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Sled dog racing

South Central Challenge

January 21, 2014 by teamineka

You have heard the saying, a fish out of water, haven’t you?

That was me this weekend. I signed up for the South Central Challenge. “A stage race for speed racers,” it said on the website. I was a distance musher training for the Iditarod and MY dogs are slow by distance team’s standards. Oh, well you only live once and why not have fun doing it?

I am not necessarily a novice to sprint mushing. I had done quite a bit of sprint racing in Colorado in 2000-2001 with my rag-tag team of Siberians. We usually finished in the middle of the pack so I knew the fundamentals to a successful race.

The South Central Challenge is new to Alaska. It is a event that is held in four different locations by four different clubs. They all came together and put on a great weekend of races. The clubs, in the order of the event are: Montana Creek Dog Mushing Club, the Aurora Dog Mushers Club, the Chugiak Dog Mushers Association, and the Alaskan Sled Dog & Racing Association.

Friday: Montana Creek

The first day’s races were held at Montana Creek just north of Willow, about 35 miles of our kennel. We got up early, did the kennel chores and loaded up the dogs and minimal gear that we would need. That would be a sled, a snow hook, a meal for the dogs after the race, some booties and my checkbook. Nothing compared to the hours and hundreds of pounds of gear needed for longer race like the Knik 200.

We were allowed to choose from a pool of 12 dogs in the 10-dog class I was running in. What that means is I could run dogs in day 2-4 that I didn’t run in a different day and so on.

I tried to choose some of the fastest dogs in the kennel. Our average speed is usually about 8 mph so “fast” is relative.

The team: TyTy, Vela, Gabby, Shock, Rasp, Barrel, Spencer, Sidney, Zero, Seabreeze, and Cession. It was the first race ever for Barrel, Cession, Zero and Seabreeze.

We arrived at Montana Creek early and paid our entry fee for the four days of racing: $209.00. In mushing it is customary that you must sign up or be members of the host clubs so that you can be covered under their insurance.

Our race didn’t start until 2 pm so we had a couple hours wait. We watched the 6-dog teams go out and chatted with several people. One of our friends, James Wheeler was there. He was who we got the Kasilof Crew from a couple summers ago. We chatted about the dogs–four of who would be racing on my team.

At 1 pm we had our drivers meeting and were told about the trail and any hazards. We were running 12 miles on a flat course. I drew bib 2 so I would be going out second.

We quickly dropped the dogs, let them stretch before we harnessed them up and put booties on those who needed them.

I was running TyTy-Rasp in lead, Shock-Gabby, Barrel-Cession, Sidney-Spencer, Zero-Seabreeze in wheel.

As soon as we left the chute I could immediately tell that the team was too fast for Seabreeze. His tug was loose and he kept getting his feet tangled in the lines. We started off strong and didn’t get passed by any teams for the first couple miles. After the first two teams passed us Rasp started slowing down and looking back. I set my hook and switched her out with Sidney. At about the halfway point all the teams had passed us and we were on our own. No matter the team was still chasing those dogs in front of them, albeit an ever-increasing distance.

We finished strong in last place in a time of 72 minutes. Not too bad on a punchy trail and warm weather.

By 4:30 we had fed the team, loaded the truck and on our way home to race another day.

Saturday: Aurora

On Saturday we headed to the Aurora Dog Mushing Club’s track in Big Lake. After getting lost we arrived just in time to see the skijorring competition. The weather was warm and it was raining. Not anywhere near ideal for a sprint race. We had our drivers meeting and were told that the trail was in decent shape but we would only be running eight miles.

Nicole and I watched the 6-dog class come and go while we talked to Dan and his son from Sled Dog Systems. They are the company that provided me with my super lightweight sprint/smaller type mid-distance sled with a trail dragger system last year. This was only the third time using the sled in a race and I love it! It’s not the fancy-dancy hi-tech sleds that many of the mushers were using this weekend with the ski-type runners but compared to our loaded down 90 pound mid-distance sled that we mainly use, Sled Dog Systems sled was like running on roller blades.

The race started at 2 pm and I was seventh out, the last team. Our run was good. We left Seabreeze at home and I ran Vela in lead for half of the race and switched her with Sidney. Lately she has been my “closer”. Sort of like in baseball when the manager comes to the mound and takes the ball from the pitcher. “Good game, kid but let’s let someone else finish this thing out.”

The trail wasn’t too bad by my standards. The trails we normally train on are usually punchy with thick snow, overflow and the occasional open water. A sprint trail by comparison is usually super fast, expertly groomed and like a super highway.

