Farleys prepare for Iron Dog expedition trek to Nome
Howard “Chugie” Farley, Jr. was semi-retired from snowmachine racing, but this year his 16-year-old son Kevin pulled him back in.
The father-son duo along with Chugie’s brother Harvey will begin the long journey from Big Lake to Nome starting this weekend as part of the Iron Dog expedition class.
Kevin has been itching to take part in the snowmachine race but hasn’t been old enough to enter. Now that he’s finally hit the age requirement this year, he’ll be the youngest participant on the 1,000-mile trail.
“At first he wanted to do the pro class,” Chugie said. “I said, ‘Wait a minute.’ We’re gonna do the expedition class, we’re gonna show him the ropes and show him what he’s getting into, because it takes a lot to do the pro class. It’s a lot of riding. You got to have an extra machine. You can’t be out there on your race machine practicing. This was the cheaper, easier option this year.”
Chugie would know. He and his brother Harvey raced in the pro class a few times in the last two decades. In their first attempt, in 2008, they placed 15th. They did a little better in 2010, placing 11th. In 2013, the brothers went with the expedition class.
This year marks the 40th running of the Iron Dog. The pro class and expedition class racers will leave Big Lake on Feb. 17, speeding across the
Alaska Range and toward the Bering Sea coast. While the pros will turn north at Koyuk for an extra loop around Kotzebue, the 38 expedition class riders will head to Nome. The expedition class will finish here, but that’s just the ceremonial halfway point for the pro class. After a wrench day in Nome on Feb. 21, they’ll head back to Big Lake.
As the expedition class has become more popular, there’s now a lottery for would-be participants. The trio found out they got a spot in the late spring and began to prepare. Chugie will be riding a 2022 SkiDoo Turbo Renegade 900 and Kevin will be on a 2022 Ski-Doo X-RS Competition 600. Harvey, meanwhile, just got a brand-new 2024
Arctic Cat Catalyst 600.
Iron Dog gives expedition class participants gas and tracks the teams to make sure they’re OK, but otherwise the expedition teams have to sort out their own accommodations and meals. Chugie said his wife Jessica figured out all the logistics for them.
“She really helped out a lot with our planning,” he said.
Chugie said they haven’t gotten out on their machines as much as they would have liked for training.
“All in all we got maybe 1,000 miles in, which isn’t enough, but we’ll get by,” he said.
The team will still be trying to do their best, but since the expedition class is non-competitive, they aren’t under such time pressure. They can wait until first light in the mornings to leave, for instance. And Chugie said he’s looking forward to seeing the country as well as all the other racers and people on the trail he made friends with a decade ago.
There’s one challenge that might be unique to Kevin on the trail: schoolwork. Luckily, he said his teachers have offered him some extensions for the work he’ll miss, and he’s able to complete other assignments ahead of time.
“He’s trying to get all his homework done before the race,” Chugie said.