#racerecap

Race Recap: 2016 Earl Norris Memorial Sled Dog Race

February 12, 2016 by teamineka

Our first race of the year was the Earl Norris Memorial Sled Dog Race that is part of the Willow Winter Carnival. It is a 30/30 race meaning you run thirty miles one day and then do the same trail the next day.

We decided to enter two eight dog teams with me (Robert) and Lacie running in the event. It would be Lacie’s first race. She has been training with us all winter and has hopes of running a team in a few more shorter races this season.

Sign-ups were held after the carnival kick-off dinner at 6:30 with the starting order draw to follow. I would be going out 10th and Lacie would be going out 13th. There were 15 teams entered. We headed home, picked the teams and loaded up all the gear.

Saturday

We got an early start and headed over to Willow Lake with 16 dogs in tow. The race called for 10 dog teams so we already knew we would be a bit slower than most of the other teams along with them being sprint teams as well.

We ended up parking together as a few mushers didn’t show and soon realized that starting would be a little chaotic. All the teams were hooked up and yelling to go by 10:00. I should be going out at 10:20 but several teams had to be shuffled for the no-shows. Very quickly a couple mushers went the wrong way across the lake and one musher lost his team. Two snow-machiners blasted off like rockets across the lake to catch the speedy, driverless team. Our friend, Kari got turned around a bit on the lake too but managed to quickly find the trail.

As my time to leave was coming up the timers skipped over me and went to bib 11. It caused a bit of chaos because we were supposed to have two spots between me and Lacie. By the time I was off, Michele and Vanessa were hurriedly trying to get her team on the line in less than two minutes and she incurred a penalty.

My dogs found the trail across the lake quickly and soon we were on our way. The first section of trails were on again, off again on the lakes before our first road crossing and then into the trees. I planned on keeping my dogs under 11 miles per hour this soon in the race but they wanted to go. By the time we made it to the long, wide road I started having problems with my leaders. Sidney is getting older and she is slowing down so I stopped and quickly changed out her with Mila in lead. This was her first time as a lead dog in a race and she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. We were quickly passed by a few speedy teams on the road before we got to the Lucky Shot Trail. The trails were beautiful! The snow was just coming up and a fog was lifting. We were making our way around Almond Lake on our way to the swamp and suddenly a long patch of ice appeared. Almost at once I saw both my wheel dogs, Bodhi and Raegan slip and try to catch their footing.

Shortly after we arrived at the Willow Swamp Loop I knew something was wrong. Both Bodhi and Raegan were hobbling and I stopped and set my hook. It looked like the little slip on the ice took them both out and suddenly I had two dog in my sled bag with more than half of the race to go. Bodhi settled in soon in his comfortable spot but Raegan didn’t want any part of it. She was telling me about it too in her husky whine.

I now had a six dog team and pretty quickly Lacie caught up with me. We spent the rest of the Swamp Loop in tandem. Her team not wanting to pass mine.

After crossing Vera Lake and the road crossing near Eaglequest Lodge, Mila had enough. I made a decision to put Burton in lead. This was his first time too. We made our way back to the Lucky Shot and the road. It was now a long, slow up hill for almost two miles. Just as we entered the trees Bodhi was ready to get back on the line. It didn’t last long as he knew very quickly his shoulder was hurt and quickly stopped after we crossed the final road crossing just two miles from the finish. A couple volunteers asked if I needed assistance and said they could take him but I would probably be disqualified for outside assistance. I politely declined and loaded him back in the sled bag with Raegan.

I hadn’t seen Lacie and her team since the bottom of the Lucky Shot Trail and I hoped she would be okay.

There was a four hour cut off time limit and I was cutting it close with all the problems I had on the trail. I pulled into the finish with a time of 3:45. Lacie didn’t make the cut off and would not be allowed to race the next day.

To put things into perspective, I ran this race last year with two days of running at three hours a piece. Today I was 45 minutes slower and over and hour and a half slower than the first place finisher.

We unhooked the team and gave them all a frozen chicken thigh while we waited for Lacie to come in. After the race we headed inside to grab lunch and head home.

Sunday

Since I was the last to finish on Saturday I was the first team to go out today. I didn’t mind as I knew I would be passed quickly by the speedier teams coming up behind me. I started with Sidney again in lead and this time she and Frosty did veer a little to the left off the trail. I quickly called out, ‘Gee!” and got them back on track. By the time we were in the trees after the first road crossing I changed out Sid with Burton.

The run today was much faster even though I only had a six dog team. We decided to leave Bodhi and Raegan at home and run with the smaller team. I knew at this point I would be in last place but still “in the money” so to speak as long as I completed the race under the time cut off. That was no problem.

I did end up coming in last place and finished in ninth place, the same place as last year. The difference was last year there were a few teams that finished after me. This year they were either scratches, no-shows, or DQ’s.

I collected a small check that covered my entry fees and we headed home.

What we learned

We knew going in that training was not up to par to what we expect and what we usually do so we knew we would do poorly. It was nothing put lack quality training that caused us to come in last and required Lacie to not finish under the time limit. My dogs did great with what we had to work with and did very well carrying two dogs in the sled bag that added at least a hundred pounds or more to the sled.

