Due to most of the females in the kennel being in season, we were limited to the team we ran. However, this only limited us to running 10 dogs instead of 12 or 14. The teams we were running against were anywhere fro 12 to 16 dog teams. This didn't dis-wade us from running the race.
It was a cold weekend with all the top teams from Quebec & Eastern USA entered in the race.
I was very pleased with the dogs, especially with Max & Angel @ Lead. This race is a challenging coarse with many speed turns, steep downhills and all the coarse is head on passing of other teams. It is also a downtown start & finish with many cheering spectators, load speaker music & announcer. This is a far cry from the quiet peaceful life in the forest. However, the dogs handled all the commotion & stress without any problem.
Racing is definitely different than training & things happen in races that can't be foreseen in training. With this in mind & this being the first race of the season, problems on the trail can happen & usually do. We had a couple of small challenges on the first day & a clean run on the second day. The second day, we cut 5 minutes off our first day time & moved up 3 places in the finish standings.
Not bad at all for the smallest team in the race.
I was so happy with the dogs & their performance especially with Max & Angel leading the team with all the head-on passing.
Well now a couple of days rest & back to preparing for the next race.
A special thanks to Charlie, Marie-Claude & Jo-Annie for their excellent work handling & preparing the team at the race.
Until next week......