newsminer.com

WHITEHORSE, Yukon — Joy was the overriding emotion Friday for a Fairbanks “recreational musher who took a wrong turn” and wound up 12th in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

Phil Joy, a fisheries biologist who in recent years has had to cope with a tragic training accident and an airlift off Eagle Summit, was Friday’s only finisher, crossing at 11:16 a.m. after nearly 13 days on the trail.

“I’m just happy right now,” Joy said after petting and praising each of seven remaining dogs and getting a hug and kiss from fiancee Kumi Rattenbury.

Joy deserved to be happy. The first half of the 1,000-mile race, he struggled though the jumble ice on the Yukon River, dropped several dogs with injuries and complained about the rough trail. By Eagle, he was down to eight dogs, with main leader Scout at the front.

But after the layover in Dawson City, Joy seemed to find his groove. His mood improved and his dogs soldiered on, not setting any speed records but not bogging down, either.

“We just kept going. I think that’s what this race is about, just keep going ... no matter how much it sucks,” he said.

Joy, who has a tiny kennel by racing standards, bought two dogs from Cim Smyth of Wasilla and borrowed one from Brent Sass just to fill out his Quest team.

Part of his motivation for returning was to conquer Eagle Summit. It was there in 2006 that he was stranded in a whiteout storm and rescued by helicopter along with five other mushers.

So the first victory this year was getting up and over Eagle Summit.

“It was satisfying. Eagle Summit was nowhere near as bad as it was in ‘06, but nevertheless it was still pretty nasty,” said Joy, who before the approach sat pensively on a cooler at Mile 101 dog drop looking into a 25-mph headwind. “It definitely had me quaking a little bit before.”

Joy, 35, says he’s a recreational musher who loves traveling with his dogs to places like Denali National Park or the North Slope to hunt caribou.

So switching to race mode has been a tough adjustment.

“It’s hard for me to push the dogs,” he said Tuesday at Stepping Stone hospitality stop.

He prefers camping trips and doesn’t have the time, money, energy or kennel size to continue racing.

“It’s just more relaxing. There’s no rush,” Joy said of recreational mushing. “You’re never dealing with dogs getting super tired like in a race. They’re always happy and eager.”

As happy as Joy was to complete his Quest, he experienced the other extreme 2 1/2 years ago.

On Sept. 18, 2005, Joy was driving on a four-wheeler behind his dog team when four of them were hit by a truck and killed at a road crossing in Goldstream Valley.

“It still brings a tear to my eye,” Joy said at Stepping Stone.

That heartbreak, though, was far from his mind on Friday.

“I kind of figured I’d be further back,” he said. “Twelfth is great. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Ellis sets record

Mike Ellis finished 11th with nine purebred Siberian huskies late Thursday night. He also earned a greater distinction.

“We set a new Siberian record for the race by like seven or eight hours,” said Ellis, a native of Rumney, N.H., who quit his job and mortgaged his house just to run the Quest.

The previous Siberian record, Ellis said, was a 12-day, 14-hour run by Peter Thomann of Willow in 1990.

Ellis’ elapsed time was 12 days, 9 hours and 58 minutes.

Now Ellis and wife Sue plan to pack up soon — they spent the winter living and training in Whitehorse — and return to New England.

But on Friday morning they received an intriguing e-mail from Bill and Sandy McKee of Two Rivers.

“I got an offer to go live in Fairbanks next winter to train for Iditarod,” Ellis said. “We’ll see if maybe we can raise some sponsorship money and go set the Siberian record for that.”

Ellis called running the Quest “just an incredible life-changing experience.”

“It was a lot harder than I expected but also more rewarding,” he said after watching Phil Joy finish.

The bond Ellis has with his beautiful dogs is akin to parenthood.

“We treat them like our kids,” Ellis said. “Sue and I don’t have any kids, except for the dogs. They’re our family.”

Trio still on trail

Ann Ledwidge of Dawson and Bill Cotter of Nenana were set to leave Braeburn a minute apart Friday evening, which could put them into Whitehorse midmorning today. If they’re fortunate, the treacherous overflow outside of Braeburn will remain mostly frozen, as it was for Phil Joy on Thursday night.

Kyla Boivin has been sick with the fever but should arrive in time to claim the Red Lantern and make it to tonight’s finish banquet.