I was a little worried about being able to finish with just a six dog team and lack of strong leaders. I know that a lead dog will make or break a team and I saw that Sidney just isn’t able to run as fast as the others at the excited start of a race anymore. She always does just fine in team and her gait is impeccable.

This is always a fun race and the trails are superbly groomed. The Willow Trails Committee puts in so many hours and their hard work is second to none. I always enjoy running on trails close to home and being a part of the Willow Winter Carnival is always an added bonus. We will be back every year as long as it fits in our schedule. I am always honored to support local events and take part in a race that pays respect to a mushing legend, Earl Norris.

Maybe I can get Lacie to add her thoughts when she is out next time…

Race Recap: Preliminary Dryland Races at Chugiak

November 10, 2015 by teamineka

This past weekend we arrived at our first event of the year at the preliminary dryland races at Chugiak Dog Musher’s Association trails in mass! We were racing in all of the events and entered teams in nine of them.

It is a great thing to have dryland events in Alaska. If it was not for all of the hard work of Debora Summers for all of her hard work none of this would be possible. We were proud to be sponsors of the second weekend of these races, with Alaska Dog Works donating to the trophy fund.

Training

We started training early this fall for these races. We knew going in that we wanted to try a bunch of the up-and-coming stars of the kennel in these low-key events to give them experience and build confidence on the trail and all important social skills around lots of dogs and people. In the weeks leading up to the races we ran our newest addition to the team, Mila, who arrived this summer from our friend Zoya, as well as Atreyu and Aryun the brother and sister duo from The Oracle Crew. We ran a bunch of dogs in lead including Bodhi, Burton, Aussie and others. Our friend Lacie trained hard with her pup, Boomer, in canicross down in the city.

Canicross

Nicole and Lacie competed in the canicross events. They both did great! Nicole ran with her German Shepherd Qyain and Lacie with her dog, Boomer. Lacie ended up finishing in 3rd place overall.

1 Dog Bikejor

In the biker class, Nicole and Michele ran. There was a bit of a mix up with the way that ISDRA rules were used. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to use each dog only in one event. That put a damper in our plans but we made it work!

2 Dog Bikejor

The two-dog biker was our biggest showing! At the time of sign-ups we had four teams and 8 dogs listed in the event, but with the sudden rule changes, Robert dropped out to leave Lacie, Michele and Nicole to run.

2 Dog Scooter

Robert tested out the big tires of the scooter for the event. It was the first time in his life he had ever run a race with a scooter. It made for slow but good times with the sloppy, rainy and muddy conditions.

4 Dog Cart

Robert ran the old Risdon-style Frank Hall made, cart that he has had for more than a decade and a half. He used to train 12 dogs at a time on this cart when he lived in Colorado with Michele chasing him in the mini-van with three little kids in tow.

The wheel-barrow style wheels didn’t work too good on the sloppy trails and Robert ended up in last place but still had a blast.

All in all we had a great time! We were so glad to be a part of the first ever ISDRA sanctioned dryland races in Alaska. We want to thank Chugiak Dog Mushers Association for all their hard work in getting this event going.

We were happy to have won some cash and prizes and thought our slow long distance dogs did pretty good against the speedy sprint dogs on the trails.

We will be back next year for sure!

Race Recap: Tolsona 50/50

April 2, 2015 by teamineka

Last year we heard about a race from our friend Dan that we knew this year we would have to put on the schedule to attend. It was the Tolsona 50/50. The Tolsona Lake Resort is on mile 170 of the Glen Highway, a couple hundred miles from home. It is one of the checkpoints on the Copper Basin 300 and from what we heard a great place to run dogs.

Pre-race discussions

We were scheduled to take part in the Willow Relay Race with our teams on this weekend but with the rapidly melting snow in Willow and the un-seasonably warm temperatures we made other plans. The Sunday before the race we decided we would enter two teams. Robert (me) and Tyler would run together. Tyler hasn’t ran in a race in two years and it would be good to get him back on the runners and spend some time on the trails with me.

We called Crystal at the lodge, made a room reservation and told her we would be there with two teams in tow.

Friday

We packed up the truck with gear, sleds, and dogs and hit the road about noon. Michele would have to stay behind to take care of the remaining dogs and she had several dog training client meetings over the weekend. She would be the designated social media liaison during the race.

I would be running: Frosty-Shock, Bodhi-Raegan, Shifter-Gabby, Spencer-Aussie.

Tyler would be running: TyTy-Vela, Lock-Burton, Barrel-Rasp, Trapper-Valdez

We made it over the rivers, mountains and through the woods in good time and arrived to the lodge at about 4pm. We checked in, dropped the dogs and fed them dinner before heading over to the lodge eat dinner. We spend the evening talking with Dan and his family and playing pool. Nicole had never played before so we tried our best to teach her the new game.

