Race Updates

The race season started and so far we are doing well.

Orville and Doris Lake Memorial Race in Anchorage on December 31st and January 1st.  I ran in the open class - 12 miles.  I ran 12 dogs on the first day and 10 dogs on the second day.  I hadn't been on the sled yet this season and  5th place on the first day and ended up in 7th overall after day two with a tie in front of me with Nathan Sterling and Mari Hoe-Raitto.  Bill Kornmueler took the top spot with Daryl Hollingsworth in second and Ricky Taylor rounding out the top three spots.  Michael Tetzner from Germany was the fourth place team.  10 teams total in the field and I was happy with the 7th place finish.  After I got home we regrouped and started training again for the next race on the schedule.  Thanks to my dad for driving me down in his truck while mine was in the shop.  And thanks to Brianna for all her help and entertainment along this trip.  She was able to spot two critical things.  First she spotted the start of an abscess on Uno's face.  He got something stuck in his cheek and it was giving him trouble.  I didn't run him the second day and put him on antibiotics.  She also spotted when I didn't lock Oscar's box properly.  I told her that she was getting the handler assistant award and she was very happy.  She asked what the award was and I said we were going to have a fireworks show Saturday night for her.  The whole town helped celebrate her award.  She was so proud and such a good helper.

Montana Creek Championship January 7th & 8th.  8 dog class - 8 miles.  Day 1 I went out bib #6 behind Mari Wood.  Things were going well until Foulton tripped on an inside corner flipped and got his harness and back line between and under his back legs.  I tried to get him untangled without stopping the team.  Then I stopped to see if he could untangle himself.  He wasn't able to.  He was still able to run and I didn't feel that spot was safe to hook down.  We went a little further down the trail where the trail looked more firm and safer to hook down.  I hooked down with both hooks and went up to untangle the dog. The team started to pull both hooks and I got back on the sled. I pulled the left hook and then started pulling the right hook when it dropped out.  We were moving and the hook was flopping around as I was trying to grab it. Thankfully I was able to recover the hook before it hooked in and launched me. When I got back up Foulton was untangled and we were back on our way.  I ended up in 1st place after day one.  Day two there was lots of fresh snow and I was the rabbit for the day.  The dogs did good, but Christian Taveau, from France, got me overall by 1 second.  Evelyn was a close 3rd only 7 seconds behind me. Again I was happy and proud of my dogs.

SuValley Championship January 21st & 22nd. 10 dog - 10 miles. Day 1 was cancelled due to trail conditions.  There were high winds and the trail was blown in.  They were going to work on the trail and make a decision at 6am.  So we packed up our bags at the hotel and headed to Anchorage to at least train the dogs in the good weather and possibly run the Anchorage preliminary race if the second day of SuValley were to get cancelled.  I ran two 5 dog teams at the Tozier Track.  Evelyn, Agnes and Jessie all headed that way as well as Marvin Kokrine.  We all got to run our dogs and headed to the hotel.  I want to send a huge THANK YOU to the Microtel Inn & Suites who took us in with short notice.  We got up at 5:30 and the race was on.  They worked all night and got the trail open and race able.  We loaded up and headed back down to Montana Creek.  Christain Taveau was set to go out bib #1 but his driveway was blown in and he was stuck at home. I ended up going out first.  I had some trouble but nothing major.  The trail soft in some areas and some of my big dogs were pounding hard and falling thru.  A last minute change in the order of the dogs proved to be a wrong move.  The dog that I moved up to swing was having trouble and was holding back most of the race.  I ended up in 3rd overall only 5 seconds behind Egil Ellis. Once again I was happy with my dogs and I got yet another beautiful trophy from the Montana Creek Dog Mushers Association.  Thanks to their club for putting on some great races and being able to pull them off even with the adverse weather conditions. Thank you to Adam Tindall who was a last minute handler for me and driver for my cousin Jessie's dogs.  Congrats to Dori Hollingsworth who pulled off the win in the 10 dog class and to Egil Ellis who took home 2nd place. 

I absolutely love racing and getting time to visit with my family that I don't see that often.  Agnes, Jessie and Evelyn always have me cracking up on these trips.  We all roomed together to save costs.  Silly stories and lots of laughs are a guarantee with these guys.
For example... when we were unloading everything in the room on the first night.
Jessie "did you forget something?"
Agnes "uhh, no"  looks around at all the stuff "I brought everything"
Jessie  holding her hands as to grab a sled handle 
Agnes "what!?!"
Jessie "the sled???"
Agnes "no, I thought Jennifer was bringing one"
All of us laughed so hard. 
Jennifer "well I guess its a good thing that I do have an extra sled" 
Silly girls.  Its like this every time and all the time with them.

Next up will be the Raven Electric 10 dog race in Anchorage and Jessie's baby will be on the way soon too.  Lots of exciting things happening in the month of February. 

Oh and on a side note... Congratulations to Shelley Hosken and Carl Demit on their recent marriage.  They went to Las Vegas last week and made it official on the 20th of January.

And Thanks again to Carl who stayed back to take care of the dogs that were left behind, the puppies and the house. Congrats to Charlie McNeill who won the race in Fairbanks with the dogs that were left behind.  Sounds like he had fun and the dogs did great.  Good job Charlie and Carl!