Well, we’re in the middle of packing up for the
climax of our racing season. We will be on the road on Thursday
for Fort Kent, Maine and our big experiment of entering two
teams in the Can-An 250. We expect a full complement of 30 teams
will hit the trail Saturday morning, leaving from Main Street.
As of now, I’ll be bib 2 and Sue will be bib 21. I thought I’d
fill you in on a few things to look for if you are “watching”
the race from the Can-Am website -
http://can-am.sjv.net
First, about our teams… Most of the females in the kennel have
decided to begin their heat cycles, just in time for the race.
So, we’ve had to re-work our plan somewhat, and separate the
males and females (mostly). I’ll take the boys, which gives me a
few more puppies than I wanted. Sue will take the girls
(mostly), and gets a few of our best dogs in the process. Our
teams will be more evenly matched than we had first planned.
However, this is Sue’s first race over 100 miles, and she’ll
stay longer in checkpoints and take more breaks on the trail to
keep herself and her team fresh. I hope my team will respond
well to our best training year ever and be able to keep the pace
up with the minimum rest allowed. If my four young boys begin to
get stressed, I’ll pull up in a checkpoint and spend some extra
time. With Yukon Quest coming next year, a positive experience
for the most dogs possible is far more important than where I
finish in the standings. But, if all goes to plan, look for Sue
to take about 24 hours of total checkpoint rest and finish
sometime early morning on Tuesday. If my pups can handle the
heat and keep up with my veteran core, I will take about 15
hours of total rest and hope to finish around mid-morning
Monday. If we both make it to the finish line with most of our
dogs, the weekend, and year!!, will be a TOTAL success. We’ll do
our best…
Mike's Team:
Stump
(M)
4 yrs old |
Maple
(F)
5 yrs old |
Gila
(F)
4 yrs old |
Romeo
(M)
4 yrs old |
Logan
(M)
1 yr old |
Merlin
(M)
1 yr old |
Hawkeye
(M)
4 yrs old |
Hood
(M)
1 yr old |
Wilson
(M)
1 yr old |
Curly
(M)
5 yrs old |
Gecko
(M)
4 yrs old |
Jim
(M)
8 yrs old |
Sue's Team:
Kobuk
(M)
8 yrs old |
Mugs
(F)
4 yrs old |
Squiggle
(F)
8 yrs old |
Molly
(F)
2 yrs old |
Lotus
(F)
1 yr old |
Moon
(F)
1 yr old |
Trip
(F)
1 yr old |
Isis
(F)
1 yr old |
Eliza
(F)
1 yr old |
Reba
(F)
1 yr old |
Cassin
(F)
1 yr old |
Ambler
(M)
4 yrs old |
As far as the overall race, here are some things
to watch for… Look for Matt Carstens to win!! He’s won
everything else recently, why not this again?? I don’t want to
jinx him; I just think he can do it. Martin Massicotte, Don
Hibbs, and Bruce Langmaid are all former champs, and I’m sure
they’ll be shooting to de-throne Matt. Tim Calhoun and Rick
Larson just finished first and second at the UP 200 in Michigan
last weekend and will be running their first trip on the Can-Am
trail. There are quite a few other teams coming back to Can-Am
who have run the race multiple times. With 10 or more of these
teams fighting to improve on their past finishes, the middle of
the pack is likely to be not far behind the leaders, and tightly
bunched. I expect the money positions in this race (to 12th
place) to be hotly contested. I hope I can be in there. There
are two other purebred Siberian teams in the race besides Sue
and me, and we wish Lev Shvarts and Jaye Foucher the best of
luck. Also, please help us in rooting for our good friends
Christine Richardson and Kim Darst on their rookie runs. Our
bud, Bill Matott, will also be out there with his Malamute team
and we hope we get to welcome him to the finish. We wish the
best of luck to all the racers and we can’t wait to hit the
trail!!!
Thanks so much for your support and good wishes. Watch the
Can-Am site this weekend and we’ll fill you all in on what
happened with us as soon as we can after we get home next
Wednesday…
Take care and Thanks!! - Team Tsuga.
