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Newton Marshall (born 2 March 1983 in St. Anne, Jamaica) is a professional independent dogsled musher.
Marshall joined Chukka Caribbean Adventures in 2002. He had always dreamed about working with the horses at Chukka Cove, St. Ann. His enthusiasm and hard work paid off and having moved up from gardener to other positions he was transferred to the River Valley Mountain Horseback Ride at White River Valley as a tour guide.
With a need for better educated workforce Chukka Caribbean Adventures had become pro-active in trying to further schooling for employees who want to learn while working. Chukka neighbour Shelly Kennedy runs a school teaching any employee of Chukka to read and write, if they want to learn. Newton became one of her most eager pupils, having grown up in a nearby village he had to work to support his family instead of continuing his education.
In 2005 Devon Anderson, another animal lover and operations manager at Chukka Cove, saw something special in Newton and handpicked him to look after a trio of new dogs at Chukka Cove Farm, renowned for its polo and now home to the Jamaica Dogsled Team. It was there he first met the future sled dogs including Marbles and Jimmy and his soon-to-be instructors Rick and Anette Johnson owners of Ah-Regah Kennel & Equipment in Mahtowa, Minnesota. "Rick started talking to me about dog sledding; I didn't know what it was all about at the time. I watched them walk and talk to the dogs and wondered what they were doing. Rick hitched the dogs to a three-wheel cycle and asked me to run ahead and call to them in a special way – I was surprised when they responded," says Marshall.
By 2006 the team was a reality; youthful exuberance and a way with animals propelled Marshall to train with huskies in Minnesota. About this Marshall had this to say: “I didn’t know what to expect. I was looking forward to working with experienced dogs and to seeing a lot of snow. I knew it would be cold but thought it would be like a rainy day in Jamaica. On the first day they pulled me on a snowmobile – my first time in the snow – it was freezing and very shocking and I thought I was going to fly; so amazing to see dogs move that fast.” He was amazed by the Great Lakes Aquarium, the Minnesota Zoo, Gooseberry Falls State Park as well as the Corps of Engineers Lake Superior Marine Museum where he saw Duluth’s famous Aerial Bridge in action.
Even with all of this opportunity on his return to Jamaica, Marshall found himself without a job or a place on the Team. His poignant story plays out in the feature documentary Sun Dogs (2006). Throughout 2007 he worked hard to earn back the trust of Anderson and Melville and was finally welcomed back to Chukka Caribbean Adventures and the Jamaica Dogsled Team to train and escort visitors on the company's two sled dog tours in September. As fate would have it in November, Anderson, who was to train for the 2009 Yukon Quest, had second thoughts about being away from Jamaica for so long to train and race in the Yukon and so it was decided that Newton would step in to train and qualify for the Yukon Quest.
Marshall left sunny Jamaica and arrived in a freezing Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada on Friday 29 November 2007 to begin his long distance training with three-time Yukon Quest winner Hans Gatt at Gatt Kennels in Atlin, B.C. Frigid temperatures and 100-mile runs with the sled dog team were his new reality and Gatt's experience and diligence in Marshall's training would mean his – and his team's – survival in harsh conditions saying: “In addition to learning the skills required to mush a dogsled team over long distances, Newton will need basic dog-care and camping skills in order to survive and care for fourteen dogs for ten to fourteen days, outside in the sub-arctic in the dead of winter.”
Marshall was up to the task and 27–28 March 2008 he competed in the 210-mile Percy DeWolfe Memorial Mail Race from Dawson City, Yukon Territory to Eagle, Alaska and back. He finished in 7th place out of a field of 15 with a time of 24hrs and 44mins and received the Sportsmanship Award from his fellow mushers.
