CLINT WARNKE-FAIRBANKS, ALASKA

I found out the musher in the pictures I took is Clint Warnke from Fairbanks. He is 36, born in Alberta and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada. He started mushing in 1977 and ran his first Iditarod in 2001. Clint ran the 2003 Iditarod and won the Most Improved Musher Award. In the summer of 2004 he moved to Alaska. This year Clint is running his own young dog team and works with the Veterinary Educational team, which teaches children in South Carolina about northern breed sled dogs and the Iditarod.

Today Clint is in position 69. He has checked in at Skwentna and his next check point is Finger Lake. His time en route is 3 hours and his average speed is 11mph.

Clint has passed the check point at Knik, mile 63, population 7,049 and home of Joe Redington, Sr. "Father of the Iditarod." Mr Redington is a fascinating character. He finished the Iditarod in 5th place when he was 71 and was in the midst of preparing to run again when he died at the age of 82-check out the link on this Alaskan character. The Musher's Hall of Fame is located here. This is also where the wilderness race trail begins.

At mile 115, our musher and his team of dogs passed through Yenta Station, population 8. This is a roadhouse-checkpoint in the Susitna Valley.

His last check point as of this writing was Skwentna, population 11, near the confluence of the Yentana and the Skwentana rivers.

I think it is alot more fun to keep up with the race if you are watching a musher....so I am cheering Clint on from the sidelines! I will be posting his position and following his progress on the blog.

GOOD LUCK, CLINT.....MUSH ON!!!!!