SERUM RUN ON THE ROCKS--WE NEED HELP

We have lost critical numbers of participants for reasons all across the board. The worst of it was there were more snowmachiners lost than mushers. At this late date, we have to recruit experienced snowmachiners. We can't risk taking on inexperienced ones who have never camped out in the extreme temperatures and gone through the rigors of proving that they can be on the trail for days on end. Every year at shakedown there are participants that realize that they just either can't do it or don't have the desire to do what it takes to be on the trail for 20 days.

We have found experienced snowmachiners who can make the trip, but can't handle the entry fees which have now gone from $2,300.00 to $3,150.00 .

I personally have invested dearly in this Serum Run trip, financially, emotionally and mentally. I qualified for Iditarod 2011, but knew that I was not ready to run that race. For me, participating in Serum Run, traveling with my team across 800 miles, over 20 days would be such a valuable experience that would better prepare me for running Iditarod in 2012.

Then there is the aspect of exploring and experiencing the villages along the way. I was so looking forward in talking with the school children. They so look forward to the arrival of Serum Run mushers and machiners. It gives them the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. They are very interested in what each of us do in life and what we have done. Their teachers incorporate our arrival into their curriculum. One of my strong loves is children and education.

My love of my team and the outdoors was to be greatly enhanced with the Serum Run.

So......with determination, I have spent the past two days on the phone, recruiting past serum run machiners. and traveling to Anchorage and going from business to business to raise the needed funds to keep Serum Run moving forward.

The good news is that we have machiners...and also have raised most of the money. I am going on faith that we can raise the additionally needed $2000.00. We have a group of snow machiners and mushers who have come from the lower 48 and some have spent upwards of over $2000.00 just in their travel expenses. A machiner from Oregon shipped his machine and flew up to do the Shakedown and had to return to work for 3 weeks and will fly back up for our departure date. Tickets are purchased...nonrefundable....

We as a group are all working together in the spirit of Norman Vaughan...and have hope and faith that we can pull this off.

Serumrun.org has set up a paypal donate button on their website. Every little bit will help keep Serum Run alive.