Photo Credit: Aaron Peck Facebook

By Shane Clausing

Aaron peck

Aaron Peck back home after Iditarod Sled Dog Race

Mar 30, 2021 | 3:30 PM

Aaron Peck has returned to Bezanson from Alaska after he competed in the 2021 Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

This was the eighth time Peck had participated in the Iditarod since 2000.

In what was a shorter race this year because of COVID-19 protocols implemented by organizers, Peck finished in 14^th place and ran a time of eight days, ten hours, five minutes and 46 seconds, which was two places lower than his 2020 race where he finished in 12^th place.

Despite him finishing lower than last year, Peck tells EverythingGP he’s proud of the race his dogs ran.

“I’m still super proud of the dogs. We ran a competitive race, we had a couple of little missteps in the middle part of the race, but the dogs did fantastic.”

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Peck says, unfortunately, the trouble in the race started at the midway point when temperatures began to drop.

“With my team, I had all my dogs at the halfway point and then it got really cold,” Peck recalled. “Some of the dogs weren’t eating enough and they just were losing a little bit too much weight and I didn’t feel good about keeping them in the team.

“I had another dog where he, unfortunately, sprained his shoulder a little bit. It wasn’t too serious, but it was enough to load him in the sled and get him a flight home at the next checkpoint.”

The rules of the Iditarod state that if you lose a dog in the race you cannot replace them, which is why Peck was only able to finish with seven dogs, down from 14.

“There’s a vet crew at every checkpoint and they’re checking heart rate and hydration on all of the dogs,” said Peck. “Everyone has got the well-being of the dogs as their top priority.”

When running in the race, Peck’s team would run for 6-7 hours at a time before stopping for a rest at a checkpoint. The rest time for each team could range from a couple of hours, all the way up to 24 hours.

As a musher, Peck says sleep and rest is actually one of the hardest parts of the entire race.

“It was very hard to get sleep. We do have a mandatory 24-hour layover that the musher can choose which checkpoint to take it at. If you take a 5-6 hour break you can maybe catch up on a two hours nap, but realistically, you aren’t getting any sort of meaningful sleep,” Peck said.

“It’s just a time to get off your feet, lay down, drift away and then you got to dig deep to get back up. It’s really challenging and it’s one of the hardest parts of the race.”

Peck is hopeful he’ll be able to race in the Iditarod next season. He also wanted to say how thankful he is for the support shown by the Peace Region during his time in Alaska.

For now, Peck and his dogs will go and enjoy their summer and refocus on racing in the winter.

Peck mentioned he’s planning on bringing his sled dog tours back to Evergreen Park for the winter of 2021.