Thursday, September 13, 2012

IFSS Distance "World Championship" participation

There's much that can (and should) be said about the IFSS, its drive to get mushing adopted as an Olympic sport, and its insane and dog-hostile anti-doping rules, but that's probably got to wait until dust settles and we get a clearer picture of what's going to happen with the North Pole championships.  In the meantime, what we know for certain is that the distance "championships" will be held while Iditarod is underway.  What does this mean?  It means that the "Distance World Championship" will be held without the participation of the following mushers:

  • Ken Anderson
  • Aaron Burmeister
  • John Baker
  • Jake Berkowitz
  • Martin Buser
  • Paul Gebhardt
  • Pete Kaiser
  • Jeff King
  • Lance Mackey
  • Allen Moore
  • Dallas Seavey
  • Mitch Seavey
  • Cim Smyth
  • Ramey Smith
  • Gerry Willomitzer
  • Aliy Zirkle
As well as top-level purebred mushers Mike Ellis and Karen Ramstead.

So.  I wonder how on earth a "world championship" that excludes 4-time Iditarod champions and consistent top performers can possibly considered a "world championship."  This would seem to be an enormous marketing error on the side of IFSS (and possibly MUSA), but perhaps not a surprise given the lack of distance mushing experts in the IFSS and MUSA processes.

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