There were plenty of volunteers at all the crucial turns and crossings and they all cheered us on as we went by.

We finished the race still in last but with a good time of 39 minutes. Not too bad!

We were home before dark just in time for a three hour shoveling job to remove three feet of melting snow from the kennel barn roof. We were worried the weight might cave in the roof and we have puppies in there!

Sunday: Chugiak

It was still warm on Sunday morning but cooler than the last two days as we pulled up to the Chugiak trails. These are the same trails In ran on the week before in the Eagle River Classic. My friend and one of our top sponsors, Dale Campbell showed up to help us out and Michele came out after her dog training appointments in Anchorage.

We had our drivers meeting and we were told that today we were only running 10 miles but the trails were in excellent shape. I was going out seventh and we were to leave at 2pm again. I had been contemplating putting Cession in lead but was a little worried about the culverts that we would be passing under about 2 miles down the trail.

I started the race with tried and true leaders, Vela and TyTy but as soon as we went under the culvert I set the hook and switched out Vela and Cession. She had never ran in a race before much less in lead. As I clasped her neckline she turned around and started walking back to the sled with me. “Line out, Cession,” I said. And she did!

Cession is by far the fastest dog on the team and outpaced TyTy by a step or two. The team finished the race strong. Oh, I didn’t mention that Cession was in heat too and made the young intact boys in the team run a little faster trying to catch her.

A little side note about Cession.

About a year ago we arrived home to find Cession in horrible shape. The dog next to her had gotten ahold of her backside and practically ripped off the skin and fur on a third of her back. Huge puncture wounds and bites and a lot of blood. You could literally put your full hand under the skin flap.

Our vet, Dr. Susan Dent of Wildwood Mobile Vet Clinic was in Trapper Creek giving vaccines that night. We jumped in the truck and drove 50+ miles to get Cession the care she needed. Three hours later Cession was all fixed up and we headed home. Without Dr. Dent that night, Cession might not have made it. Three months of good nursing care Cession was all healed up. She didn’t run at all last season and this fall she really proved herself.

Back to the race…

We finished in 51 minutes (I believe) and loaded up the truck and grabbed a pizza at Pizza Hut before heading home. Three days down, one to go.

Monday: Tozier Track

Monday would to prove to be the most challenging and most fun of the weekend. We were racing at the historic Tozier Track in downtown Anchorage. When you enter the clubhouse a who’s who of mushing greats pictures lined the walls.

This was going to be urban mushing at its finest. Tozier Track is right off one of the busiest roads in town, right next to the police station and a Mexican restaurant was across the street. Not what we are used to at all! We usually run on trails were we seldom see people and it’s usually dark.

The day started with a huge pack of teams in the 3-dog class. Being in town just about anyone can be a musher if you want to. The city allows up to three dogs. We saw several minivans with sleds strapped to the roof and the sled dogs in crates in the back. Nothing wrong with that at all!

The 6-dog teams made quick runs on their eight mile course and by 1:30 we were having our drivers meeting. We were told that we were running 12 miles. On the trail we might encounter a moose or two, several culverts, a few bridges, a major road crossing, an active airstrip, a gas line, people, skiers, swamps, hills, and ice bridges.

I went out last. This time with Cession in her new spot in lead with TyTy joining her. We took off on the trail at a pretty fast pace. We passed through the culverts, over a bridge and barely noticed the road crossing. At about mile 6 there was a couple people on snow machines at a trail crossing. TyTy wanted to go over and say hello and caused a heck of a tangle. I lined them all out and it was time for TyTy to hand off the ball. Sidney was now in lead.

We scooted down the trail for the next four miles or so and I saw out of the corner of my eye what looked like the turn onto the gas line trail. We kept going for about a quarter of a mile and ahead a saw a group of people. To the left of me were several people, a few with skis, and a loose dog was on my right. My team separated the dog from his owners. Within seconds the loose dog was tangled in my team and it could have gotten ugly really quick. 10 dogs against one tangled in a gangline doesn’t always end well for a dog that is not part of “the pack”.

I whipped my head to the left to see a lady with her mouth agape, her hands on her cheeks and the look of absolute horror on her face. I yelled at her, “lady get your dog!” She just stood there, not moving, and so did everyone else around me.

Within seconds I got the pet dog free and he quickly ran to his mommy unhurt. My dogs whipped me and the sled around and proceeded to follow the dog into the parking lot to my (now) right. I wedged my sled into a tree, got the team turned around and on the trail again and off we went. Whew…. It was a close one!