Marshall successfully completed Alaska's Copper Basin 300 ( 10 to 13 Jan 2009) placing 13th in a field of 27 starts and became the first Jamaican ever to qualify to run in the Yukon Quest 1,000 Mile International Sled Dog Race. On 26 February 2009, he finished the Yukon Quest, placing 13th out of 29 racers. He brought 10 dogs to the finish line and earned $3,000. He also won the Challenge of the North Award. Race officials voted for the Jamaican musher because he best exemplified the "Spirit of the Quest," which compels mushers to challenge themselves and persevere. His bright smile and positive attitude have made him a fan favourite.
In 2010, JDT musher Newton Marshall made international headlines when he became the first Caribbean musher ever to finish the famous Iditarod – the prestigious 1100-mile race from Willow to Nome, Alaska. He finished the race in 47th position out of a field of 71 mushers. His finishing time was 12 days, 4 hours, 27 minutes, 28 seconds. He trained for the race with four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey. [1]
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Marshall was one of the rookie mushers in the 2010 Iditarod race. He was the first Jamaican to compete in the race. His team was financially supported by Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville cafes and he was using borrowed sled dogs from Lance Mackey's Comeback Kennel. Marshall had been training with Mackey for this race. [2] Newton came in 47th place in 12 days, 4 hours, 27 minutes, and 28 seconds. [1]
Marshall returned to compete the next year. His bib number was 6. However, he withdrew from the race on 12 February at 1:01 pm. He had taken both his "layovers" and scratched at the checkpoint Anvik. He had 11 dogs when he scratched
After a 1-year absence Marshall returned to compete in the 2013 Iditarod independent of any major sponsorship, he ran a team of leased and borrowed dogs. He once again was forced to scratch when his now famous dog "Wrong Way May" got free from the team while Newton helped another competitor who was having trouble, May ran the trail backwards and was found 7 days later alive & well, near the race starting point nearly 300 miles from where she had gotten away.
Marshall returned to Alaska one more time, again without a Major Sponsor he funded his team with the help of a couple local businesses "Acme Auto Glass" & "Black Lake Buildings" of Wasilla, as well as donations through Crowd-funding and Social Media. With a small team of Volunteers and a borrowed mixed team of dogs from the kennels of Kathleen Fredricks & fellow competitor Wade Marrs. Newton Marshall finished the race in the 43rd position out of 69 mushers, on a trail that was called the toughest in the 42-year history of the race, and saw many veterans and past champions not make it to the finish line. He finished the race in 12 days 1 hour 5 min. 52 seconds with 13 dogs in harness and was presented with the "Herbie Nayokpuk Award" given to the musher who best mimics Nayokpuk with his/her attitude on the trail. [1] Newton also made headlines during the race for coming to the aide of fellow musher Scott Janssen the "Mushing Mortician" who had broken his ankle on the trail and could not get back to his sled. Janssen laid in the icy overflow of the river until Marshall arrived.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8–15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race.
A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in harness, most commonly a sled over snow.
Sled dog racing is a winter dog sport most popular in the Arctic regions of the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland and some European countries. It involves the timed competition of teams of sled dogs that pull a sled with the dog driver or musher standing on the runners. The team completing the marked course in the least time is judged the winner.
Martin Buser is a champion of sled dog racing.
Mushing is a sport or transport method powered by dogs. It includes carting, pulka, dog scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled, most commonly a specialized type of dog sled on snow, or a rig on dry land.
The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaskan native peoples. Its route crossed several mountain ranges and valleys and passed through numerous historical settlements en route from Seward to Nome. The discovery of gold around Nome brought thousands of people over this route beginning in 1908. Roadhouses for people and dog barns sprang up every 20 or so miles. By 1918 World War I and the lack of 'gold fever' resulted in far less travel. The trail might have been forgotten except for the 1925 diphtheria outbreak in Nome. In one of the final great feats of dog sleds, twenty drivers and teams carried the life-saving serum 674 miles (1,085 km) in 127 hours. Today, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race serves to commemorate the part the trail and its dog sleds played in the development of Alaska, and the route and a series of connecting trails have been designated Iditarod National Historic Trail.
