Hi. Sue and I will both be writing our stories
of the past weekend on the Can-Am 250 trail in the very near
future. For now, I just wanted to let you all know we’re home
safe and sound, as are all the dogs.
We did it!! We finished both of our teams in
very fine fashion despite tough trail, very warm temperatures,
young dogs, and having to alter our plans on the fly because of
weather and trail. For me it was a 4th straight finish in the
money of a race where consistency is hard to come by. My time
from last year would have won the race this year!! Sue took our
yearling team and impressed anyone who took the time to watch.
Her confidence and ability were contagious to those around her.
Sue became the first female musher to ever finish a team of
siberians in this race. We also became the first husband and
wife team to both finish. Sue finished with 10 dogs, not the 8
that was reported. For the record, I dropped only Wilson in
Maibec with a sore shoulder muscle. I finished with 11 dogs. Sue
dropped Moon in Rocky Brook with sore wrists. Sue then dropped
Eliza in Allagash with a similar issue as Wilson. All three of
those dogs now show no signs of any injury whatsoever. We erred
on the side of dropping the dogs before injuries got serious and
so recovery was quick. We started training this year with 25
dogs and we got 21 of them to the finish line. The winner of the
race, Rick Larson of Montana who is an Iditarod veteran, was
quoted in the finish chute as saying, “This race is more
demanding than the Iditarod. These mountains, these hills,
there’s nothing like this in the Iditarod.” It’s a sentiment
we’ve heard from 1000-mile veterans before. We are very pleased
with our finish, as you might imagine. Preparing two teams for
this race, packing all the gear, and pulling off strong finishes
with both of our teams feels great!! Yukon Quest, here we
come!!!
Thanks for checking in and we’ll have our Can-Am race doglogs up
as soon as we can find the time to get them written. We’ve still
got a mountain of laundry and gear to clean, sort, and put away.
If I can stop eating for long enough, maybe I’ll also catch up
on some sleep. We’re also “working” this Saturday as volunteers
with our club the North Country Mushers to help put on an end of
season, fun-run sleddog race at Bear Notch in the White Mt.
National Forest. No rest for the weary…
Thanks so much.
