Danny Melville’s idea for a Jamaican dogsled team became a reality, changing the life of
musher Newton Marshall. Melville came to root Marshall on.
Marshall left sunny Jamaica and arrived in sub-freezing Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, on Friday November 29, 2007, to begin his long distance training with three- time Yukon Quest winner Hans Gatt. Frigid temperatures and 100-mile runs with the sled dog team were his new reality, and Gatt proved a hard task master as Marshall’s training would mean his—and his team’s— survival in unimaginably harsh conditions. Minnesota was a cake walk compared to this and Gatt laid it on the line: “You must learn to race, care for 14 dogs, and survive— outside—in the sub-arctic, in the dead of winter.” Marshall must have envied his former
Chukka Cove offers Jamaican dogsled tours using rescued shelter dogs.
protection and literacy programs in Jamaica. Throughout 2007 Marshall 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 in September. Devon
Anderson, meanwhile, who was to train for the daunting 2009 Yukon Quest race, was having second thoughts about it. Announcing his retirement from dogsled competition, it was decided that Newton would step in to train and qualify for the Yukon Quest.
mate Devon back in Jamaica as he struggled under the demanding regimen of Gatt and partner Susie Rogan. But somehow, on March 27-28, 2008, he competed in the 210- mile Percy DeWolfe Memorial Mail Race from Dawson City, Yukon Territory, to Eagle, Alaska, and back. He finished an impressive seventh place out of a field of 15 with a time of 24 hours and 44 minutes, receiving the Sportsmanship Award from his fellow mushers. Marshall had made a breakthrough and was suddenly on a roll. He successfully
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