ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff

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ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff

Postby Di* » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:23 pm

I'm excited to introduce our next musher, 8-) Hugh Neff 8-)
He's agreed to join us for a few days BEFORE the Iditarod start and then come back later when he finishes the race! :shock: :o (Wow- Yeah, I know! Pretty cool that he is being that generous with us! :D ) Thanks to CynCyn37 who made the initial contact with Hugh & invited him to our forum!

Welcome To The Forum Hugh!

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If you aren't familiar with Hugh, here is a summary from his website;
Hugh Neff grew up in Evanston, IL., a suburb of Chicago. After wandering around the United States for
a few years he discovered Alaska and the world of dog mushing. The true start to the world of dawgs started
though with Maverick, a yellow Labrador that taught him more about life than any human could. "If one
animal could contain so much love and energy, what about ten or twenty?"

Hugh started working for sprint musher Bill Mitchell, who along with Curtis Erhart and a few local mushers in Fairbanks provided limitless training and the opportunity to feed and clean up for over 200 dogs on a daily basis. A few years later Hugh would be an apprentice to Curtis’ legendary father, Lester, in the native Athabascan village of Tanana on
the Yukon River. Lester taught Hugh about life in the Alaskan bush as well as passing along dog wisdom.
From there it was on to Nenana where Jerry Riley, Ray Fox and other assorted locals caught a glimpse of the
vision. During this time Hugh met Rich Doran who was building a cabin at Murphy Dome. Rich’s support
helped to build the foundation of the Laughing Eyes Kennel.

Hugh then went on to work for and train with Ramy Brooks, Gareth Wright and Paddy Santucci in Minto and Manley Hot Springs. It was here that Hugh first started with village races. Next Hugh moved on to Coldfoot and worked at
the “Northern-Most Truck Stop” and trained in the Brooks Range for the next two years. There's nothing quite like traveling by dog team in the remote Brooks Range and he hopes to be able to return there often. This northern
training ground helped Hugh and the pooches develop into long-distance racing.

Hugh’s first Yukon Quest in 2000 was with only ten dogs to start the race, but they battled through and ended up finishing in 13th place, earning the "Challenge of the North Award". In the summer of 2003 Hugh and Tamra met while Hugh was working at the Yukon River bridge on the Dalton Highway and Tamra was touring the north by army jeeps. Within a year Hugh had moved to Skagway with the dogs to do summer tours and Tamra had moved to Whitehorse, Yukon (an hour north of Skagway) to work for Gartner Lee. That summer they found their home at Annie Lake and began to set up the kennel. That fall the dogs and Hugh moved to their new winter home and began training in the Wheaton River valley.




For more info visit Hugh's website at;
http://www.laughingeyeskennel.com
and His Blog at;
http://www.laughingeyeskennel.blogspot.com


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Di*
 

Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3)

Postby CynCyn37 » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:33 pm

Welcome Hugh!

You are my favorite musher because I read your journal and you named the dogs after characters from Willie Wonka! That was my ALL TIME FAVORITE movie and book when I taught....oh the fun we had!!!

I have a few questions for you:

1. Willie Wonka (70's) or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johnny Depp) and why?

2. Favorite place on the Iditarod Trail and why?

3. Please tell us a little bit about the race you sponsored with your Quest winnings

4. Will you run the Quest again?

I thought you were ROBBED!!! But you can know that your dawgs hold the record for the fastest Quest time!
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3-3/6)

Postby MotorWerk » Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:39 am

Hi Hugh, and welcome.

What was your immidiate thoughts when you were told of the penalty?
Is it true that you gave half of your winnings away?
Your team was fast as lightning in the Quest - has the fact that they are obviously very fit this season made you rethink your Iditarod strategy?
What is your favorite CP food?

All the best,

Stig Olsen/Norway
-exit body, exit mind-

""It's a mathematical certainty that somewhere among all the millions of stars, there is another planet where they speak Norwegian""
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3-3/6)

Postby MelanieGouldFanBrian » Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:35 am

Hey Hugh. Thanks for taking the time to join us here during the busy racing season.

I know you probably dry heave every time you hear this now, but could you tell us a little about the cause of the "penalty"?

I don't know if everybody realizes that the road you used was only 20 feet away and parallel to the trail!
The entire thing makes it sound like you went well off the trail to access this road. :o

Anyway I think the whole episode is blatantly unfair, and I just want those here who may not have seen your blog to hear, as the late Paul Harvey would say, . . ."the rest of the story!"