Saturday

The mushers meeting started at 9am and we drew our starting positions. Tyler would be going out second, behind our friend Karen and I would be going out six minutes later in lucky number 5. Running a small eight dog team it is easy to get things ready to go and it being a shorter race we only had a few pieces of mandatory gear. We were required to pick two of the following: parka, sleeping bag, axe, tree saw, cooker and fuel, or snowshoes. I took the lightest of the group and packed the axe and saw. Same with Tyler.

As the start approached we bootied up a few of the dogs and hooked up Tyler’s team and the countdown begun. With only ten teams entered, we would all be on the trail in short order. Karen pulled her hook and was on her way. Then the fun began!

Tyler pulled his hook and immediately the sled tipped over. The dogs took off like a rocket toward the chute with Tyler being drug down the lake. Several people started to run after him including Nicole with the big Canon camera around her neck. Tyler managed to finally right the sled and was on his way. While it was only a few seconds the whole thing seemed to be going on in slow motion. As he got back on the runners the people watching cheered and Nicole had to run back to help me with my team as I only had six minutes before I was supposed to leave.

Out of breath, Nicole managed to get my team on the line with a minute to spare and I was on the trail on time.

The trail

The race would be 50 miles each day with Sunday’s heat running in the reverse direction. The teams would also be starting in reverse order. Meaning the last team to finish on Saturday would be the first team to start on Sunday.

We were on Tolsona Lake for just over a mile before we made a sharp gee (left) turn into the woods and down a hill towards the creek. We were told that the creek had some open water and if we wanted we could make a sharp left turn and go over the bridge but a tree might be in the way.

Our dogs are used to running through a lot of open water during the rainy fall training season so we skipped across the creek soaking my Neo’s (boots) up to my calves. There was a bit of glaciation as we made our way to the very wide trail. The trail for the next 10 miles or so was as big as a two-lane road and is much used by snow machines and freighting gear to the cabins along the lakes.

Teams started passing each other as we made our way down the trail. At mile 8 I saw Tyler pulled over and changing out leaders. I yelled out. “are you okay?” and he said his shoulder was hurting real bad from the fall.

At mile 13 we made a sharp haw (right) turn and the trail crew was there taking pictures and recording times. I was in ninth place at that point with only Tyler behind me. We made our way through a winding wooded trail for several miles before coming to Crosswinds Lake. It is huge! We were on the lake for three or four miles and the trail was getting a little soft in the afternoon sun. As soon as we got off the lake we started up hill. The next twenty or so miles would be up and down, up and down. It as getting really warm and the dogs slowed down to about seven miles per hour. At about mile 30 I switched Shock out with Aussie in lead. I could see Dakota’s bright orange jacket in the distance so I knew I wasn’t too far behind the next team.

After all the hills we made a sharp left turn away from Lake Louise and headed back toward the intersection. As I approached the trail crew still there taking pictures and recording times I asked them how I was doing. They said I was about 30 minutes behind Dakota.

We were back on the wide trail and 13 miles from the finish and Reagan was slowing way down and dipping snow. I stopped the team and loaded her up in the bag on the sled. She didn’t want to go willingly but she finally settled down and we made our way back to the creek. We flew through the water and up the hill toward the finish line. I ski-poled a lot during this race and my arms were burning as we got closer to the truck.

We finished strong and I checked in with Greg, one of the race crew, on how we did. He thought we looked good. About the time Nicole and I were done snacking the dogs and putting them back in the truck Tyler came in with his hand in his pocket supporting his sore shoulder.

Once we got his team snacked and unhooked we could tell he was in a lot of pain. His shoulder was dislocated and I helped him get it back in place using the hood of my truck. He screamed in pain! He then pulled up his sleeve and had a huge ice rash up and down his arm that bled through his sweatshirt. He ran 50 miles with a dislocated shoulder. That’s a musher for ya!

We finished our chores and headed up to the lodge for a most excellent Prime Rib dinner before getting back to the room and retiring for the night.

Sunday

Tyler decided that he wouldn’t be running the second day with his hurt shoulder and the fact that one of his leaders, Vela, was just too slow in the heat of the day to be effective on the team.

The Race Marshal said we could trade out mushers, and have Nicole run, or let me use some of Tyler’s team on mine. I didn’t think it was right to change the rules up for us so I declined. I decided to start with seven dogs, leaving Reagan off the team. There was no reason to push them too hard as this was mainly just a fun training run for us all.

We started the day off in reverse order. I was heading out first now that Tyler was out of the race. I was followed by Dakota and Karen.

Shortly before the creek Dakota passed me. When we got to the creek it was fully open by then and Dakota had to wade through knee deep water to get his dogs across. As we were waiting for him to do that Karen decided to take the bridge and got her team tangled in the tree. She recovered nicely as I passed her by on the slick icy trail. I asked her if everything was okay and let her pass me a mile or so down trail.

By the time we were at the turn off all the teams had passed me and I was comfortably at the back of the pack. I knew the next 37 miles or so would just be me and my team on the trail and I settled in for the hills. I turned on my iPod and started listening to a mix of Godsmack and Rob Zombie, my trail favorites and slammed at 5-Hour Energy shot.

