What a Kerfuffle!

Today's Duffy's Pets CHT had more than enough drama for the teams involved. With temperatures over the last two weeks near the bottom of the freezer (and reminding us that we do live in the Yukon, where historically it does get cold, so...you can guess the rest, or see Gene Ennis at Fas Gas Kopper King for a fuller explanation), a number of nasty lingering flu bugs around, and the Quest and Quest 300 (which could also be classified as "diseases") starting yesterday in Fairbanks, the CHT turnout comprised the two Snowpigs teams, Smoking Paws skijorer Darrel Sheepway, and Cheryl Wishart and Carolynn Campbell running two McDougall teams. The kids race saw Jeff Diment take on Justin McDougall, with Asha the Rottie, stalwart of the Pet Dog Class out again.

With the sun blazing, and temps rising to -21 (Jon thought about putting his shorts on) Eilidh Lucas (Snowpigs) led out of the chute with Emma and Holly in lead. "Never again" said Eilidh, after psycho lead Holly decided every command was really the opposite of what Eilidh wanted and tried to pull poor Emma off her feet "because the monkey really wants us to go this way, no, this way!". However the team tore round the course (although this is relative to the glide value of snow chips still all spiky and covered in friction and staying stubbornly at about -30), so let's say "ground" round the course wondering where the following teams were. Jon Lucas with 3 dogs and Assman in lead  followed on skis, knowing the 4 dog skijoring Smoking Paws team would be starting just two minutes later. Assman lived up to his name and took the team into the kids's loop turnoff, where, with help from volunteer Dave Desmarais, the team got untangled and carried on in the right direction. 

Darrell Sheepway, skate ski-ing hard and fast, took a tumble just past the kids loop, and fell on that all important skijoring snap, you know, the one that holds the four crazy dudes to you. The snap, snapped, and off went the four crazy dudes, even faster now that the dead-weight on skis was left in snow dust.  As they came into Jon's peripheral vision he first thought "aw, caught me so fast" and gee'd over, and then thought "oh, that's why they caught me so fast" as the 4 dogs went past like a train. Jon met them again in the narrow trail to the Mt Mac Rd - head on - a dive into the shrubbery ensured there were no complications, whilst the "train" headed back to start line, having a great run.

Meanwhile Cheryl Wishart had sportingly picked up the dogless Skijorer (that would be the X-Country skier, then),  and started tracking, whilst Carolyn Campbell was going very fast in the narrow trail to the Mt Mac rd, where she became another victim of "the post". A few more hits on that post and it might actually come down.

Unfortunately Carolyn's team met the trackers where the Mt Mac rd meets the CHT and got turned, Jon skijored past and told Darrell his dogs were beating him back to his truck and everyone made the run for home. 

So, to the finish roster:

1-----Eilidh Lucas-----Snowpigs---5 dog sled------1:05:52

2-----Jon Lucas-------Snowpigs---3 dogs skis-----1:09:06

Darrel Sheepway---DNF

Carolyn Campbell---DNF

Cheryl Wishart---DNF, recipient of Yukon Brewing's "Sportsmanship Prize"

Justin McDougall had a clean run through the kids loop, whilst Jeff lost time with a tangle:

1---Justin McDougall----3 dogs sled----12:33

2---Jeff Diment-----------4 dog sled-----21:14

Jon tried the "bikejoring trick" he tried in November, however the snow was considerably deeper and Asha really wanted to pull today. After a swerving crazy downhill start (much to the amusement of the spectators), Jon almost got the hang of it, and later commented "that was harder work than skijoring". Worth the effort though, as this win puts Asha way ahead in the Pet Dog league table.

1---Jon Lucas---Asha - Bikejour-----27:43

NEXT RACE: OSCAR'S ELECTRIC, SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16TH

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12 MILE: 2-4 DOGS SLEDS, 2-3 DOGS SKIS