| Our first 30 miler and why not make it our first double 30 miler as well! We have had a great season of mushing with my main string running very well together, lead by my trusty leader Yahboo and leader-in-training and only 15 months old, Gypsy-Rose. A true natural in many ways, devoted and a joy to work with. We went into the race with more miles on our paws then ever before and lots of hill training. Like Caroline Blair-Smith said to me once.... "you can only drive the team infront of you, not the team in your head". As a freighting team, we always set realistic goals in a field of what is becoming competitive with a pace that is truly getting faster! From time to time we get the chance to place in the pack but realistically, we aim to average over 7 mph and finishing within a reasonable amount of time, hopefully within 20 minutes of the pack. With fresh snow on the ground, the trail was definitely harder on the dogs, but again, nothing we are not used to. We often head out on training runs with the intention to break trail. So we just got on with it. We kept good pace with the 15 milers and then we turned onto the 30 mile course. On the Saturday Tonka had a slight limp to his gait. We took it easy, lots of massage, but the dogs in general, never seemed 100%. Little did I know that several were about to come down with diarrhea (during the race on Sunday) and Tonka with a UTI (later the following week). |
| Stratford Nighthawks Race 2007 Stratford, New Hampshire February Back-to-back 30 miler Place - 6th out of 7 teams Total run time - 9:45 mins |
| Critterwoods, Race 2007 Corinth, Maine February 24th and 25th Back-To-Back 15 miler Place - 12th (last place with 2 DNF) Total Run time - 4 hrs |
| Lots of fresh snow once again. Flatter terrain with lots of turns, open fields, brutal winds and deep snow drifts which really made you feel like you were in Alaska! The scenery was beautiful and the organizers and trail crew were EXCEPTIONAL! Running the same team combination, the first day began with me getting taken out from behind by a team that did a U-turn in the parking area. I was hooking up my leaders and didn't see it coming. Having spent months rehabbing my knees, dealing with limited range of movement and discomfort, as I was taken off my feet I felt both knees fold beneath me sending pain right through my body! I picked myself up, took a deep breath and carried on. The first few miles of the race were challenging. You could not step off the trail or your runners because you would end up in crotch deep snow. Long story short, we got caught up in a situation with a loose team while trying to help and do the 'right thing'. It was hard to move out of the way, the wind was ferocious, it was quite a messy and frustrating situation for a while. We lost precious time as a result.............. |
| MY TWO WELL MANNERED, GENTLE LEADERS |
| Despite the huge delay and lost time, we finished with a good average speed and actually not in last place on the Saturday. Once again, it was a little frustrating because if we had not been caught in the lost team scenario, we would have had chance to be in the lower third of the pack. Oh well, such is 'racing'. Day two started better and the weather was much calmer too, we were not fighting strong winds and snow drifts but instead, warm temperatures and a long stretch of gravel on the return journey. It truly felt like an epic race!!!!! Can't wait to return though as the trail crew were just some of the best people I've met and their kindness, compliments such as .... my team were so well behaved throughout the commotion on the Saturday, made me proud of the dogs. Hey, if we can't win, we might as well get praised for our manners, overall attitude and performance. We can finish a race proud knowing we tried to help/support the musher who lost her team, sacrificing almost our race to do what we think was the right thing to do and as result, show calmness, control and good trail manners. Whatleigh was the true heroine here as she gave the musher a ride on her sled to help find the lost team! |
| Bartlett Fun Race 2007 Bear Notch Road, Bartlett, New Hampshire March 10th 24 Miles Place 14th (last place but a very good finish) Total Run Time 3 hrs 14 mins |
| The morning started off really cold and brisk, we were hopeful it would stay that way. Unfortunately, once again, this race endures some hilly terrain and early spring heat! My training buddy and best friend, Whatleigh, had brought red scarfs for each member of my team which really attracted too much attention of the 'cute' kind along the way. She almost got away with dressing me up too! It was interesting start to the race this year, we had to weave our way through a twisty turny slip of a trail to access Bear Notch Road itself. My dogs were in good shape and in the mood for one more hurrah. All teams did lots of passes and head-on passes. Its a great social event and a wonderful race to test your team's behavior with lots of real life obstacles along the way from novice snowmachine riders, tourists on foot and on snowmachines, hikers, cross country skiers, various clubs and their members, outward bound groups, lose dogs.... Despite the heat of the day, we kept good pace staying just minutes behind the majority of Siberian teams. If we hadn't looked so darn pretty with our red scarves and had so many pictures of us taken along the way, geez... we might have had an even better finish time. Hey, it we can't win a race.. we may as well do our best to be the best lookin' team right? BTW the red lantern was adorable (prize for last place courtesy of Corina and Scott Alexander). A great way to end the racing season. |
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| UKTOUSA Sled Dogs |
| The Team Lead - Yahboo and Rosie Point - Tonka and Tisha Wheel - Zudnik and Tiger-Lilly |
| Photo Credit Donna Finner (Pending original copy) |
| The Team Lead - Yahboo and Rosie Point - Tonka and Tisha Wheel - Zudnik and Tiger-Lilly |
| Photo Credit Barry Millman |
| 2007 Races |
| The Team Lead - Yahboo and Rosie Point - Tonka and Tisha Wheel - Zudnik and Tiger-Lilly |
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| On the Saturday Tonka had a slight limp to his gait. We took it easy, lots of massage, but the dogs in general, never seemed 100%. Little did I know that several were about to come down with diarrhea (during the race on Sunday) and Tonka with a UTI (later the following week). On the Sunday, Tonka got the okay to run. He seemed in good spirits . Of course it was during Sunday's race that two of them started with diarrhea. Tonka held up well, but I now noticed Tisha was not pulling 100%. Very unusual for her. So I bagged her for quite a few miles. Quite a challenge to do the Stratford trails with a dog in a bag, and two dogs with diarrhea . We took a number of breaks to hydrate and snack and Tisha seemed like she was ready to run again. I was very proud of my team for never giving up, doing the best they could and for crossing the finish line with six dogs on the ground in good spirits, tight tuglines. I would typically say "not our best performance" but I have since gotten wise..... It was in fact "an outstanding performance" given what we were dealing with. |