The hills weren’t nearly as bad on day two as we were going in the opposite direction. It was much more decent than ascent. We were averaging about 9.8 miles per hour when we reached Crosswinds Lake. I stopped the team and let them have a quick five minute break and switched Shock next to Bodhi which was an open spot on the line since I left Raegan at the truck. Now Frosty was in single lead.

We ran across the lake and through the wooded trail to the intersection. I saw the trail crew and asked how I was doing. It was about the same as the day before.

I ski-poled a good portion of the wide trail and was making decent time even though we slowed down to about 8.5 miles per hour.

We crossed the creek which was even deeper now and the sun was still warm. I look off my wind-shirt and headed toward lake and the finish.

We finished strong again.

It was almost 3 pm when I finished and we were just in time for the banquet. I rushed to the room, packed up our gear and changed clothes.

The banquet was great. The lodge had a spaghetti dinner for us all. The awards ceremony started and everybody got their prizes. I got a certificate for “the whitest parka” for my white wind jacket and even Tyler got a certificate for the “best start.”

We were back on the road and home by 7:30.

What we learned

As I always do on my race recaps I list what we learned during the event. I do this to hopefully learn from our mistakes and to show our rabid fans things we see and do along the trail. I am a firm believer that we all can learn from each other and this is as good of a way as any to do so.

We have always been a team that runs the best at night. With our training schedules worked around our jobs and schools almost all of our runs are made when it is cool and dark. This hurts us every time on races and has cost me to scratch on a few occasions. I have said over and over this is our weak link. I am unsure how to fix this. We don’t have the luxury of not having to work or go to school.
Another one of our big problems always has been the lack of hill training. Living in Willow it is relatively flat and the trails are winding wooded trails and over lakes. While Nicole had a great experience during the Junior Iditarod with all the hills of the Denali Highway we just didn’t have enough of this type of training this year to make a difference.
I thought overall my dog team did very well. Even though it was hot, all of them were eager to run and wanted to finish.
Vela is the slowest of all of our leaders. While I have known this since our Tustumena Experience a few years ago, we just haven’t had great success with training up and coming leaders, except for Shock, to fill that roll. That is a major training goal for this coming off season.
One of my proudest moments was when an Iditarod musher who was parked beside us said, your dogs eat like robots! That is great! I wish our dogs ate like that! This is great to hear from another musher. One of the things you must train for is for your dog team to eat heartedly and mightily on trail. This little thing can make or break a dog team and the success or failure on the trail.
Never let go of the sled! This is the number one rule in mushing and Tyler did great! He managed to get the sled back on the runners while the team was running as fast as they could at the start of the race. We have taught this rule to our kids since the first day they were on a sled and Tyler did a remarkable job in controlling his team.
Use the ski pole more. I really enjoyed using my ski pole during this race and this was the first time that I have ever used it for many miles. Next year I plan to use two ski poles in training and in races.
Speed. I have no idea what I need to do to get our team to go faster. Looking over the training logs for the entire season using the Suunto Ambit2 it shows we are a consistent 8/9 miles per hour. While this is a decent pace for a long distance team we were half as slow as the winner of this race who was racing at over 14 miles per hour! I am sure it is a variety of factors including genetics, older dogs in our team who are used to and Iditarod/Yukon Quest pace and they are training the younger dogs to run slower.
Frosty is one awesome little sled dog! Frosty has ran in every race and most of the training runs this season. He came to us in the fall from our friend Hugh as a leader prospect and Nicole did a great job working with him. Just in the month of March he finished the Junior Iditarod, 800 miles of the Iditarod trail with Hugh and this race in single lead. Being only three years old he is the future of our team in lead along with Lock, Shock, Barrel and Burton.
It is always fun to run these types of races among friends. I knew just about everyone we raced with and spent a while talking with each one. To me that is what mushing is about. Hanging out with friends and making new ones learning from each other and sharing experiences. It was great to spend time with Dan, Kim, Dakota, Greg, Zoya, John, and Karen.
The future of this sport may well depend on races like this. These smaller, no fuss, no pressure races is what this sport needs. Everyone is not concentrating on running the big races and with the qualifiers filling up in a matter of minutes, races like this could very well save this sport. I encourage every club, lodge, organization to think about putting on races like this in the future.

Lastly I want to thank the folks at the Tolsona Lake Resort and to everyone there that made this possible. Their hospitality was top notch and they are a great place to visit if you get a chance. We will be back next year if the calendar allows. We had a blast–even if I was lead to believe this was a race around a lake! (wink, wink…)

Visit the Tolsona 50/50 Facebook page

Race Recap: Race under the stars

February 22, 2015 by teamineka

Last night Michele and Robert raced in a brand new event at the Chugiak Dog Mushers Association, the Race Under the Stars.

The race format was 25 miles on the trails at Chugiak. We had not been on most of those trails, only racing a few times at the Eagle River Classic and the Dryland Races and the South Central Challenge. The trails were awesome! We ran up and down rolling hills, through tunnels around lakes and even on the Cook Inlet with the sparkling lights of Anchorage and the Valley in the background.

