text by David Dodman; photo by Ben Matheson; audio by Laureli Kinneen
You wouldn’t think that someone from Jamaica would describe 20-degree temperatures as “hot.” But Newton Marshall isn’t speaking for himself; he’s speaking for his dogs.
The Jamaican musher is back in 2011, and in Nikolai, he caught up with KNOM trail reporter Laureli Kinneen.
Marshall echoed the prevailing wisdom in calling this a “faster race” so far, despite a trail that’s “punchy” and warmer temperatures that make him “back off (his dogs) a little bit.” He’s trying to “read” his team’s attitudes and hopes they’ll improve over the rest of the trail. Marshall also talked about his training schedule leading up to Iditarod 39, as well as his outlook for future races.
Unsurprisingly, he offered “lots of love” to his many fans and supporters:
Newton Marhsall is in 32nd position; he arrived into Takotna at 7:21am Wednesday morning with 12 dogs.
