LINCOLN, Mont. (AP) -- Three-time champion Doug Swingley of Lincoln is one of three Montanans hoping to outrun Alaskan mushers in the 28th installment of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which begins Saturday in Anchorage.
Little has changed on the team Swingley guided to the title in record time last year. Good weather and ample snow have made training conditions excellent along the snowmobile trails Swingley uses to keep his dogs tiptop.
''It's a good team of dogs, so somebody will have to beat me,'' he said.
Swingley may be the biggest, but he's not the only threat coming from Big Sky Country this year.
Montana's mushing acumen increased considerably when John Barron, 52, who finished 11th in the Iditarod 1986, moved from Sheep Creek, Alaska, to Lincoln in April. He'll be competing this year for the 21st time.
Barron's son and daughter-in-law, Jason and Harmony Barron, also are raising dogs east of Lincoln; both plan to compete next year. Jason Barron was Iditarod rookie of the-year in 1993.
There are more Montana mushers in this year's race than mushers from any other state except Alaska.
''Between dad and me and Harm, over the next couple of years, Montana is getting ready to get noticed a lot more for dog driving,'' Jason Barron said.
The other Big Sky musher competing this year is Cindy Gallea of Seeley Lake. Gallea, 49, placed 48th in the Iditarod in 1998, but had to pull out of the demanding race in 2000.
Gallea has been running dogs since 1987 and finished second twice in Montana's Race to the Sky 500 - once four minutes behind the winner.
Like Barron, she thinks this is the best team she's ever had, giving her confidence she'll reach Nome and improve on her 48th-place finish.
''It's just a stronger team with a stronger leader,'' said Gallea, who left for Alaska Feb. 22.
Also of interest to Montanans is Jessica Royer, a native of Ennis who recently moved to Big Lake, Alaska. The 24-year-old, who couldn't be reached for comment, won Race to the Sky in 1994 when she was only 17, the youngest musher and first woman to take that title. This will be her first Iditarod.
Dubbed The Greatest Race on Earth, the Iditarod is 1,150 grueling miles of mountain ranges, frozen rivers, forest, tundra and finally wind-swept coast, over which bleary-eyed mushers and frozen-whiskered dogs race toward the finish line in the old gold-rush town of Nome.
This year's race begins at 10 a.m. Saturday. Leaders will finish eight to 10 days later. The winner will take home more than $50,000 and a new pickup.
The race had always been dominated by Alaskans -- until Swingley came along.
Training on snowmobile trails between Holland Lake and Lincoln, some of the best training conditions in the Lower 48, the 48-year-old proved that dog drivers didn't necessarily have to live in The Last Frontier to conquer it.
His ninth-place finish won rookie-of-the-year honors in 1992. He took the whole thing in 1995. Rubbing salt in the wounded pride of Alaskans, his winning time of 9 days, 2 hours and 42 minutes was a record, and Swingley was the first non-Alaskan to ever win.
Back-to-back victories came in 1999 and 2000. Last year, his time of 9 days and 58 minutes set another record.
But he's not resting on his laurels.
''There's probably 10 or 15 teams that could win the race,'' Swingley said. ''Anybody who's placed in the top 10 over the past number of years is a threat.''
The Simms native enters the 2001 race seeking his third straight victory, and fourth overall, which would tie him with Susan Butcher for the second-most Iditarod victories. Rick Swenson of Two Rivers Alaska has five.
Swingley is already in Alaska with his girlfriend, Melanie Shirilla, and Clint Warnke of Saskatchewan, who will be running his first Iditarod with a team of Swingley yearlings.
Between Swingley and rookie Warnke, they transported 38 Alaskan huskies in two dog trucks.
''It's always nice to win,'' said Swingley, who was besieged by media film crews in the weeks before his departure for Alaska. ''But the most important things is to have a good experience and enjoy your dogs.''
There are four or five additions to his team this year, but the same leaders are in place: Stormy, Peppy and Cola. His huskies were on a more relaxed pace recently, ''kind of resting and getting ready for the race,'' he said.
Each team must begin the race in Anchorage with a minimum of 12 dogs; the maximum is 16.
Dogs that are injured, become sick or, in rare instances, die on the trail are put in the sled and carried to the next check point. To finish the race in Nome, at least five dogs still must be on the towline.
John Barron recently placed fourth in Minnesota's Grand Portage Sled Dog Race; he's won that state's John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon twice.
''He feels like he's got the best team he's ever had,'' his son said.
The Barrons are raising and running dogs around Lincoln. As if anticipating critics, Jason Barron said neither he nor his father moved to town to run the same trails used by Swingley, thereby gaining some sort of mysterious advantage over Alaskan competitors.
Some have grumbled that Swingley's success is partly explained by training his dogs in the thin air of the Montana mountains, but that's bunk, Barron said. The training climate is excellent, he said, but moving to Lincoln isn't going to win anybody an Iditarod.
It's Swingley's dedication and skill as a dog driver that's made him one of the sport's best-known athletes, said Barron, who won't be betting against Swingley in this year's race.
''He probably could train in Australia and win the Iditarod,'' he said.
Their love of horses actually was a big factor in the Barrons' decision to move to Montana, where milder winters make them easier to care for and there's a longer riding season.
Charlie Ackley of the Ponderosa Snow Warriors, Lincoln's snowmobile club, said there are probably seven mushers using snowmobile trails now in the Lincoln area. In the past, there have been only a few.
Snowmobilers and dog drivers have worked to create a good relationship, he said. Signs warn snowmobilers they might encounter a sled-dog team on the trail.
''We seem to be a little corner that some of the mushers are just now discovering as a good place to train and run dogs,'' Ackley said.
The entire valley is rooting for Swingley, even those who aren't sled-dog-racing fans, said Ackley, who last year helped organize a Swingley welcome-home celebration in downtown Lincoln.
''Everybody would love to see him take it again.''
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On the Web
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race: www.iditarod.com