I checked my GPS and could see we were on the wrong trail and we had already done 11.75 of our 12 miles. We had at least a mile to go.

We finished strong, actually our fastest run of the weekend.

We had just 15 minutes before the awards ceremony in the clubhouse. We hurriedly got the team taken care of and I headed up to the ceremony as Nicole finished up.

The ceremony was your normal thanks and congrats to the mushers and the teams. Being that it was such a small field of teams, all of us got a portion of the $10,000.00 purse. I got a nice payday. The first check I have gotten as a musher in a long time!

I thanked my daughter for the awesome job as my handler, my great team of dogs and all the mushers for putting up with the slowest team.

We stopped at the Lucky Wishbone to grab some take out. If you are ever in Anchorage and like fried chicken you have to check this place out.

We were home by 6 and the chores done by 7.

What we learned

1. What a great event. I can’t thank enough all the folks and the four clubs that put this on. It was a pleasure and am honor to be able to take part in such a great weekend of racing.

2. I am proud of my dogs, especially the ones that had never raced before and a big hug to my girl Cession. What a firecracker!

3. I really got a chance to bond with these dogs over the weekend. It is amazing how much quality time and what you learn about each of them spending four days together.

4. While not fast by a long shot, my team showed me that they had what it takes to get the job done on such varied trails and conditions. All my dogs remained healthy and tail waggin’ happy the whole time. That’s what matters most to me.

5. My daughter Nicole, is an awesome handler. She handled this like a true pro. She has come such a long way from those days of running behind mom and dads sled as we headed into the starting chute at sprint races when she was three years old. It’s hard to believe in just about a year and a half she will be heading to college and starting out life on her own. I just hope that we taught her well and that no matter what she is an awesome young lady with a strong work ethic, good morals and a great personality. I am so proud of her!

6. Confession…. If I wasn’t so determined to chase that elusive Iditarod dream I really could get into this sprint mushing thing. As I have said before it sure is nice to sleep in your bed at night. Wait a minute, it’s nice to sleep out under the northern lights too.

Again thanks to all the clubs. I don’t know if we will be back next year but this year was a blast!

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Filed Under: Races Tagged With: #racerecap, Cession, MUSH, Sidney-Spencer, Sled, Sled dog, Sled dog racing, Vela

Eagle River Classic

January 13, 2014 by teamineka

This past weekend I participated in the Eagle River Classic sprint races put on by The Chugiak Dog Mushers Association. It was my first sprint race in more than 14 years!

After last weekend’s Knik 200 I needed to get out and run dogs and just have fun.

Michele, Nicole and I, woke up early Saturday morning, 5;45, did the kennel chores and loaded up the team. Being a sprint race we needed very little, almost none, in the way of gear. We grabbed a snack for the team, mixed up a meal for them after the first heat in the cooler, some booties and the sled.

We arrived early at the Chugiak Dog Mushers Association. After parking the truck we headed over to their beautiful clubhouse, paid the entry fee (over a hundred bucks) and waited for the other teams to start to arrive.

By 9:45 the driver’s meeting was underway. I drew bib 2 for day 1 in the eight dog class. That means I would be going out second in a field of 8.

The eight dog class wasn’t scheduled to run until 12:50 so we had plenty of time on our hands to watch the action. The skijor class went out first, then a couple novice races and then the 4-dog and 6-dog classes.

Sprint racing is MUCH different than distance. Everything is hurry up and wait and you can sense the tension in the air as the mushers prepare to run. All of the sleds are aerodynamic, and are slick rocket-shaped designs. The newest models use skis for runners. These multi-thousand dollar sleds are designed to shave off seconds of a run time.

The dogs are much different as well. Most teams are running tall, thin and sleek hound-crosses. I believe our team was the smallest (in size) of the bunch. There were several husky looking dogs but not many in the 30 or so teams lined up in the parking lot.

As we got closer and closer to race time we started in on our pre-race chores. Dropping the dogs, booties for those who needed them, harnesses and getting the sled ready. We were all parked side-by-side and each of us had a pole to use as a tie out. At 12:40 we were ready to go.

Each team “pulls the hook” from their pole near the truck and heads to the starting chute. I had Vela-TyYy in lead, Gabby-Shock, Cession, Sidney, Dandy and Spencer in wheel. Nicole and Michele got me up to the start line and the countdown began.

