Library

There’s always something going on at the Library… you already knew that. Right? Well, let’s look at this week’s program presented by the Roanoke Public Library. This is not your average library, just in case you think it’s a quiet place to sit and use the computer or check out books for free. (Oh-oh, what the ???)

Monday night, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Musher Karen Land spoke to a packed house at the Main Library’s Mezzanine Room. Star City FAME came to take pictures and learned about a sport that seemed more grueling and exciting than just about anything else out there.

Dog Mushing is a competitive sport, one musher against others… and a team sport, a pack of dogs being that team. Karen presented some finer details of training for the Iditarod, which is the annual race held in Alaska. The race begins every March. Competitors typically enter with 16 (maximum) dogs. The trail covers 1161 miles in sub-freezing temperatures. They get 15 days or less to finish it. Karen’s training took a number of years, as she explained she had to apprentice with a kennel owner, whose dogs raced as sled dogs, to really learn about mushing.

Here is a photo courtesy of JKBrooks85 off Wiki that details a sled dog team: (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Mushing_graphicx.JPG)

Karen went on to talk about the way she was first introduced to mushing, her training to qualify, her rookie entry into the Iditarod, and of course, she spoke proudly about her faithful team of dogs. Karen also brought along a photo presentation of breath-taking pictures, her racing sled, and her beloved Alaskan Husky, Borage.

The sled shown here is actually quite light in weight… 20-something pounds or so. The dogs pull the musher, all suited up, and the sled, all loaded up, over snow and ice. However, a lot of the Iditarod trail can be rocks and dirt.

Karen asked the audience a number of questions and surprisingly a lot of children present knew some of the answers. She has been on over 300 such presentations to audiences all over the United States since 2005, mostly at schools and libraries. She has taken this year off to tour the country and talk about Mushing, but says she will enter the Iditarod once again next year.

Photos Star City FAME (c) 2010

You can find more about Mushing at Karen’s website and blog at http://www.mymusher.com/
The official site for the Iditarod is http://www.iditarod.com/

See you around Downtown!!