Rookie leader -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neff has moved through the pack from 77th place to 14th By JOEL GAY Anchorage Daily News March 14, 2004 The Iditarod may be new trail for Neff, but it feels like home. "I'm not worried about getting to Nome," he said. At first blush, running 14th out of Ruby seems strong for a rookie. But Neff is an atypical Iditarod first-timer. He's finished the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International between Fairbanks and Whitehorse three times. And even though he grew up in Chicago, Neff had a pair of dog sleds in his garage. "My father was an avid reader," Neff explained, "and our house was full of books." Among them was James Michener's best-seller "Alaska," which the young Neff absorbed. He was especially drawn to a young male greenhorn who comes north and shakes his cheechako roots by dint of hard work, numerous mistakes and friendly old-timers. The dog sleds resulted from his father's interest in the North, he said. A Boy Scout troop master, the elder Neff and his scouts built two sleds. Though classmates in a Chicago Catholic school voted him most likely to become a priest, Neff had other ideas. After bouncing around the Lower 48 in his 20s, he headed north. "I was inspired by 'Iditarod Classics,' " a book written by former Daily News sports editor Lew Freedman. Since then, the voracious reader has read all he could about sled dogs, mushing, mushers and Alaska history, he said. Neff eventually got a job working alongside such up-and-coming mushers as Aaron Burmeister and Ramy Brooks. He shoveled out dog yards, fed pups and learned dog care from masters like Lester Erhart of Tanana and Jerry Riley of Nenana. Neff also started building his own kennel. His dogs are mostly Interior Alaska sprinters, but he's trained them for distance. A couple are older veterans. Two others he got just three months ago. Some were gifts, some purchased and several were the pay he received for work. He's been racing too. In addition to his four Yukon Quest starts -- finishing as high as eighth last year -- he ran the Tustumena 200 this winter. So while many Iditarod rookies are fumbling with booties and kicking over their hot-water kettles, Neff has been working his way up the pack. He started in 77th and as of Ruby had reeled in dozens of rookies and veterans. In his eight years in Alaska, Neff has yet to settle down. He spent two years running dogs and working in a truck stop in Coldfoot but still has roots around Fairbanks, he said. This winter, he trained on the Kenai Peninsula. "My dream is to have three or four cabins all over Alaska," he said. Nothing fancy and nothing too substantial. Just places to park for a season or two and enjoy the country he has dreamed about. After four Quest runs, friends in Fairbanks ribbed him for entering the Iditarod, which they think is a touch too fast, too easy and too slick. Neff knew what he wanted, however. "This is school," he said as he gazed into the sky over Ruby, a few bright stars and planets glowing through high clouds. "These (other mushers) are all teachers, in a way. I'm just trying to learn from all of them." Next year, he'd like to run the two big races back to back, a feat few mushers have pulled off. Eventually, he wants to roam the state by dog sled, talking to village kids about the value of mushing in an MTV world. "The youth of the river don't have an inkling of what dogs are about anymore," he said. Neff envisions creating a scholarship for Athabascan kids, in particular, to reinvigorate the world of sprint and distance mushing. He doesn't talk about how to establish such a program, just the dream of keeping alive the flame that drew him north. But Friday night, his place in the mushing universe was a snowy dog lot a stone's throw from the Yukon, well away from the busy checkpoint, and in the shadows of the brightly lit area where luminaries like Buser, Boulding, Baker and Backen had bedded down. It's a comfortable place to be, Neff said as he waited for his mandatory eight-hour break to end. He was within two hours of veteran Kasilof musher Tim Osmar and just an hour behind a trio of mushers he has long looked up to: Burmeister, Ramey Smyth and Jason Barron. An hour? "That ain't nothing," he said. And the cluster of teams he was in the middle of wasn't far off the pace of the front pack, he noted with some satisfaction. "It bodes well for all of us," he said, a sign that his generation is ready to move into leadership positions on the Iditarod. As the minutes ticked down toward departure time, Neff slowly stood and stretched and dug out booties for his dogs. Some mushers practice their routines to cut precious seconds and minutes off their rest stop chores. "I'm old school," Neff said. "I'd rather get up 20 minutes early and take my time." Beneath his insulated mushing suit he wears Levis, and on warm days he slips into running shoes. His sponsors include friends and family members, Good Karma Tattoos and Loyola Academy back home in Illinois. But this rookie isn't conceding anything to his fellow mushers, especially those pushing to get into the top 10. "They've got experience on their side," Neff said, "but I've got desire." Reporter Joel Gay can be reached at jgay@adn.com or 257-4310. Copyright © 2004 The Anchorage Daily News |
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