His eyelashes are frosted but he is smiling! Musher Newton Marshall rests after a gruelling race in Alaska. - Contributed
WESTERN BUREAU:
In what is being described as a major coup in extreme sports, a former horseback-riding guide has become the first Jamaican and the first black man to take part in the gruelling Yukon Quest dog race in Alaska.
Just like the 1990s blockbuster bobsleigh film Cool Runnings, Newton Marshall has crossed all boundaries in the freezing Alaskan outback, finishing 13th in the toughest dogsled race in the world.
"It felt like climbing Mount Everest because the race spanned four different mountain ranges and along with that type of terrain, came the wind that cuts like a knife," said the 25-year-old St Ann-born man who first saw snow two years ago.
The conditions were so brutal, he felt like quitting several times but, like a rawboned, courageous Jamaican, kept on.
Outpaced 16 mushers
Last Thursday when he finished the 1,000-mile race after 12 days and 284 hours, his greatest satisfaction came out of knowing he had outpaced 16 other mushers who commenced the endurance race on February 14, Valentine's Day. At the end of the race, 10 hard-core mushers had dropped out and six remained behind the Jamaican.
Not only has Marshall placed Jamaica's name in another history book but, having won the hearts of almost the whole city of Fairbanks, Alaska, he also has them in shock that a man from the tropics could endure such severe weather conditions.
"There are mushers who are 24 hours behind Newton," his manager, Danny Melville, told The Gleaner from his hotel room in Alaska yesterday. Melville added that even some of the dogs that Marshall started out with had to be dropped during the race. "He started with 14 dogs and dropped four."
Under the tutelage of champion musher, Hans Gatt, Marshall's extraordinary journey to the unlikely setting began in 2005 when, while working as a horseback-riding guide in Jamaica, he got a call from his boss, Melville of Chukka Caribbean Adventures, asking him to take care of some dogs the company had adopted.
No problem
"They said, 'Newton, can you look after some dogs?'" Marshall said. "I said, 'No problem'."
He then began giving cart rides using the shelter dogs and Melville formed the Jamaica Dogsled Team.
"I never lose a sled on the trail and in the races," Marshall said. "I tip (over) now and then, but not much."
He has been preparing for the race for two years and only left Jamaica five months ago to commence training for the event, which is held every February.
The race route runs on frozen rivers, across open water and bad ice. It goes over four mountain ranges, reaching an elevation of 3,800 feet and through isolated, northern villages. Temperatures commonly can drop as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius to minus 60 degrees Celsius on the rivers, and winds can reach 100 mph on the mountain summit.
"My friends think I'm a madman," Marshall said. "They said I'm sick but, being the first black man and the first Jamaican to enter this race makes me proud," he said.
The Yukon Quest has changed young Marshall's life forever, he can now boast of racing through the wilderness with grizzly bears, moose and reindeer.
"This is one of the greatest days of my life, I can't impress upon you the personal sacrifice it has been for him," said Melville, adding that they never went to Yukon to win. "We came here to finish."
Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville Caribbean, Chukka Caribbean Adventures, West Jet and Colombia Sports Wear are the official sponsors who have carried the expenses associated with Marshall's quest.
janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com