The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race, is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon, switching directions each year. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and the limited support that competitors are allowed, it is considered the "most difficult sled dog race in the world", or even the "toughest race in the world"—"even tougher, more selective and less attention-seeking than the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race." The originator envisioned it as "a race so rugged that only purists would participate."
Jeff King is an American musher and sled dog racer. He is generally credited with introducing the sit-down sled which has largely replaced the standing sled traditionally used by distance mushers.
The ceremonial start of the 33rd annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the US state of Alaska began in Anchorage on March 5, 2005, at 10 am AKST, and restarted in Willow the next day at 2 pm. After covering 1,161 miles (1,868 km) of wilderness, musher Robert Sørlie, an airport firefighter from Norway, crossed the finish line under the "burled arch" in Nome on March 16 at 8:39 am AKST. After taking care of his dogs, and an inspection to make sure all the mandatory equipment was in his sled, Sørlie was declared the winner by Race Marshal Mark Norman, with a time of 9 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds and won US$72,066.67 and a new truck. When asked how it felt to win a second time, Sørlie said "it feels good, I'm ready for breakfast." His team of dogs averaged 4.65 mi/h (7.58 km/h). The Red Lantern in last was Phil Morgan, an Alaska Airlines pilot, and when he crossed the finish line on March 21 at 8:02 pm AKST, the Widow's Lantern hanging on the burled arch was extinguished, which signaled the end of the race.
The ceremonial start of the 34th annual (XXXIV) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska began amidst the crowds of Anchorage on March 4, 2006, and the start of the competitive race, or "restart", began the next day in Willow. The race followed a modified version of the northern route for 1,151 mi (1,852 km) across the Alaska Range, through the sparsely inhabited Interior, along the Yukon River, and then up the coast of the Bering Sea to the city of Nome. Unlike in previous years, where the teams had to deal with unseasonably warm temperatures and soft, mushy snow, the weather was cold, with temperatures reported as low as −40 °F (−40 °C).
Ramy "Ray" Brooks is an Alaska Native kennel owner and operator, motivational speaker, and dog musher who specializes in long-distance races. He is a two-time runner up in the 1,049+ mi Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across the U.S. state of Alaska, and a former winner of the 1,000 mi (1,600 km) Yukon Quest dog sled race across both Canada and the U.S.
John Quniaq Baker is a self-employed American dog musher, pilot and motivational speaker of Inupiat descent who once consistently placed in the top 10 during the long distance Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Baker won the 2011 Iditarod with a finish time of 8 Days 19 Hours 46 Minutes 39 Seconds.
Lance Mackey was an American dog musher and dog sled racer from Fairbanks, Alaska. Mackey was a four-time winner of both the 1,000-mile (1,600 km) Yukon Quest and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
The 2008 Iditarod featured 95 mushers and dog teams. The 36th Annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonially began on Saturday March 1, 2008. The competitive start was the next day.
The Jamaica Dogsled Team is a team of sled dogs and mushers headquartered at Chukka Caribbean Adventures in Ocho Rios, located in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. The dog team is made up of strays rescued by the Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and offers dryland dogsled rides, along with the adventure center's other outdoor experiences. In addition, the two mushers Newton Marshall and Damion Robb, compete in sled races throughout the US and Canada, using leased dog teams. Country music singer Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville is the team's major sponsor.
The 38th Annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race saw 71 participating teams from the United States, Jamaica, Canada and United Kingdom. The ceremonial start was held in Anchorage on March 6. The official restart was held one day later in Willow.
Aliy Zirkle is an American champion of sled dog racing.
Brent Sass is an American dog musher who is one of only six people to have won both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest sled dog races.
Amanda Otto is an American musher and sled dog racer. In 2022 she made her rookie run with a team of Alaskan huskies in the Iditarod and in 2023 placed second in the Yukon Quest, where she was called out by race organizers and race veterinarians, in a rare unanimous decision, for exemplary treatment of her dogs.
