Iron Dog Race 2008
Mark Niver Bio
Our Trail Story
 We started out Sunday at Big Lake with -30 degree weather, most of the riders were bundled up and ready for serious frostbite conditions. The sunny weather was a visual plus, important for the following guy in a team. We zoomed down Big Lake and on to the trail heading north. It was uneventful through the woods and swamps on our way to the river. The Yetna was fast and fairly smooth. We made it to Skwentna without a hitch. The gas stop was quick, as they usually were with our Yamaha's (no oil to add).
The trail to Puntilla had clear conditions also, the only hitch was going up the steps (last little rise in elevation). There were four teams holding up, with one machine stuck in a ground outshoot.The teams were all working on getting each other through this chest high gully. At this point, team 17 pulls up and tries to go around everyone without rendering help. He gets stuck, and now we have to get him out as well. Needless to say we were all pissed off at this teams selfishness.
After a delay of 20 minutes or so, we are all back on our way. We played cat and mouse with a couple teams on our way to Puntilla Lake check point. There were several support airplanes parked there as we stopped for gas, temperatures were still in the -20 range. As we headed on to Ptarmigan pass, the sun was shining nicely, though there was a blowing wind. The drifts were very hard, but seemed to soften the further into the pass we went. As we dropped down onto the south fork of the Kuskokwim river, through what they call Hell's Gate, the temperatures really plummeted ( I'm guessing -40 to -45). You could just feel it wrap around you. At this point I'm thinking, no mistakes through here, or it could be life threatening.
Next stop was Rohn, for a shot of fuel and a sip of water, and into the Farwell Burn part of the race. There is mile upon miles of trees as wide as your machine's skis. This leg of the race seems to take forever. Nicolai was no problem, team 11 was hot on our heels at this point. Jeff's goggles had begun giving him fits. I kept team 11 between Jeff and I, and raced on into McGrath. We arrived around 10:50 pm.
We spent the night at the Tusko House with Sweet Pea and Robert hospitality. We decided in the morning that 9 hours was enough, and were off to Ophir for day two of our race. Little did we know that this day was going to be full of mishaps.
Checking into Ophir, Jeff was struggling with his goggles more than ever, and he needed to thaw them over the checker's stove. Jeff needed to stop every few miles to clear his eyes. Somewhere down the trail on this leg, Jeff would hit a snow covered log, and start a cascade of events that eventually led to our scratching from the race.
Sitting on the trail waiting for Jeff to catch up, another team came along and told me that my partner was back up the trail cutting down a tree. I knew that this was not good news, but was hopeful in the back of my mind. As I hastily turned my sled around to go back for Jeff, I drove a small stick into my cowling. Quickly, I pulled it out, and went on to help my partner. When I got to Jeff things were not as I had hoped. His machine had a bent arm and the skis were not pointing straight. We took apart his machine's front end and got it back in somewhat riding order. As we hopped on our sleds to get on our way to Ruby, we noticed antifreeze dripping from my sled. Low and Behold, the stick that had went through my cowling had also cut an engine coolant hose. We found the leak and made repairs. There didn't appear to be much fluid loss. Jeff was a little frazzled by the events, so I drove his machine as mine was a bit easier for him to steer.
Yes, back to some forward progress for team 23!! But not for long, our sour luck was not over yet. About three or four miles down the trail, Jeff's riding Mark's machine when it loses its engine oil drain plug. All the oil drains out, causing the machine's safety system to shut itself down, and that's it for this machine for a while. Time to hook up the tow rope and go for a cruise, this was not as easy as we had hoped.
Getting off the trail was a sure fire recipe for getting stuck, so several times we had to lift our machines out of ruts and back to the hard pack trail. Finally into Ruby, we couldn't get a smile off our faces. We put oil in Mark's machine, gassed up and then it was back on the road to Galena (the checker, Randy Moss, passes on to our pilots in Galena that an A arm was needed).
Not far out of Ruby, Mark's machine starts to overheat (remember that anti freeze leak?) I shut the machine down, knowing that Jeff is further up the trail heading for Galena. I know at this point that more fluid than I'd thought earlier had leaked during the Day of the Gremlins. I decide to open the radiator cap to get some more fluid in the machine. I should have let it cool a little longer (that antifreeze was hot!). Not having any fluid, I break out my camp stove and start trying to melt snow. The Idaho team stops by and asks how I'm doing. I would've like to have said that I was just hungry and wanted to cook a hot dog. They gave me some water, and took off to tell Jeff of my troubles. Jeff came back for me, and given the machine's condition, we decided it was time to hook up our trusty tow rope for what would eventually be over 100 miles of towing before it’s all over.
Will and Channing, our pilots, were a very happy sight when we arrived in Galena. These guys had been on the phone, and all over town, getting things in order for us to make necessary repairs during the 11 hour layover here.
In the morning, Will cooked up breakfast, and it was off to fix the machines. Temperatures had warmed to about -10. We went to Crowley's garage and started our repairs. Channing and Will kept us organized as we changed the A arm, oils and topped off our coolant systems. This took well over two hours.
Smiling faces were plastered on team 23 again as we headed onto the Yukon River for some wide open running. Several miles down the trail, Mark's machine began to show signs of overheating again. Trying to run fast, but keeping the machine in cool running order, would not prove easy to do. Mark could only run about 45 to 50 mph or the engine would get too hot. We kept running in this mode, but the motor had other ideas. At mile 27 from Galena, the motor said no more, as irreparable damage had been done.
 Team 23's quest for a nice placement on the 2008 Iron Dog had come to an end! Back on the tow rope and a buzz from their pilots, a trip back to Galena and it's over.
After checking with headquarters, Mark and Jeff fly on to Nome with Will and Channing, to cheer on their fellow racers, and hopefully render some assistance to their efforts.
The hardest part in any race is having to scratch. After hundreds of hours and long nights, spending all their sponsors’ hard earned dollars to make this all happen.... it was over.
 Inside it feels like we didn’t live up to our part of the bargain. We all know that’s part of racing, but never the less, we are truly disappointed and humbled by all the support that our sponsors, friends and family gave us.
We will be seeing you soon to give you Thank You plaques. Again, we had hoped for better, but life does not always give you what you think you want....only what you need.
Your Team, Mark and Jeff #23
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