At exactly 12:51 I was on the trail! I had to remind myself not to use the brake going out of the chute. After the first turn I could quickly see I was on the nicest trail of my life. It was a beautifully groomed trail about eight feet wide. It ran through the trees, up and down a few hills, through a tunnel, and even a bit of overflow that they made a big deal out of in the driver’s meeting. It was just a bunch of ice, something we see on our trails every day.

Within a few minutes teams started passing me. All the passes were uneventful with no tangles. Those super fast hound dogs blew past me like I was standing still.

But standing still we were not. My team were running. FAST! Those little dogs have never run that fast in their lives probably. We had no weight in the sled. No gear, nothing to weigh them down. We were even running too fast for Vela who was in lead and I had to slow the team down several times to keep the gang line tight.

We finished the eight mile course in just over 37 minutes. Almost 13 miles per hour! We are used to going 8! We were in last place but who cares.

We got back to the truck, feed the dogs and let them cool down a bit before we put them back in the truck. By 2:30 we were back on the road.

We had dinner in Eagle River and where home by 6.

The nicest thing about sprint racing is you get to sleep in a bed at night. Most of the time your own bed.

Sunday morning we were back at it and on the road and back in Chugiak by 9:30. We had a quick drivers meeting, bib draw and trail report. I was going out 8th because of my last place finish the day before. Thats okay. No passing and all chasing!

We left the chute at 12:04 and I made it back in 20 seconds faster than the day before! What? We went even faster? 20 seconds, but still…

We were done and loaded up by 2:00 and hung out a while in the clubhouse before heading home.

We were home in time to watch the second half of the Bronco’s game!

Things I learned:

1. We had a blast.

2. Several of our dogs got some great experience around all the chaos of racing.

3. The trails were beautiful. It was like running on a highway.

4. While all the mushers were intense, everybody was very nice. I think we even made a couple new friends.

5. Our dogs did great! Even though we were slow by the rest of the competitors standards, each one of them showed me that they could run fast and they all came back happy and wagging tails.

The Chugiak Dog Mushers are great and I can not thank them enough. They put on a great race and we were honored to be there. Even though it had been well over a decade since we have done a sprint race, the weekend brought back a flood of memories.

What a great weekend. Hope to see you down the trail…

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Filed Under: Races Tagged With: Chugiak, Dog, Eagle River Classic, Sled dog racing

2014 Knik 200 Experience

January 8, 2014 by teamineka

knik 200 start

” The more difficult it is to reach your destination, the more you’ll remember the journey…” ~Brad Sugars

On January 4th I was on Knik Lake prepared to run in a 200 mile qualifier on some of the most historic trails in mushing. The trails that the great Joe Redington ran on and where the Iditarod once started.

One can say that the pieces are what make up a whole. And this weekend’s race experience is true testament to that!

This post is in no way complaining. I learned a lot and I am glad that we entered the race. A good friend of mine, Dave Scheer, always says, “there’s no shortcut to Nome.” Boy, is that the truth.

On Friday, the night before the race, our electricity at the house was out for more than 13 hours. True it was out for most of Willow, but when you depend on an electric well pump to feed your dogs it compounds the problem just a bit.

Our drop bags were due at the Eaglequest Lodge and we were told in our musher packet that if we wanted one bag to stay at Eaglequest then mark it as such. I did and the other one was headed to Yentna Station, some 100 miles down the trail.

I met Michele for a quick dinner and then we headed over to the pre-race musher/handler meeting at the Menard Center. What was supposed to be a quick meeting turned into a two hour affair of mostly banter between the trail boss and the mushers trying to figure out the trail.

The trail boss assured us that the trail was in “great shape” and “well marked.” Okay…

After all of this back-and-forth it was time for the musher draw for starting position. Since I was second to sign up, I was second to pick. I would be going out 15th (out of 41 teams) just behind my good friend Hugh Neff and defending 2012 Knik 200 champ Jake Berkowitz.

I was happy with my starting position. Pretty much right in the middle of the pack.

We got home about 10 pm just as my daughter, Nicole was finishing up the nightly kennel chores. She was awesome and really stepped up by melting snow on the wood stove so that the dogs could be fed. The electric finally came on about this time. We all headed to bed as we would be up early to get loaded up and on the lake by 9.

We were up by 6am and the dogs were fed, the team and gear was loaded and we were on the road by 7:30. We were one of the first teams to arrive and were told to park on the close end of the lake on the south side.