We had been planning on entering a team in this race since the schedule came out last fall and way back then we thought there would be feet of snow to run teams on. Not the case. South Central, Alaska has been plagued by low snow all season and just this week we had a big warm up and rain. When we loaded up the dogs for the race it was 35 degrees in Willow and lots of slick ice.

We decided to take two teams to the race. I (Robert) would be racing with eight and Michele would bring eight along too but that would change as we arrived at the trail.

I had: Shock-Frosty, Bodhi-Raegan, Dandy-Lock, Aussie-Gabby.

Michele had: TyTy-Cession, Sidney-Spencer, Valdez-Shifter. Trapper and Barrel would not race.

We loaded up the teams slipping and sliding around the kennel and hit the road. Not 1/2 mile into our journey we started slipping really bad on the sheet ice on Allen Road and I had to correct hard to the right with the dog truck and ended up with two wheels deep in a snow bank. If I would have corrected to the left we might have rolled the truck, loaded with 16 dogs, two sleds, three people and all our gear down the hill.

We commenced to digging out the wheels with the little poop shovel while Nicole braking off branches and twigs to place under the wheels. After about thirty minutes we were back on the road, albeit very cautiously, heading toward Chugiak.

We arrived just in time for signups.

While waiting for the musher’s meeting we decided that Michele would only run a six dog team and leave Trapper and Barrel behind. They would stay in their comfy straw-lined boxes while the others braved the elements.

Robert’s account:

I drew bib 3 and Michele drew bib 5. We would be leaving four minutes apart. As we started hooking up its always chaotic especially when the parking lot is a sheet of ice. Nicole and our friend Dale got my team hooked up in quick order and I was on the trail. I started off slow and on the drag and brake for the first few miles. The trail was pretty good up to the tunnels and I felt good at how the dogs were responding to the icy conditions.

As we approached Clunie Lake I could see Kim, bib 2 just ahead and James, bib 1 at least a mile or so out front. I didn’t have to turn on my headlamp until right before I approached Kim to pass her. She pulled off her team and I passed her with a bit of confusion on the part of Shock and Frosty.

As we came off the lake we had to make a hard 90 degree turn and a guy was there with a snow machine to get us in the right direction. The next couple miles were hard packed snow and dirt and the occasional rut. The sled was bouncing and the dogs were cruising fast. Kim was not too far behind and I could see her headlamp and her lights shining brightly as she raced behind me.

At almost exactly the halfway point Dandy decided he had enough. I quickly set my snow hook and zipped him up in the bag. Just then Kim came up and passed me again. Dandy would ride as a passenger for the rest of the race and I now had seven dogs with Lock running on the line without a partner.

The next few miles Kim and I hopscotched up and down the hills and through the swampy, slushy trails. As we approached the Inlet and what felt like a two lane highway of a trail the dogs kicked it into gear again.

We made it around to Beach Lake and finally to Heartbreak Hill. Kim was stopped just a little way up it and remarked that she was “getting a little too old for this crap,” and I said we are almost done, just a couple miles to go. We both laughed as I ran by and I jumped off the sled and ran up to the front of the team. I ran in front of Shock and Frosty up the long incline. As we headed down the other side of the hill I jumped on the sled as it rolled past.

We were just a couple miles from the finish. We crossed the line with Kim’s team just seconds behind. Nicole and Dale were there to guide us to the truck. A nice second place finish and a great run for us!

Michele’s account:

At the musher’s meeting reality began to set in! What was I thinking? I haven’t ran a race in over a year and not only that I’ve never ran a 25-30 mile race nor have I raced in the dark! Training runs this year have been done by our daughter Nicole. I had been on the sled just once, Valentine’s Day for a quick fun-run with Robert for approximately 12 miles with my old buddy Ringo in single lead. I don’t mind just trotting along the trail taking in the sights. This Race Under the Stars would be a challenge, for me! Moments before the musher’s meeting I decided to drop two dogs and only run six, considering the speed of an icy trail. This later proved a wise decision, for the most part.

I drew bib #2 after Robert drew #3, immediately I told the marshall that I needed to draw again as this would place our handler in a bad mood. I ended up with bib #5, usually a lucky number in the Forto household being that every sport any of the kids or Robert has participated in it’s usually that number.

The start. My dogs were ready to go well before our turn to hook-up. The excitement of Robert’s team going out really set the mood for a fantastic start. With my leaders; Ty-Ty & Cession we headed out from the post and into the start chute at a pretty good clip. I knew immediately that we were going to fast and needed to slow down or we’d experience burn-out.

