Husky News

Dog sled racing isn’t a sport most Chippewa Falls natives end up participating in during their lives.

But for Dan Kaduce, a 1988 Chi-Hi graduate, it has become a way of life.

Kaduce is now in the final leg of the 2008 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, an over 1,000 mile trek from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada.

He started Saturday and will likely finish within the next few days.

Anxiously keeping up with the race is his mother, Meg Thorton of Chippewa Falls.

“I’m on my Internet constantly,” she said. “I get up in the middle of the night to check the Internet.”

Although Kaduce’s finished the race twice before, Thorton has concerns. There are long legs in the races where racers may not reach a checkpoint for hours at a time, and sledding can be dangerous.

One woman had to quit the race Tuesday because of a knee injury.

“A mother always worries about her kids,” she said.

A love for the unusual

Dog sledding wasn’t always a dream of Kaduce’s.

He grew up loving dogs and the outdoors, but he had never been exposed to the sport, which is popular in Alaska and Canada.

But Thorton wasn’t shocked when she heard her son had started racing.

“It didn’t surprise me really,” Thorton said. “He was always getting into something different.”

As a child, Kaduce trained his dog in the 4-H dog training program. He also liked braving the elements while camping with his boy scout troop.

“He started being out in the cold starting in like fifth grade,” Thorton said.

He also was a downhill skier in high school and college.

But Kaduce gradually moved into dog sledding.

While he was a student at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, he made a summer trip to Alaska.

He had heard that he could make good money working at the fisheries there, so he and a friend decided to try it out.

He needed money for college and thought it would be interesting.

He didn’t know that he would fall in love with the state.

He returned to Minnesota to finish college, but after graduation, he decided he had to return.

So he set off to Alaska without much of a plan.

“He just loved it,” Thorton said. “He said, ‘I’ll find a job when I get out there.’”

But Kaduce found more than a job, he also found passion for the area’s sports.

After arriving in Alaska in 1994, he was given a couple of dogs and started skijoring.

Skijoring is a sport in which a few dogs are hooked up to a cross country skier.

After finding enjoyment in that sport, Kaduce took an interest in dog sledding.

He started talking to dog sledders and learning from them.

He started training and breeding his dogs. He’s slowly built up his kennel of dogs. Thorton said he now has about 19 competition dogs.

“It’s a lot of work,” Thorton said. “It’s something you train for year round.”

And Kaduce isn’t the only one who has gotten hooked to the sport.

His brother helps him build his own sleds, his boss at TJ’s Land Clearing has become his sponsor, and Thorton makes about 1,200 booties for the dogs each year.

“Everyone gets into it,” Thorton said. “It’s a family sport.”

Racing

Kaduce entered his first Yukon Quest in 2002. He didn’t finish that race, but he was determined to continue.

In 2003, he returned and finished tenth. He finished sixth in 2004.

But in 2005, Kaduce and his partner, Jodi Bailey, were faced with a challenge.

There was a fire on their property in Chatanika, Alaska. It burnt everything down but their house.

They saved all their dogs, but they had a long road ahead of them.

“They had to rebuild everything,” Thorton said. “But they kept going.”

Kaduce went on to race that year, but he fell ill. He had a high fever and had to drop out.

However those struggles never stopped him.

Thorton said Kaduce’s passion has kept him racing.

In April, he finished first at the Taiga 300.

As of 9:04 a.m. Friday, Kaduce’s latest check-out time in the Yukon Quest, he was in in 12th place out of the 16 sledders still in the race. Seven have already dropped out.

But his score is not the most important thing on Kaduce’s mind.

“He’ll always look out for his dogs. His dogs are important.”

Kaduce has already dropped six of his 14 dogs for various reasons, including dropping his dog Gutknecht because of a possible ulcer.

Gutknecht, of course, is named after Gutknecht’s Meat Market.

“He likes to name his dogs after what he knows, and he loves Chippewa,” Thorton said.

He also has a dog named Jake after Jake Leinenkugel.

The group will continue running, hopefully until they hit the finish at Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada.

Dan’s run in 2003 took him 12 days and two hours. His 2004 run took 11 days and 20 hours.

“I’m hoping Dan can finish it,” Thorton said. “He has done it before and did well. Only time will tell what happens next.”

Reach Elizabeth Hochstedler at elizabeth.hochstedler@lee.net.

Kaduce’s Quest

- Kaduce was in 12th place as of 9:04 a.m. Friday, when he left the Forty Mile River checkpoint.

- Sixteen racers remained in the race of the 24 who started as of Friday.

Source: Chippewa