First Jamaican to take part in a gruelling dog race – in Alaska.

A FORMER horseriding guide has become the first Jamaican to take part in a gruelling dog race – in Alaska.
Just like 1990s blockbuster bobsleigh film Cool Runnings, Newton Marshall is hoping to break all boundaries in the freezing Alaskan outback.

Setting out on Valentines Day, Newton joined 28 other contestants from around the globe for the 1000 mile “Yukon Quest “ dog race.

Cool ... Newton Marshall

Adventure Press/ Barcroft Media

His extraordinary journey to the unlikely setting began in 2005 when, while working as a horseback-riding guide in Jamaica, he got a call from his boss asking him to take care of some dogs the company had adopted.

“They said, ’Newton, can you look after some dogs?’” Marshall said. “I said, ’No problem'.“

The 25-year-old then began giving cart rides using the shelter dogs and company chairman Danny Melville formed the Jamaica Dogsled Team.

“I never lose a sled on the trail and in the races,” Marshall said. “And I tip (over) now and then, but not much.”

Now he's entered the Yukon Quest 1000-mile international sled dog race, which is held every February.

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Running from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, to Fairbanks, Alaska, a single musher and a team of 12 to 14 sled dogs race for ten to 14 days, following the historic 1890s Klondike Gold Rush route.

The race route runs on frozen rivers, across open water and bad ice. It goes over four mountain ranges, reaching an elevation of 3,800ft and through isolated, northern villages.

Temperatures commonly can drop as low as minus 40C to minus 60C on the rivers, and winds can reach 100mph on the mountain summits.

“My friends think I’m a madman,” Marshall said.

“They said I’m sick. I’m the first black man and first Jamaican (in the Quest), so I’m quite proud of that.

“I will just work off the schedule, and hopefully, it will get me to the finish line.”

Cool Runnings followed the story of the first ever Jamaican bobsleigh team

Source:The Sun