Staff Photo by John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Jim Bardoner, who plans to compete in the Iditarod sled dog race, trains at the Signal Mountain Athletic Club, assisted by head trainer Darrell Wyke.We saw this east of our office in north Springdale.
Posted by NWADG on Wednesday, March 25, 2015
MUSHING LINGO”Hike” – get going”Gee” – go right”Ha” or “Hull” – go left”Come ha” or “Come gee” – turn around”Whoa” – stop
It was a normal day for 30-year-old Signal Mountain resident Zach Brown at his tree service business when the seed of world-class sledding was planted in his mind. As he was cutting a tree for family friend Jim Bardoner, they began talking about Brown’s time in Alaska.
Brown spent some of his 20s in Alaska helping Chattanooga native Hugh Neff give dog-sled rides to tourists. Neff recently placed second in the Yukon Quest, considered the biggest dog-sled race in the world besides the Iditarod.
Bardoner pulled Brown around the corner of the house to see his kennel full of Husky puppies, which he plans to train to run the Iditarod in 2016. Bardoner saw a potential partner in Brown who could help him complete the famed race, which Bardoner attempted unsuccessfully with rented dogs in 2011.