Shortly after we got all of our gear unpacked and on the ground, the Race Marshall came over and told us and another team that we were parked in the wrong spot and we had to move. Great! Luckily we were moving just about 50 yards away and it was a better spot for our launch into the starting chute. About this time, Dale, one of our biggest sponsors, good friend, and someone we are teaching how to run dogs showed up to give us a hand.

The race was supposed to start at 11:00am. Leaving 15th, I should be on the starting line at 11:30 sharp. It wasn’t until 10:30 that the volunteers finally came around for gear checks and to attach a Spot Tracker to the my sled. About this time the chief veterinarian came over and looked at the team. He expressed concern about a couple of the dogs being thin and I agreed with him. Aussie and Trapper have a hard time keeping on weight and we feed them like crazy. I just hoped that these two wouldn’t be a problem down the trail.

About this time Michele and I were getting ready to feed the team a beef snack. As we were taking them out of the package, Burton, the youngest dog on the team and in his first race jumped up and grabbed the snack out of my hand. As he did he got my ring finger on my right hand and it immediately started bleeding profusely through my glove. Of course we didn’t have any first aid supplies so Michele ran across the lake jumped into her car and ran to the gas station to buy some Band-Aids. By the time she made it back we were five minutes from the first team going out and 20 minutes before I was to leave. Blood was all over everything at this point: my parka, my sweatshirt, a couple of the dogs and my sled bag. The cut was pretty deep and I could have used a stitch or two. We wrapped it as best as we could with some gauze and medical tape and I put on two pairs of knit gloves.

We headed to the starting line. Nicole and Dale lead the team out and Michele was on the runners with me. at 11:30 she kissed me good bye and off we went on the trail!

The trail off the lake winds through houses and dog yards as well as the Mushing Hall of Fame and the Redington homestead before reaching a few lakes and some rolling hills on the way to the Nome Sign.

Our first 25 miles on the trail was un-eventful and just a few teams passed us. The trail was well marked and well groomed. I knew this trail well from the Goose Bay 150 and the Nome 40 race last season. At the Nome Sign we turned right heading into the Big Swamp on our way to Willow and the first checkpoint, Eaglequest Lodge.

Then before we hit the swamp there were a few hills to contend with and by this time people were beginning to snack their teams. One of my biggest problems in racing, and it comes from lack of experience of my team comes from when mushers snack their teams on the trail with kibble. My dogs immediately stop almost every time to gorge on the left overs and usually a tangle ensues.

The Big Swamp trail was punchy, slow, and not very well marked. It was beginning to get very warm and I would later find out it was almost 40 degrees. way too hot to be running a race with my team who is used to running at night and much colder temperatures.

I could immediately tell when we came upon the trails that are maintained by the Willow Trails Committee. They were well groomed and well marked. As we headed into the Willow Swamp Loop we had to first run parallel to the Nancy Creek Recreation Area. This section of the trail was the most fun of the race with several switch backs, ice bridges and up and over a few up and down hills.

As we came into the Willow Swamp it was now dark and I could see the familiar sight of the flashing red lights that were near the checkpoint. The dogs were running very good. We had stopped a couple times to snack with beef and salmon.

I arrived at the checkpoint at about 6:30 as the snow began to fall. Nicole and Michele were there to cheer me on and Michele was able to snap a quick picture and wished me luck.

I had planned to stop here for a couple hours and feed the dogs. We were lead to the airstrip about a quarter mile from the lodge.

I parked my team, took off their booties, gave them a quick rub down and walked with my cooler to the lodge to grab my drop bag and some hot water. I grabbed the water and looked all over for my drop bag. It was not there! Only the Knik 100 drop bags were there. My bag, that I clearly indicated to stay at Eaglequest was taken 50 miles down the trail to Yentna Station. Great.

I added two packages of fish and a package of beef snacks to the water and let it soak for about 45 minutes. I fed the dogs, bootied them up and was back on the trail at exactly 8:30 on the way to the halfway point on the Yentna River.

I have run this trail many times. My dogs knew it like it was their home trail and I had no problems making my way down the river. It was snowing pretty good by this time and by the time we saw the sign that we were 10 miles from Yentna Station I knew we were making decent time.

We arrived at Yentna about 1:30. Just about a five hour run for 45 miles. That is, what, about 9 miles and hour? Not bad. We were told to park right behind another team, whom I would later learn was Jamaican Musher Newton Marshall and parked next to me was Tim Osmar. I thought to myself, man we are all parked pretty close together and what happens if a team that is parked behind me wants to leave before I did?

