Medicine man trains for sled-dog race

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Amy Hansen
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFPN) --  A total of 16 barking dogs strain against their harnesses. The sled behind them is anchored into the snow to prevent the Alaskan huskies, each between 40 and 70 pounds, from pulling it across the starting line too soon. Volunteer dog handlers are busy adjusting harnesses, untangling lines and fixing the booties on 64 eager paws. The musher is unrecognizable in thick layers of custom-made cold-weather gear, his face encircled with fur trim.

Under all that gear is Maj. (Dr.) Thomas Knolmayer, a staff surgeon with the 3rd Medical Operations Squadron here, who moonlights as a sled-dog driver.

"I've got a lot of people at the hospital (who) come and help," Dr. Knolmayer said. "My wife, a few of the docs (and nurses who) work here come up and help with the dogs every once in a while and work as the handlers when I race. With a big team of dogs, it takes a lot of people to control them until you get out on the trail by yourselves."

For Dr. Knolmayer, dog sledding is a labor of love. On training days, he goes to work early, skips lunch and leaves around 3 p.m. to drive to the kennel where he keeps his dogs in Houston, Alaska. He runs the dogs 10 to 40 miles, feeds and cares for them, and cleans their kennels.

"I ended up starting full-bore in November, which meant running about five days a week,” he said. “I'd come to work, and after work I'd drive up to the kennel, work with the dogs, run them, and I'd usually get back at about midnight to 1 in the morning, and then wake up for another day of work.”

"It is like training for anything, like a marathon or an Olympic event -- it takes a great deal of time," said his wife, Tina. "It's certainly worth it. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity."

All of Dr. Knolmayer's hard work paid off in January, when he and a 12-dog team completed the Knik 200, a two-day, 200-mile race. The Knik 200 is one of two qualifying races he must complete before competing in the "Last Great Race on Earth," the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in March 2005.

The Iditarod is more than 1,150 miles long and follows a route from Anchorage to Nome. Part of the route is on the historic Iditarod Trail, which was Alaska's main supply route from the gold-rush days in the late 1800s until the advent of the airplane in the 1920s. At that time, larger working dogs pulled cargo sleds on the trail.

Having an active-duty Airman participate in the Iditarod is a great way to get the Air Force message out to the small villages in rural Alaska along the route, Dr. Knolmaye said.

It is unusual to have an active-duty military competitor in the Iditarod because it is difficult for someone with only three or four years in Alaska to make the investment of time, money and training necessary to run the race. Dr. Knolmayer, however, got into dog sledding soon after his arrival in Anchorage in June 2001.

"I started off as soon as I got here volunteering for the Iditarod, and then I met this lady, Lynda Plettner, who has run a kennel for the past 20 years and has run 10 Iditarods herself; so I worked for her as her handler as a volunteer," he said. "My interest grew and grew until I started running my own dogs from her kennel. And that was about two years ago."

Dr. Knolmayer started "seriously running" his dogs in the spring of 2003, and competed in his first race in January.

He planned to train for the 2004 Iditarod but deployed to Iraq from July to November, which took priority, he said. When he returned in November, neither he nor his dogs were in good enough condition to do such a long race, he said. In August, he will start the training cycle for the 2005 Iditarod.

Dr. Knolmayer invests his free time and a lot of effort into dog sledding because he loves "playing with the dogs," he said. The interaction with the dogs is rewarding to him, and he said he feels like the coach of a team.

"Getting them to listen, it's just an awesome experience," he said. It's also fun for the dogs, he said. "They absolutely love it."

"I love dogs, and I love Tom," Mrs. Knolmayer said. "What a great way for us to spend time together ... I enjoy being out there and helping him as much as he enjoys doing it. I wish I had something in my life that I was that passionate about."

Next March, perhaps Dr. Knolmayer's team will be among the barking, wriggling mass of dogs at the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, eager to pull the Elmendorf Airman into his place in history.