Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Standing in the checkout line of a grocery store in Fairbanks, AK, life is pretty normal for Ken Anderson.

But that will all change Saturday when Anderson sets off for his seventh go in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. For 10 days or more, Anderson and his team of racing dogs will be sternly tested in the 1150-mile race from Anchorage to Nome.

The Iditarod starts on March 3 and Anderson is one of more than 80 mushers and teams to enter this year’s race. The teams will cross mountain ranges, frozen rivers, dense forest, desolate terrain and miles and miles of windswept coastline in subzero conditions.

Running the Iditarod Trail will not be a new thing for Anderson. At 34, Anderson, who is a Forest Lake High School graduate, has started and completed six past races.

He was a rookie musher in 1999 when he finished 26th.

His best showing yet was 2003 when Anderson pushed his way to fifth, claiming prize money of just under $39,000.

In the year prior, Anderson was 18th. In 2004 and 2005 he was 17th overall. A strong late push in last year’s Iditarod netted the musher 15th place.

Hopes to do better

Anderson is optimistic he will do better in the 2007 Iditarod.

“This is my seventh race,” he said by telephone from the grocery line last week. “That’s my lucky number. I am hoping for good things.”

Anderson and his wife Gwen, another musher, will spend the final days with race preparation and team training before leaving for Anchorage and the race festivities.

Anderson says his confidence is lifted by a strong mixture of veteran dogs and some young runners that have made good strides this winter. He is yet to select the final 16 dogs he will use in the Iditarod.

After several years of pre-Iditarod training that involved a series of the shorter stage races, Anderson changed his training regimen this winter. He has entered different teams in three 200 to 300 mile races that he believes are better suited for preparing for the Iditarod.

“This year I decided to stay in Alaska to train,” he said.

He has had some success, too.

In an early race, a team of young dogs placed eighth. In the Klondike 300, a team of experienced dogs placed second. In the Tustumena 200, Anderson won the race with a team of young dogs.

He will likely use a combination of older and younger dogs for the 1150-mile Iditarod next month.

Life is fast

Anderson describes himself as a dog musher by profession, and stays busy in related activities in the off-season months.

From April to September he gives dog sled cart rides to tourists in Fairbanks. On some of the evenings, he presents video shows of dog racing to visitors.

When he is not in Fairbanks with his public events, Ken and Gwen are busy at home outside of town with their Windy Creek Kennel where they raise dogs for their mushing ventures.

Anderson won’t make a prediction on how he will do this year (“I really don’t like to do that,” he says), but he is optimistic for his 2007 run. “I have a pretty good team,” he adds.

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