I was told that I could leave a 7:55 am. This was a mandatory 6 hour stop plus time differential. I had planned to stay about 8 hours but with the team directly behind me I knew I would have to leave at my appointed time.

Over the next several hours I melted snow in the cooker, fed the dogs a good meal and tended to my chores. All the dogs looked good except I could tell they were tired. We ran close to 100 miles with about an hour and a half rest. I was proud of them.

Nobody in the team had any injuries, and all their feet looked good.

About 5:00 am I had just finished heating up some soup for myself and I laid down in some straw and covered my head with my parka. It was snowing very hard by now and we got at least 3 inches of wet snow through the night.

I headed to the warming hut at 6:30 and talked for a bit to the volunteers. It sounded like several people had taken wrong turns and three had scratched so far.

By 7:00 I had given my dogs a snack, and prepared to leave at 7:55. Booties were on the dogs that needed them and we hit the trail right on time.

The sunrise was slow as we worked our way down river and the snow eventually stopped around 10:30. Several teams passed me but we were making decent time.

As we reached Corral Hill coming into Eaglequest, Scarlet started hesitating and her tug went slack. I knew she was tired. She is the oldest dog on the team, 9 years old, and by far the smallest. I knew I was going to drop her at Eaglequest.

We made it to the checkpoint at 12:30, a little faster than the run the night before. I planned to camp here again for a couple hours but the volunteer said that they were wrapping up the checkpoint. I signed in and out and dropped Scarlet and asked the vet to call Michele to pick her up.

A few miles after we left Eaglequest I began seeing teams camped out along the trail in the Willow Swamp. I found a spot to pull over and gave the dogs a snack. I could tell the dogs were pretty tired. We stayed about 25 minutes and hit the trail. As we were running through Nancy Creek Recreation Area Trapper started to limp. I stopped the team. It looked like a sore shoulder.

This is were the proverbial wheels fell off and our race was coming to an end. I couldn’t get Trapper to stay in the bag, he had never been in there before, and I decided to have him sit on the drag. Shortly thereafter the team got slower and slower and I began to see them pulling over to the side to want to rest. This is exactly what happened last year on the Tustumena 200 and I knew that they need to rest.

We pulled off the trail, somewhere in the middle of the Big Swamp and I let them rest. They looked exhausted. They could barely keep their eyes open. It was about 3:30pm and the sun was beginning to set. I fired up the cooker and used my last bit of fuel and made the dogs a meal. Trapper’s sore shoulder was not getting any better. I massaged it and placed a heat wrap on it. After the meal I walked him around and he was still limping pretty bad. Trapper is the biggest dog in the team, weighing at least 65 pounds.

At about 5:30 I got the dogs up and tried to get them going. They didn’t want to budge. We would go for a half mile and they would want to lay down again. The scariest thing in mushing is your team quitting on you. I switched every dog around trying to get them to go down the trail. Nobody wanted to lead.

I knew that at least four teams were behind me and it would be several hours before I saw anyone because they couldn’t leave Yentna till at least 10:30 plus a four to five hour run up the river and then here. I knew I was at least 25 miles from the finish and ahead of me was the punchy trail of the Big Swamp and the big hills after the Nome sign. I decided I would turn around. The trail back to Eaglequest was relatively flat and groomed. But if I turned around my race would be over and I would have to scratch.

Even after turning around the team didn’t want to go. I finally fashioned a leash out of necklines and hooked it up to the first section of the gang line behind the leaders and started walking back to Willow.

Trapper was in the sled bag at this time and I had tied my sleeping bag and dog coats (which I shouldn’t have brought because it was so hot) to the top of my sled using extra necklines. I walked for more than two hours. My feet were soaking wet by this time from all the overflow on the river and sweat and I had developed pretty bad blisters by this time.

Finally something clicked and the dogs started to pick up speed! I had Sidney and Aussie in lead by this time and they practically ran me over. I jumped on my sled and away we went heading back to Eaglequest! As we hit Nancy Creek we passed the teams and one called out, “where are you going?”

“I have to scratch,” I said.

We ran all the way back to Eaglequest, slow, but we were moving and made it in at about 9:30. There was nobody there with the race and I knocked on the door to the lodge. I called Michele, told her where I was and what happened. She and Nicole were already at Knik Lake waiting for me to finish.

It took them almost an hour to bring the truck to Eaglequest. While I waited for her I spent time with each dog and gave them a hug and told them I was proud of them. They had no idea we didn’t finish. They were just happy to be done, I think. All the dogs seem to be injury free and Trapper even seemed to be getting better. He was walking around without much of a limp at all as we waited for Michele and Nicole.

