Monday, August 1, 2011

Cadence Cycle Hot Hounds and First Mate Freight Pull !


Whitehorse Star photographer Jon Russel captures Puck in mid-stride hauling 700lb to the finish line!

All the results are at DPSAY.wordpress.com, the link is to the right there - look right and scroll down a bit. Great turnout, good to see new faces and new dogs, and I learn it isn't necessarily a good idea to stroll past unknown dogs carrying a shovel (I was carrying the shovel, not the dog) - they can misinterpret my intention, which was to walk past! Still, no lasting damage.

Amil's rocket dog Grizzly vied with Heather's tall husky Cash in the lightweight freightpull, after a few episodes of "what's round the back of this trolley anyway?" Cash came through and made a perfect 3rd round pull to take lightweight champ and 3 bags of Firstmate Extreme dog food (good to his name - saved some "cash"). The mediumweights was a Snowpigs derby with up and coming 3.5 year old (going on 6 months) Puck at 98lb taking on oldster (old? OLD? I'm 8.5 years, I'm not old, and I can still throw that upstart on his back when he gets too pesky) Asha (89lb). Vying against each other with Asha's looks varying from bored, to "do I really have to do this?", to Puck's 10 second nonchalent sit at the start of the 700lb pull, then "oh, yes, you want me to pull this? well you should have said" and pull he did. Before we ran out of bags, Jon called it a day at 700lb each (some racers were muttering "get a move on, it'll be dark soon" from the bleachers anyway).

Then it was off to the races, ironically on one of the warmest evenings all summer. Sky High "Kennel Slave" Adam still hasn't got enough money to buy a shirt and ran topless, splashing sweat along the trail in the Canicross, whilst Grizzly's antics in the Freight Pull didn;t slow him down as he tore down the 1 mile to win with Amil Dupuis-Rossi, from almost-but-not-quite-pet dog Forrest and Deb Knight in second. The hairpin turn at the half mile caused some amusement (for Mike Simon on volunteer duty, at least).

Darryl Sheepway started to reprise last season's victories with a convincing win in the multiple dog 2 mile, with 2, 3, and 4 finishing within 5 seconds of each other, but at least 13 seconds adrift of Darryl. Jon, finishing 4th, and 2 seconds behind Alexandra Rocket claims it was due to him being on a scooter - well get on your bike then!

Then everyone retired to the BBQ, food, and wine tasting (yes it is true, DPSAY dog people are really quite refined), kindly hosted and run by Lee and Jim on their deck to share in the glory and prizes from CADENCE CYCLE, with supporting prizes from Muktuk Adventures, Aurora Booties, and Icy Waters Ltd.

And then it was all over...time to go home, and get training for the Aug 14th race at Alexandra Rochats, racing for Yukon Meat and Sausages unbeatable meat!

Many thanks to Lee and Jim for hosting, Darryl & Jon for organising, Mike and Jessica Simon (timing, coures volunteers) and the inimitable (you sure you know what that means?) Gene Ennis as Race Marshall - and you, for turning out with your dogs and making it happen,