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Jamaica set to send sled-dog team to Iditarod

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A musher from tropical Jamaica competing in a sled dog race? Yes, many thought the idea ridiculous when an adventure tourism operator there decided to build a team five years ago.

No one is laughing now except the creators of the Jamaica Dogsled Team, which is sending Newton Marshall to the pinnacle of world-class competitions, the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Among those rooting for the 26-year-old musher is Margaritaville icon Jimmy Buffet, who spends a lot of time in Jamaica and has been the team's primary sponsor since it was founded by a friend.

"I just love the whole idea of it," the singer said. "I love the absurdity that when we first did this, people laughed and thought it was a joke and guess what? It isn't."

It's not as strange as it sounds, really. Look at the Jamaican bobsled team in the 1988 Winter Olympics that inspired the movie "Cool Runnings."

And FYI to those who snort at Marshall as a publicity stunt: last year he completed the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. Out of 29 mushers, the rookie placed a respectable 13th.

Marshall, who lives in Jamaica's St. Anne Parish, said he is impatient to begin the Iditarod, which kicks off with a ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday. The competitive race begins Sunday in Willow, 50 miles to the north.

"I'm kind of getting tired of this waiting, waiting, waiting," Marshall said. "I really want to get out there."

If he makes it to the Nome finish line, Marshall would be the first black musher to complete the world's longest sled-dog race, which crosses frozen rivers, dense woods and two mountain ranges, then goes along the dangerous sea ice up the Bering Sea shore. The race's only other black musher, the late Barry MacAlpine, participated in the inaugural Iditarod in 1973, but did not finish.

To prepare for his run, Marshall has been training this winter with defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey, a three-time consecutive winner and four-time Yukon Quest champion who is being paid an undisclosed sum by the Jamaica team sponsors. Marshall is leasing his 16-dog team from Mackey.