Michele and Nicole finally arrived and we loaded up the team and the gear. We had to drive all the way back to Knik to get Michele’s car. We handed off my Spot Tracker and officially scratched on the lake.

We were home by 12:30. 37 hours after I started. We put the dogs back at their houses and headed to bed.

I awoke Monday morning frustrated and wanting to throw in the towel on the season. I spoke to my friends Hugh and Tim on Facebook and they encouraged me to not give up. Many of my fans on our Facebook page said the same thing. I decided I would think about it over the next couple days and decide what I was going to do.

As I always do after a training run and a race I debrief and try to figure out what I learned on the trail.

This is it:

1. There is a saying in sports: Race as you train and train as you race. This was my biggest downfall on the Knik. I was suffering from a major case of kennel blindness. I thought my dogs were ready. We had plenty of miles, over 500 in December alone and lots of time on the sled. But all but one run was on our home trails. Any dog will perform if it knows where it is and how far it is from home.

2. My dogs were underweight. I could tell that immediately when I saw some of the other teams on the trail. This is another case of kennel blindness. When you see the same dogs every day they look the same each day. You seldom notice if a dog loses a few pounds when they are in a group of 30 where they have lost a few pounds too. I don’t know what am doing wrong on my feeding schedule. I thought I was doing what everyone else was doing. We were and are feeding an appropriate amount of kibble and meat.

3. I did not give my dogs enough rest. I should have stayed at Yentna for 10 hours. It’s what they needed. Instead I let others influence my trail schedule. One of the biggest mistakes in mushing.

4. I should not have trusted the race crew to keep my drop bag at Eaglequest. By doing so I did not feed my team properly on my outbound stop at Eaglequest.

5. At some point on the trail I lost my Nalgene water bottle. I did not hydrate my body enough and I knew I was getting dehydrated.

6. I should have let the team rest on the Big Swamp for at least 4 hours instead of trying to coax them to go. In hindsight if I would have done that my team probably could have finished even with Trapper in the sled.

7. I was carrying way too much gear. I should not have brought along the dog coats, my parka and I should have worn different boots.

8. It was way too hot to run this race. I know my team does not perform well in temperatures over 30 degrees. Any team, mine especially does best when it is minus 20 degrees or below.

9. I probably should have withdrawn when Burton bit my finger. While I was able to use my hand, I did lose quite a bit of blood.

What went well:

I am so proud of my dogs. They gained experience on the trail. Burton really became a sled dog on this run. I am proud of Denali. Just a couple weeks ago he had been getting laser treatments for a sore back and during this race he didn’t show one sign of soreness.

Even though we didn’t finish we ran over 200 miles over the weekend.

I had so much support from my family, friends and fans. Their words of encouragement were so uplifting.

What’s next?

This weekend we are going to run a fun sprint race with some of our fastest dogs and then concentrate on Nicole’s races in February, the Willow Junior 100 and the Junior Iditarod. I plan to also run the Goose Bay 150, our little Independence Mine race and the Don Bowers 300 (if it happens) in March.

I don’t know if we will meet our original goal of qualifying for the Iditarod this year or not. If we don’t our plan is to travel to the Lower 48 next season and run in some of the races down there that have been on my mushing bucket list for a long time: The Race to the Sky, The Beargrease, and the UP200. Anyone want to be a handler??

True we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get where we are today, including buying our home here but, do you know what? I am proud of where we are. We are a family run kennel that works hard and we love what we do. We are not rich and we don’t have big name sponsors but that’s okay. To some people they are just sled dogs but to us our dogs are our friends. We do what ever we can to provide for our team. We are not done for a long shot.

See you on the trail and see you in February!

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Filed Under: Races Tagged With: Alaska, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Joe Redington, MUSH, Sled dog racing, willow, Yentna River

TyTy

August 5, 2013 by teamineka

Hi, my name is TyTy and I am part of the Kasilof Crew that joined Team Ineka in the summer of 2012. I am one of the leaders here at the kennel and I have been in several races; including the Tustumena 200 with Robert where we had to scratch because it was so dang hot, and the Willow Junior 100 with Nicole.

I am pretty shy until I am in my harness and hooked up to the sled. Then I am all business. I will pull and pull and pull. I am pretty good at listening to the musher and will even break through deep snow when there is not much of a trail.

