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Centarus

Centarus is a good all around sled dog and can run in any position. Fluid moving, tug always tight, he is a dog that is easy to forget about in the team, which is the ultimate complement to a sled dog. This means a dog that does not have to be constantly watched or managed, can be counted on when the going gets rough, and holds up to the rigors of the trail.
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Dipper

Dipper is a focused, no nonsense sled dog. He runs well in all positions. In the 2007 Serum Run, when I had to temporarily drop Obraz to recover from a shoulder injury, we were on our sixth day on the Yukon River, the dogs were mentally fatigued and it was Dipper’s strong will and determination that got us to Kaltag.
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Equuleus

A strong wheel dog and team member. In the 2007 Serum Run running left wheel, Quilly bore the brunt of the vicious side winds in Golovin Lagoon and the Topkok Hills.

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Holly

Holly is a primary leader. She is very prey driven so any animal withing sight or scent kicks in her turbo boost.

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Nina

Born: August 6, 2002
Female
Height: 20.5 inches
Weight: 38 lbs
Position: Team

Every team has a spark plug, a cheerleader and Nina excels in this role. Even on the -45F mornings she would be up barking and wagging her tail. Nina is also showing potential as a co-leader and needs to be put up front more regularly.

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Nova

Nova was/is a gift from the Samoyed Gods! I could not have filled out a puppy order and gotten a better dog. Every kennel has a couple influential, significant dogs and Nova is one of mine. She is my good will ambassador. When children what to pet the dogs, it is Nova I let loose to be smothered in hugs. She is an outstanding sled dog and a great gee-haw leader. At a sledding event if we have to maneuver through a field of trucks to get to the starting chute, Nova will gee haw through it as though a steering wheel were attached to her tug.

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Obraz

Obraz defines the team. He thrives in the role of leader, but is not obsessed by it. When holding out the gangline at hookup he will flop down and roll on his back in delight. He was instrumental in our successful completion of the 2007 Serum Run

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Opor

Opor shares his brother Obraz’s work ethic. He is not as patient as Obraz during hookup or when stopped.

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Orion

Orion loves leading, especially when there is a team to chase. Always enthusiastic and a bit of a class clown.

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Pusjkin

Pusjkin is another honest hard working sled dog. It is very rare that I see him running with a slack tug.

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Scotty

Scotty is a dynamo, a bundle of energy and solid as a rock. His playfulness keeps him in a state of perpetual motion and makes it difficult when trying to get him to sit still. He is a hard working, honest sled dog.

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Ursa

Ursa is a very happy girl and always on. She is another dog that doesn’t need to be constantly watched and is easy to forget about.



Annica Uppstrom on Scandinavian titles:

PDP is step one for a "Samoyed sled dog title"  in Sweden. It means that the dog has been to two kinds of tests and then got approved as a sled dog, test A + C ore test B + C

• Test A.  The first test is that the dog, without any other dogs in the team, will pull a pulka for 6.21 miles, and he/she got 1 hour to make the test approved. The pulka got a weight of 33,07 lbs for a female, and 44,09 lbs  for a male.

• Test B.  Instead of doing that test, you can bring your dog in a team and run the team 49.71 miles (one day).

• Test C.  The second test is a competition, and your dogs have to run rather fast compares to the other teams in the competition.

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Don Duncan

Don Duncan was raised on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. He currently breeds and raises Samoyeds under the kennel name of “Seaview Samoyeds”, located on the shores of Puget Sound in Indianola, Washington. After high school, he served with the U.S. Coast Guard, where he developed his love for the sea. It was also during his service that he had his first encounter with extreme temperatures, while serving on Coast Guard vessels conducting polar excursions. Currently, he works as a Marine Engineer for the Washington State Ferry System. Don remarks that he currently lives in the best of two worlds – dogs and boats.
Don got his first Samoyed in 1985 and his foundation bitch, Iceway’s Seaview Breese, in 1986 from Bobbie Smith. Don started exhibiting in the AKC ring and began breeding Samoyeds. Under the Seaview Kennel name, he has produced a number of AKC and Canadian Champions, including BISS Am/Can Ch Summerhills Brees Of Seaview. He began recreational mushing in 1987. He served as President of the Samoyed Club of Washington from 1989 to 1992. As time went on, he began to explore the world of competitive mushing and, in particular, mid-distance races. Don finished the Race to the Sky with a team of Samoyeds in 1998, the first Samoyed team to do so. In addition to Race to the Sky, Don has competed in a number of other prestigious races throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the Snow Dog Supermush, Cascade Quest, and numerous shorter mid-distance events that are a part of the Pacific Northwest Championships circuit.
Since entering into the world of competitive mushing, Don has concentrated his efforts on breeding/raising/training/conditioning the Samoyed to perform in mid-distance events from 15 to over 700 miles in length. Don’s dogs come from a number of bloodlines. His initial dogs are descended from a blend of Ice Way and Summerhill lines. Later, Don made a critical purchase when he imported Nova, Jurak’s Bossanova Queen, bred by Marie Louise and Borge Lakjer from Denmark. Nova’s pedigree includes a mix of European and American lines, including Jurak, Swedsams, Kaisas, White Joy, Antorca, Bubbling Oaks and Whitecliff. Nova, when bred to Seaview’s Elim WSX, has provided a number of the dogs on Don’s current team. Around the time of that breeding, Don also imported several dogs from northern Europe, Sweden and Norway. The latter dogs have brought a mix of lines from Europe as well as the United States, including Nordviken, Jalmal, Abakan and Kriskella. These dogs, Nova, and her offspring out of Elim are the dogs that make up Don’s current 12-dog team. These dogs have displayed outstanding drive in harness as well as classic Samoyed type.

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The Serum Run

In 2007, for the first time ever, a purebred AKC registered Samoyed team participated in the 25th Norman Vaughan Serum Run, from Nenana to Nome, Alaska. Don Duncan and his elite team of 12 purebred Samoyeds were selected for the event. This journey commemorates the 1925 serum run to Nome in which 20 mushers and about 125 dogs relayed diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles by dog sled across the US Territory of Alaska in 5.5 days to save the small city of Nome and surrounding communities from the imminent threat of a diphtheria outbreak. To learn more about the history of the Serum Run navigate your web browser to: http://www.serumrun.org/History.htm. Gay and Laney Salisbury have also written a gripping story about the event titled “The Cruelest Miles”. This national bestseller was published by WW Norton and Co.
The Norman Vaughan Serum Run 25 is a dog team/snow machine journey from Nenana to Nome, a distance of 776 miles (mileage varies due to trail conditions). The first commemorative race was run in 1997. The reason for this annual trip is two fold. First, it is to commemorate the twenty men and their dog teams who relayed diphtheria serum to Nome. Second, it is to widen the awareness throughout Alaska of the need for immunizations for children. The route follows the path of the relay along the Yukon River to Norton Sound and then along the ocean to Nome. Both the Iditarod and the Serum Run share portions of the same trail. The Serum run is not a race but a collaborative effort of mushers, dogs, machinists, veterinarians and a multitude of other support people celebrating the original Serum Run.

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Lyndall Soule, DVM


Link to Bio on Serum Run Site

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The Team