It is a beautiful trail. The fastest I’ve ever been on in all my years of mushing. Ty-Ty was leading beautifully and I was filled with pride knowing that my little girl had done a great job training up this rag-tag leader. Then the race really began, I caught up to #4 (and I hadn’t expected too, he had 8 huge dogs), I get nervous passing. “On-by” I hailed, and like a well-oiled machine on-by we went without a hitch! This continued up a hill 4 or 5 more times, it was exhausting! Then a third musher #6 joined the melee of passes. With 4 dogs he wasn’t faster than us but more skilled on the sled than I was. Eventually #6 and I pulled away from #4 and then all of a sudden #6 bailed out on the side of the trail, later I would understand why! Around the corner lurking in the haze of dog breath was what I referred to as “Silent Hill”. We were clipping along at probably 9 or 10 miles an hour when we began the climb, the wheel dogs Valdez and Shifter, big boys had no trouble getting me up the hill until just before we reached the top, or what I thought was the top, it leveled out for a few feet and went up again! Jesus! I said to the team, Momma’s getting off to help so take it easy!” The team and I drudged up this hill and then gently coasted down. Did I mention, #6 blew by us! Nice break before the hill.

Finally, reached Clunie Lake, if it hadn’t been cloudy, I surely would’ve stopped and taken in the stars. It was peaceful. But alas, this is where my leader Cession was experiencing heat exhaustion. She had stopped along the trail before hitting the lake a couple of times to dip snow, but on the lake she completely laid out. There is no safe place to set a hook to get a dog off the line that needs to be in the bag with 5 other dogs raring to go. So we’d run a little ways and stop to break for Cession. We reached the other side where the big trail boss guy was waiting, thankfully, it was good to see him. But this proved to be a challenge for my team. Cession wanted to rest next to his snow machine instead of heading down the trail. He held my sled, after falling in a hole himself, and I got them turned around and switched Cession with Sidney in swing. Big trail boss guy says, “hang on tight this turn is gonna be a hairpin for you” he wasn’t KIDDING! I apologize for this but I did yell out, “Holy Sh*t thanks for the help! After I successfully leaped over a burm and hay bale and retained my balance only because of the years of dry land cart training we used to do. I hate it when the sled is on one runner and at that on the left side which for me is weak, but that’s another story.

On into the swamp near what I believe was the inlet, dirt, dirt, bumps and ice. This part of the trail was highly challenging for me. Cession was pulled and placed in the bag, she didn’t like that one bit. Zipped in and tethered with three necklines little Houdini still managed to escape. See she was hot but still wanted to run. She surfed on the sled for quite a few miles before I broke a rule. I put her back on the line for the safety of the team and myself. I couldn’t drive the sled and hold on to her on this type of trail.

Hills and more hills. This is where I began to feel defeated. Cession had me very worried. I pulled her again and this time she didn’t fight as much. While zipping her into the bag. I was passed by TWO Siberian husky teams. Really! That meant I was at least 30 minutes off the pace! I’m not competitive but that pissed me off. Here I am out on a trail I don’t know, in the dark, (thank god for Nicole loaning me the Lupine) and I’m passed by Siberians!

We continue, back through the tunnel. Okay I felt like I had my bearings back a bit. Cession once again has her head popped out and is attempting to escape. More hills, and the final Siberian team catches me. We pass each other a few times, and settle in on Beach Lake. He has a bad headlamp and mine is so bright I’m able to light the trail for us both. We have a conversation on the lake and I let him know that I’m pacing my team with his Sibes in order to finish strong. All the while Cession is now leaping up and out of the zipped bag so I’m hunched over the drive bar holding her with my right hand by her harness, right foot on the drag, trying to drive this sled on bumpy icy trail. Heartbreak Hill, the one everyone said would kick my butt, didn’t. In fact, my dogs took to it like Chariots of Fire! At Sibe pace but nonetheless we finished strong.

Conclusion

After the race and the dogs fed and loaded back into the truck we headed to the club house for some yummy pizza and conversation with the other mushers. I (Robert), came in second and found out early the next morning we left before we were able to collect our prize!

We made it home by 11:30 and had the dogs back at their houses and us inside before midnight.

All in all it was a great night of racing. There was a great turnout of mushers, many of them who we had raced with before. It was a low key, fun event which memories we will share for a long time. Being Michele’s first night race I think she had a good time.

Thank you Chugiak Dog Mushers Association you are a class act and a great club. We always admire your attention to detail and putting the safety of the mushers and the teams as priority. I hope you have this event every year. It is a nice way to get out and enjoy everything that South Central, Alaska has to offer even if it does mean low snow!

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Follow Team Ineka on twitter @teamineka

Race Recap: Earl Norris Memorial Sled Dog Race

February 2, 2015 by teamineka

The Willow Winter Carnival is like no other carnival I have ever been to. They have a Frostbite 5k, snow-shoe softball, dogs weight pulling, good food, bingo, bands and lots of handcrafts.

They also have the Earl Norris Memorial Sled Dog Race. It is named after one of the most iconic names in sled dog racing in Alaska, if not North America. Earl and Natalie Norris’ name can be traced far back into the Siberian Husky history in the United States and their kennel is still in operation right here in Willow with their son, John (JP) Norris running sprint races like the Fur Rondy and their granddaughter, Lisbet Norris running in the Iditarod.

The Earl Norris race has been ran as part of the Winter Carnival since the early 1960’s.

It was an honor to have the privilege to compete in this race this past weekend.

I have said it once and I will say it again, we are not sprint mushers but I thought it would be fun to get out on the trails and enjoy the new snow and the beautiful weather as we head into the middle of the winter here in Alaska.

