Wild ride for 2021 Iron Dog champions

Down to the wire

Man, machine and elements determine Iron Dog outcome

“We kept telling each other, ‘It’s our pace, our race.’ ”

— Brad George, Team 6, on their 2021 victory

PHOTO / MEGAN ROLLINGER Team 6, Robby Schachle and Brad George, belatedly celebrate their victory in the 2021 Iron Dog, after finding out they had passed Team 14 in the final miles of the race.

Even though Brad George and Robby Schachle won the 2021 Iron Dog race, fulfilling lifelong dreams for both of them, the Team 6 powerhouse still feels like they have something to prove. Crossing the finish line in Big Lake last year, the pair didn’t even know that they were the first team across the line.

“I just wish I knew I won,” said George, 28, who with Schachle is back again to defend his title. “The last five miles everyone says is the best five miles of the race.”

George, whose father Andy won the race in 2006, grew up dreaming of following in his father’s footsteps.

“When I was a little kid it was my dream to come across the line holding up my hand in No. 1,” he said. “Then we come across No. 1, and we had no idea.”

Indeed the 2021 race took a last-minute twist when Team 14, Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie had the lead into the final miles of the race. Thinking at that point that the lead was too wide to bridge, George asked them for a favor at the Skwentna checkpoint.

“We’re all friends and we’ve been competing against each other for years,” George said. “So, I told Casey and Bryan, ‘You guys have to do something for me: You have to hold up No. 1 – do it for me.’ And they said they’d do it.”

But, proving that anything can – and does – happen in the World’s Longest, Toughest Snowmobile Race, Team 14 veered off trail, ran into mechanical problems and struggled to recover – all while Team 6 unwittingly passed them by.

I’ll take it, a win’s a win,” said Schachle, 35. “It was still a huge accomplishment but at the same time I want to know that I was in first place when I go across that finish line. It took about four times of people saying ‘You won, you won!’ for it to really sink in.” Bob Menne, in his first year as Iron Dog’s executive director, said this year’s race will surely offer up more of the unexpected as well – that’s part of what makes the race so exciting.

“The interest level in Iron Dog is strong,” he said. “There are quite a few racers from the Lower 48 as well, and that bodes well for Iron Dog that the interest is so high.”

Likewise, there are an increased number of racers from the communities along the racecourse, which is equally as exciting, Menne added. Of the 58 racers in the Pro Class, 12 live, or are from, off the Alaska road system.

“We are continuing to add Iron Dog events along the course this year to bring a celebration like that of the start and finish, including inflatable arches in Nome and Kotzebue, and a festival in Galena and McGrath,” said Iron Dog board president Roger Brown. “We recognize that each chekpoint is a bit of a start and finish, and celebrating the race along the entire course is important.”

While the course will stay the same, the “Kotzebue Loop” has been renamed the “Red Dog Loop” for new sponsor Red Dog / Teck, Menne added.

DEEP FIELD OF TALENT

JAMES WICKEN Race marshal Geoff Crouse greets the morning at the start of the 2021 Iron Dog, the World’s Longest, Touughest Snowmobile Race. This year’s Pro Race kicks off Feb. 19, 2022, and Crouse is racing on Team 25 with Trevor Helwig.

and 33 rookies. Eight of those veterans are past Iron Dog champions.

That fact is not lost on the 2021 champs.

“Last year was my 10th Iron Dog, I’ve always known it’s not over until it’s over,” George said. “I’ve taken second place two times by less than five minutes because of last-minute mistakes – I’ve been in Casey and Bryan’s shoes.”

To that end, he and Schachle agreed to run this year’s race much like last, when for the first time ever they both felt like they honored their goal to stick to their own race plan.

“We kept telling each other, ‘It’s our pace, our race,’ ” George said.

“A couple of years ago we lost by 3 minutes and 45 seconds,” Schachle added. “We didn’t want that to happen again. I’ve done a lot of racing and you always get pumped up off the get-go. You can get anxiety and butterflies – last year there was none of that.”

A slew of talented riders are returning this year, including past champions Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad, who scratched last year after mechanical issues ended their race; and Team 10 champions Chris Olds and Mike Morgan, who have been front-of-the packers for nearly a decade.

Team 5 powerhouse Zack Weisz and Brett Lapham, who led much of the 2021 Iron Dog are parting ways – but not friendships. They will both be racing again this year, but with new partners.

“We had three pretty successful years,” Weisz, 28, said of their 2019, 2020 and 2021 races during which they placed fourth, third and fifth, respectively. “But Brett wanted to give it another shot with his brother-in-law (Cody Barber). We are still good friends, and we hang out all summer, so it’s all good. I’m racing with Tom Davis, and he’s a capable rider.”

Davis and Weisz go back to their high school hockey-playing days when Weisz played for Houston High School and Davis for Dimond. As rivals, they met head-to-head on the ice. Now that competitive spirit is bringing them together.

“Tom’s dad raced Iron Dog, and he’s always wanted to race too,” Weisz said. “So we started talking and the stars sort of aligned.”

Weisz, who with Lapham, led much of the 2021 race, also endured several crashes during last year’s race, ultimately costing the team a victory. So this time around he said he is balancing a drive for redemption with the common sense of racing within their means.

“His talent probably exceeds mine, but my (Iron Dog) knowledge exceeds his,” Weisz said of Davis. “The expected goal of where we should be is Top 5, with this being Tom’s first year, but he’s done some racing, so we hope to be on the podium. We will need to be patient, but we’re not going to back down if we see the opportunity to be on the podium.”

Todd Palin, one of the most experienced of the racers in this year’s roster, perhaps summed it up best:

“It’s 2,500 miles and you gotta get to the finish line; you can’t make mistakes,” he said. “If you feel something is off, you stop and fix it. Those simple decisions – and only relying on yourself – can make the difference. … It’s a race of survival; you are not going to win it on the first day but you sure as heck can lose it.”

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