I have an interesting trademark. Some time when I was younger I got a little bit of frostbite on my nose so now it looks kinda cool.

I am the veteran of two Junior Iditarod’s with Nicole and one of the main leaders in the team. I am currently training the up-and-comers Atreyu and Bastian of The Oracle Crew to lead too.

If you would like to sponsor me that would be pretty neat! You know lots of people wear jerseys of their favorite player but not many people can say, “hey I know a lead dog and I sponsor her too!” You will also get a signed picture of the team, your name on our dog truck which is really cool if you own a business and care about promotion and stuff like that, and you can also ask me questions anytime, well at least you can ask the musher anytime.

Become a part of the team! 

Filed Under: The Dogs Tagged With: dog sledding, Iditarod, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, MUSH, Sled dog racing, Sledding, Sports, Tustumena 200, winter sports

Trail Dragger Sled from Sled Dog Systems

February 11, 2013 by teamineka

One of the main reasons for my lack of success at this year’s Tustumena 200 sled dog race was that my sled was the biggest and heaviest sled in the field. So much so, one of my musher friends came up and said, “Are you going to run THAT in the race?”

When he said that I knew I was in trouble!

 

So a couple days after the race I hooked up with a great family business, Sled Dog Systems here in Willow. We had met earlier this summer about their sleds when they were up in Alaska looking for property to make the “big jump” in moving from the Midwest to Alaska.

Kim, Dan and their boys make some of the most innovative sleds in the world. One of their top clients is Iditarod Champion, Jeff King. If you know anything about King he is the unequivocal “King” of innovation on the trail. If my memory serves me correctly he was the first person to use the “shorty” harnesses that many use today as well as the “trail-dragger sled” that is seen here and that many of the top teams use today in long distance mushing.

The sled I got is a prototype of the K-5 line and its is the lightest, most maneuverable sled I have ever owned.

I have never driven a trail dragger sled and it does have a bit of a learning curve to it. I am used to pedaling from the rear of the sled. This design makes that nearly impossible.

Lets talk about some of its features:

1. The sled is built on on standard eight foot aluminum OCR runners. You can fold down the sled to make shipment a breeze. Story goes that Jeff King checked one of these sleds as baggage on an airplane to Nome!

2. The front bag is very innovative. It looks like something you would see on a sprint sled (Sled Dog Systems makes them too). It was a wrap around design covering the brush bow. The sled does not have a traditional bed made of plastic and the bag “floats”. I placed a 1/4 inch piece of painted plywood in mine to give it some rigidity. The bag is attached near the driving bow in a way to remain stationary during turns. The eliminates gear shift in the bag. The bag has a mesh panel in case you need to carry a dog.

3. The driving bow has to placements, similar to what you would see on a sprint sled. This allows for greater efficiency in pedaling. The driving bow is also adjustable.

4. On the driving bow is a piece of plastic where your snow-hooks rest and they can be attached with a bungee. This is another innovation often seen on sprint sleds.

5. The drag mat can be folded up out of the way when not in use. It is of ample size, covering most of the area between the front of the sled and the rear.

6. The braking system is very innovative. It is small but packs a big punch and grips the trail with its sharp teeth. It is attached to the bridle.

7. The cooler “seat” and the rear of the sled is what is newest to me. I have been driving traditional stand up sleds for my whole career. The cooler “seat” is a medium sized marine-grade cooler that is attached to the sled by a couple of bungees. I tested the seat out on several trail conditions (a lake, a winding trail, and an open rolling trail) and it proved to be remarkable in its handling. I never knew that mushing could be so comfortable! With a slight lean and a a small adjustment to the driving bow with your hands the sled maneuvers very well from a seated position.

8. The cooker compartment is located behind the cooler “seat” and makes a great place to store extra gear along with the cooker to provide equal weight distribution along the entire sled. The bed of the cooker compartment has holes in the plastic to help eliminate ice and snow built up.

9. The trail dragger portion of the sled can be removed for normal/shorter training runs when the extra gear is not needed.

10. The folks at Sled Dog Systems sewed the bag for me to match our team colors of black and red. They added a checkerboard pattern as well. I don’t know how well that will be perceived at the starting line, but all in good fun!

I am looking forward to running with this sled in the coming weeks and maybe a race or two later in the season. I will give a full report at that time. All in all it looks like a fun and innovative project that I am sure to love!

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Gear Tagged With: Alaska, Dog, Dog sled, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Jeff King, MUSH, Sled, Sled dog, Sled dog racing, Tustumena 200, willow

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