Olney musher readies for Yukon race

Behold the power of cheesecake.

Two weeks before Katie Davis is scheduled to load up her 16 Alaskan huskies and make a five-day drive north to take part in the Yukon Quest sled dog race, she's busy cranking out a few of her famous desserts.

"If you don't like cheesecake, you haven't tried mine," Davis, 30, jokes.

The cakes she's prepping, along with casseroles, pies and other homemade treats, will be her fuel during the 1,000-mile long race that takes mushers from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon, in Canada.

The race — regarded as one of the more difficult in the world — features thousands of feet in elevation gain and temperatures that can dip as low as minus 40. It's a physically and mentally grueling affair for both dog and man.

"You invest so much (energy) going to one of these big races," the Olney musher said. "You put everything you have into it."

While competing in a long-distance sled dog race isn't new for Davis — she finished the Iditarod with Doug Swingley's team in 2006 — this will be her first solo adventure with dogs she has trained on her own.

The team is young, so her goal isn't to win the race but rather to finish healthy and strong.

"I'm aiming to finish in 12 days," she said. "That would put me right in the middle of the pack or it could be in the top 10. My team is still young, so the goal is to get the experience."

The team features three dogs older than five, including Shilo, the team's veteran racer who will be looked to for leadership when the going gets tough.

Shilo has finished the Iditarod twice, once with Swingley, and, according to Davis, she is an invaluable member of the team.

"After the first 100 miles, speed doesn't matter as much," she said. "Older dogs have the potential to get sore shoulders, but when they're 700 miles into a race, they can still put their heads down and go."

Shilo will lead the team out of Fairbanks because she's familiar with the hubbub of fans and other dogs at the start. But after the first leg, Davis will pull her to the back.

"I'm hoping to not use Shilo in the lead other than at the start," Davis said. "I want to keep her fresh for emergency situations."

Davis' team features 10 leaders that she will rotate throughout the course. She tries to never make a dog run more than one leg in a row in the lead.

Other than Shilo and two other dogs that are six years old, the team is mostly comprised of two-year-olds. According to Davis, huskies are known to race well into their teens.

Davis began preparing her team of young dogs for the Yukon Quest well before the first snowflakes fell last fall. Her first training session was on Aug. 5.

"They pull me on a four-wheeler," Davis said. "Doug Swingley once told me, 'Four-wheelers are for training the dogs, sleds are for conditioning.' (Using an ATV) gives me a chance to teach them how to be sled dogs. I put it in third gear and they have to pull — its like weight training."

Once her dogs have grasped the concept of working as a team and following commands, she moves the ATV into a higher gear to practice control.

On-snow training has been fickle this year. Her team didn't get to pull a sled until Dec. 17.

"We had barely enough snow to run then," Davis said. "Then it got warm and started raining, and it was too dangerous to run from my house because of stumps and rocks, so I had to drive to the Olney trailhead, which added three hours to everything."

But with the latest storm beefing up the valley's snowpack, Davis has shifted her training into high gear.

"We've been training pretty hard," she said. "I'm only getting three hours of sleep during the training sessions. I can sleep in March."

Davis likens her training regime for a 1,000-mile race to that of a marathon runner.

"You only get a few longer runs in before the race," she said. "I'm not going to take my dogs on a 1,000-mile run before the Quest."

Most recently, she's been taking out her dogs for five to six hours at a time with a six-hour break in between, and doing that sequence six times in a row.

Ask Davis why she puts herself through months of anguish and sleep deprivation — a 10th-place finish will garner about $5,000 — and she'll tell you, "Because it's there."

"I love the dogs," she said. "It's hard to explain the relationship with them. These are amazing animals, and they're so happy being sled dogs. They have such great energy, and that's what I love about it."

Davis' trip is partially sponsored by Rick and Alicia Blake, Five Star Rentals, Adanac Sleds and Equipment, Tailwaggers, Army Navy and numerous friends and family.

To follow her team on the Yukon Quest or to learn more about the race, visit online at yukonquest.com. The race is slated to start Feb. 6.