Friday night we had sign ups during the carnival kick-off dinner at the Willow Community Center. I was the third musher to sign up for what eventually would be 14 entries. The fee was a hundred bucks with the top ten finishers in the money, so to speak.

Day 1

The morning was a chilly minus eight degrees at the start of the race. I drew bib 7 so I would be heading out at 10:14. The time started as soon as we launched from the truck. I rode the brake as we headed onto the lake. I had Frosty-TyTy in lead, Shock-Burton, Barrel-Gabby, Aussie-Lock, and the big boys Trapper and Valdez in wheel. Along the 31 mile race route we would have four road crossings, a plywood bridge over some glaciated ice, a loop on the swamp and several turns that you had to be on your toes for. The trail was marked simply with red plates on the side of the turns and the occasional blue plate to indicate you were on the right trail.

Throughout the run we passed and were passed. I passed several teams and wouldn’t see them again until after the end of the race.

The trail was beautifully groomed and the sun was bright. It was cold enough to pull up the hood on my parka and pull out my sunglasses on the bright snow. The race was broken up into roughly thirds. The first third was marked by two road crossings and a long down hill along a road as we neared the Willow Creek Campground and onward to the Willow Swamp. The Swamp loop was roughly eight miles and the last third was in reverse with the road being slightly uphill for a couple miles. It was just enough of a grade were I kicked with the dogs but not enough that required a whole lot of effort from man or beast.

We made it to the finish in just seconds over three hours. That means we were going a little faster than 10 miles per hour. This is above average speed for us but we wanted to keep it under 11 mph anyway.

I finished the day in ninth place. All teams but one would advance to day 2. There was a four hour cut-off.

We snacked the dogs with salmon snacks and were home by 3:00. It was a great day of mushing for Team Ineka!

Day 2

Sunday’s race started off much the same as the day before except I was going out fifth instead of seventh. In most sprint races you go out in reverse order than the day before with the slower teams heading out first. Bib 2 didn’t show up so we had to wait ten minutes before we could get started.

Before the race Nicole and I discussed if we should put Shock in lead and move TyTy back in swing (behind the leaders). I decided to keep the more veteran TyTy up front for the start.

We shot off down the hill and onto the lake in fine fashion, finishing our first mile in just over four minutes. That is blazing fast for our team. As I said previously, our goal was not to go super fast, just a nice steady 11 miles per hour. We made it over the first road crossing before we passed the first team, bib 1 and then hit the long wide road before we saw Peter Duncan’s Siberian team. We passed Peter (bib 4) and as soon as we did TyTy put on the brakes and did not want to run ahead of the team that we just passed.

I quickly changed out Shock and TyTy with the young patawan up front with Frosty. While I was changing out the leaders Peter passed us again. As we got close to the Willow Creek Campground at the bottom of the long down-hill road I passed Peter again before we headed into the woods.

Over the next few miles Nick Petit (Bib 8) passed me and a few other fast teams as well. We had a great run until we got into the Willow Swamp, at about 12 miles into the run. I could see smoke billowing in the distance and knew it was a team camped on the side of the trail. We were told that we would see teams on the Swamp from the Knik 200 race that was going on at the same time.

As we approached the camping team head on, Shock and Frosty thought they might head over to join them for a snack. This caused a major tangle with my team and several of the sprint teams passed me as I was getting the dogs lined out.

We lost about 4 minutes due to the tangle and my average speed quickly went down from 11.9 mph to 10.3 according to my Sunnto watch. No worries. We still had 2/3 of the race to go. James Wheeler passed me and then I passed bib 4, 3 and 1. I would stay out ahead of those three teams from the rest of the race ensuring a ninth place finish unless my dogs really slowed down.

As we were coming off the swamp bib 7 and Lisbet (bib 6) passed me and we passed a couple Knik 200 teams head on.

The rest of the race was beautiful and sunny and a bit warmer than the day before. My team finished strong with Peter’s team close behind me.

Wrap Up

After all the teams were in we had a quick awards ceremony. I did finish in ninth place and “in the money”. Maybe there is something to this sprint mushing thing after all. I have finished in the money in all the sprint races I have done up here in Alaska. It may not be much but its way more than we have one in distance races!

It was a great weekend of mushing I am glad we got to take the team out for a couple really nice runs. We made it home by 3:30 just in time to watch the Super Bowl!

Race Recap: Dryland Races

October 3, 2014 by teamineka

Fall is in the air and the Alaskan mushing scene is doing something it has never done before. It brought dry land racing to the trails of the Chugiak Dog Mushing Association. Earlier this summer I saw a post of the CDMA Facebook page saying they were planning a dry land event in September and I immediately contacted them. I have been using a cart for training sled dogs for more than 15 years. Long before the days of being able to afford an ATV. At one point I was hooking up 12 Siberian Huskies to an old Risdon-style cart that I got from the late Frank Hall.

I met with Deb, the organizer of the event in late July and we talked about my experiences with cart training and racing and we went over ideas on how the club would put on the races.