P.S. Were you ever in that great used bookstore in Evanston. . . .Oh, I can't remember the name . . . it's been over 15 years since I've been in it.. . . But the owner had an original James Thurber Dog drawing on the wall behind the register!

MGF Brian
You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you're lucky you're not."
Dr. Seuss
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3-3/6)

Postby nosnow tx » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:17 am

:oops: I have been off the forum for a long time and I am trying to catch up.

I had to jump in when I saw Hugh Neff was going to be on our forum.
CYN CYN I totally agree with you!
My complaint with that whole incident was and is not with the infracton of the rule, but the way the infraction penality was handed down. IMO, the Judges are given too much authority. The rules are ambigious. I read Rule #6 and saw that the Musher should stay on the marked trail, BUT no where did I see a discription of the penality for the infraction. The rules are too ambigious and are open to discretion of the Judges, which leads to controversy. I read where the Judge stated that after talking to several people, including a Vet they concluded that the infraction should be a 2 hr penality. If the rules were not so ambigious the Judge would not have to confer with anyone, He would simply inforce the STATED rule. A JUDGE SHOULD NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE THE OUTCOME OF A RACE.RULES SHOULD BE THE DETERMING FACTOR..
We are a football family. Husband has played and Coached, sons have played and one coaches now and we are puzzled why the rules are written this way.
i can't imagine anything like this happening in a football game. Even Little League has definate rules and discription of penalities. We saw this in the All Alaska Sweepstakes when the Judge stated " the Mushers don't need to know everything" Well, Yes they do, and so do the fans. I realize one can not compare Mushing to Football, but the common denominater here is stated rules and infractions.

Hugh, I'm off my soap box now and I have forgotten what I was going to ask you and I thought it was a good question, too. I will think of it later. Glad to have you here.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3-3/6)

Postby emwcee » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:34 am

Hugh, thanks so much for answering our questions, especially right before the Iditarod. Here are a couple from me:

1. Are you using some of the same dogs to run the Iditarod as the Quest? If so, which ones? How do you decide which dogs are capable of doing both races?

2. I was so impressed by the fact that you're donating half of your prize winnings to a race especially for Native mushers. I would love to see more Native mushers. What else can be done to help achieve that goal? Do you have any plans in the works to promote and encourage more Native mushers?

Thanks again.
emwcee (a.k.a. Marcia)
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3-3/6)

Postby sc-race-fan » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:42 am

WOW, with everything you must be doing right now to join us is above and beyond the call. Thank you very much. My question is: of all aspects of the race what do you like the most? BTW, I also think the penalty was excessive. In a so called society of fairness and equality, it sure sounds like it was not!!! Best of luck in the Iditarod this year and enjoy the ride..
Proud PaPa of the triplet litter; Aidan (B), Bailey (G), and Cameron (B). Cameron is on top in picture; Bailey, of course, is the bowhead!!
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3-3/6)

Postby nosnow tx » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:46 am

I remembered my question: Are you running your lightening fast Quest Team in the Iditarod. If so I'm changing my TTpicks!!!!.

Thanks Hugh for taking the time, especially now, with the running of the Iditarod only days away now.

Best of Luck
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3-3/6)

Postby Heidi » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:53 am

Welcome Hugh (& Tamra too!) :D

I have some questions, but I'll wait and post mine 'down the trail' (after the race).

I do want to suggest that everyone read Hugh's March 2 blog post here: http://www.laughingeyeskennel.blogspot.com/
It explains everything that happened (including at the top of Eagle Summit) and his feelings about it.

But he's got bigger 'fish' to fry now. Here's to a MAGICAL '09 Iditarod, Hugh! :D

Oh, gosh, as a fellow former Chicagoan (from the NW suburbs), I can't help myself: Cubs or Sox? ;) :lol:
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER VOL 15: Hugh Neff (Starts 3/3-3/6)

Postby MelanieGouldFanBrian » Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:22 pm

Heidi: Are you trying to stir up trouble for the upcoming season already ? :D

Heidi wrote:
Oh, gosh, as a fellow former Chicagoan (from the NW suburbs), I can't help myself: Cubs or Sox?


I find that a very loaded question when posed to a fellow from Evanston! :D Oh, you North Siders are very tricky! 8-)
I actually met Corky Seigel in town here in 2005 when the Sox were in the playoffs and talked to him about the Sox chances.
I should have known better! Corky is a North Sider and, of course, A Cub fan too :(

Hugh, do you know of any South Suburban mushers? ;)

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