This weekend was yet another sled dog race. This time it was held in Crosslake, Minnesota. We drove up there (only about 130 miles) on Friday afternoon. My parents had rented us a room in the Pine Peaks Lodge, which was about 2 blocks away from the starting line for the race.
As usual, there were two heats for the race. Mark and Michael were both entered into the 4 dog sport division. They raced once on Saturday morning and once on Sunday morning. The trails were good, the races were good – the weather was very, very cold. The 4 dog sport division and the 4 dog pro division were both in the same race. That meant that there were 13 mushers all racing in the same race. Some of them were in the pro division and some were in the sport division. Pro was for mushers who had done this many times before – sport was for novices.
The races were a bit more stressed on Saturday then they were on Sunday. Saturday we parked very far away from the starting line, because that was where Mark was directed to park. It took a good 10 minutes to haul the teams from the dog truck to the starting line. With two teams, Mark’s and Michael’s, and only three other people (Tony, Liza, and Diane) to help get those teams to the starting line, it was very stressful. On Saturday the entire group took Michael’s team to the line about 20 minutes before the race, and tied them to a tree near the line. We left Tony in charge of the team, and the rest of us headed back to get Mark’s team. Both boys had to be at the starting line within a minute of each other, so it was quite stressful to get them there. They had a pretty good race on Saturday, although a girl named Mariah caused some problems, as her sled tipped over, causing Michael to smash into it. Her dogs also nipped at Michael’s dogs as they went past. Mark had to stop to help Michael and Mariah untangle their teams as well. Therefore, both of them wanted to improve their times for Sunday.
Sunday’s race went off a bit easier, because Mark defied the orders of the Race Marshall and found a parking spot right near the starting line. Therefore, we were all able to help get both teams to the start right before the chute times. On Sunday, both boys started in the chute at the same time, so that was a little worrisome – but it worked out well. Sunday’s race times were much better than Saturday’s. Michael shaved off about 3 minutes, Mark shaved off about 5 minutes.
We headed back home to Howard Lake shortly after the racing was done on Sunday. However, we got a phone call on the way, telling us that they’d gotten the results from the 4 dog sport. Michael got 1st place, and Mark got 4th place! Yay for both of them!
We had a fantastic time helping out Over The Hill Kennels this weekend, and hope to do it sometime soon! Liza ended up a bit sick after the weekend was done, so this week will probably be a bit slower than it should be!