Day 1 Races

The event was divided into classes. First the canicross guys and gals went out. These are guys that are running the two mile course with their dog leading out in front. Then the one dog bikejor, two dog bikejor, scooter and then ending the days races with the four dog cart.

I was participating in the two dog bikejor, and the cart races.

I left the house early, at about 7am and with the help of Nicole loaded up the dogs and was on the road toward Eagle River. I arrived at 8am and in time sign up for the days events and help out a little. The musher meeting and bib pickup was at 9:30 and we got our positions.

When I got back to the truck Michele and Nicole were there. They had to make a quick stop at Fred Meyers to pick up a helmet for me as I forgot mine at home. Helmets were required on the cart, bike, and scooter events. Also, our friends, Dale, Lacie and Vanessa were there. Lacie and Vanessa own a young Siberian Husky named Boomer. He came out to learn how to be a sled dog!

As the start time approached for the bikejor, Nicole hooked up my two dogs, Sidney and the young leader, Shock and we headed to the start line. We started off quick and made our way down the muddy trail with the occasional rough spot of deep pea gravel. We finished in what I thought was pretty quick time and I was only passed once by Iditarod veteran Nick Petit on his fat tire bike.

About an half hour later we were hooking up the dogs for the cart races. In this one I had Shock and Sidney again in lead, followed by Burton and Bodhi in wheel. We worked our way to the starting line with the same old cart that I had trained those twelve dogs on before. This time the steering mechanism was bent from hitting boulders and being flung off at high rates of speed from those early days gone by. My cart was by far the heaviest on the trails in this race but it didn’t matter. We rattled along and I occasionally got off the run beside the team with the mud was deep or the pea gravel weighed us down. I was again passed by Nick and finished pretty strong both the dogs and I smiling for the cameras as we came into the finish line.

We had a quick awards ceremony and all of us got something. I got a couple bags of dog treats for my two races.

All in all it was a great day of racing and a fabulous event. The next weekend we would be back at it again for round two.

Day 2 Races

Day two started much the same except I was bringing along a few more dogs. I was the first musher to arrive at the parking lot and sat for a few minutes before others started to arrive. It was indeed much colder than the week before and there was frost on the trucks and on the starting chutes. It was going to be a great day of racing!

Today we would be entering three teams in the 2 dog bikejor, as Dale and Lacie would also be racing under the Team Ineka banner. As you may recall, Dale mushed with us last year and he has one of our older dogs, Pearl. Lacie and her dog Boomer are new to this whole sled dog thing but they would quickly learn today just how fun it is!

We had our meetings and grabbed our bibs and waited for our race to start. Lacie was scheduled to go out 3rd, Dale 4th and me in 9th position. With only a minute between starts our handlers for the day, Michele, Nicole and Vanessa would have to boogie to get us all out on the trail. Lacie was running Denali and Boomer. Denali, one of our oldest leaders would teach a thing or two to the young pup, Boomer. They started down the trail quick and Lacie was pedaling hard as she rounded the corner and out of sight.

Dale was up next. He had the ever-excited duo of Cession and TyTy. Cession is an up-and-coming leader and TyTy runs in lead all the time with Nicole on her team. Dale admittedly was a little nervous with these two high energy pooches out front. His only practice run was a quick circle around the parking lot minutes before the race.

I rounded out the field of nine as I made my way to the starting line. I had Sidney and Shock again. Remember last week when I told you that we had to wear helmets? Well, we only had two bicycle helmets at home so I had to improvise.

As I headed to the starting line I put on my Viking helmet that sure was getting a lot of side glances, pictures, and comments. I even made the 10pm news on channel 2! I headed down the trail and had a great run. My two dogs knew by now we were there to race. The trail was firm as all the mud had dried up from the week before.

I ended up finishing in 5th place and Lacie and Dale in 8th and 9th respectively.

As it approached time to hook up the four dogs for the cart race I decided I would wear a bicycle helmet because I thought I heard I was disqualified from the biker for my outlandish viking helmet. I had Sid and Shock in lead followed by two big brutes, Ragnar (hence the viking theme) and Trapper. Ragnar is new to my team this year as he is a bit “wild” in harness. This year he will be on my main team. Trapper has been with me since the beginning when he came to us a couple summers ago as part of the Kasilof Crew. He has raced with me in races the last two seasons including the Tustumena and the Knik 200.

We scooted down the trail on the same heavy cart but we had much more power with the two big boys in the back. We ended up finishing 8th.

We had our awards ceremony and all three of us collected our winning dog treats. Lacie and Dale were all smiles and really enjoyed their time on the trails.

We were told that next year the club hopes to have a dry-land race series in September/October. We will surely be there!

This event, both weekends was an absolute blast! We had a great time. Met a lot of great people and introduced two new mushers to the sport of dry land racing. That’s what its all about for us.

I want to thank the volunteers and the Chugiak Dog Mushers Association for putting on an awesome event. It will be something that we will remember for a long time. I am glad someone had the courage to bring this to Alaska. Any mushing event that can bring people and dogs together is what this sport needs in order to continue to grown.

Thanks again from all of us at Team Ineka. We will see you next year!