March Pooper Scoop - Part 1

March 7 Icy Water Ltd. Race Day 12 km Twister

Check out Nicholas Dory's superb photos of the March 7 meet because this month's Lesson from the Trail is:
If you're going to take pictures, make sure the battery's charged! Oh yeah, and try not to stand where the dog drivers have to dodge you or dump you!

Fourteen teams turned out for the day's sun-run. A five-minute flurry the night before put a light dusting of snow over a concrete-hard trail, making things slick for everyone. Tony Radford, who volunteered at the far end of the trail, had three teams crash in front of him. Pictured here is Darryl Sheepway and his Smokin' Paws, fully recovered from the Road Runner 100 a week before. Jim Hajash's puppy team had a great training run. And Cynthia Corriveau's comment as she whizzed past was "Lots of passing!"

Eighteen seconds separated meet champion Chrystal Bartzcak and second place finisher Jonathan Lucas. Two and a half minutes later, Crispin Studer pulled in with his team of cleaning products - Vim, Ajax, Bleach. Who knew so many good dog names are lurking under the sink.

"The moguls were tough," said Crispin of the bumpy hard-pack. "There's no rhythm for me or the dogs."

5 km Kids' League
Four teams came out to give Erin Spicer a run for her money. Unfortunately, a Yukon bush driver chose to take a short cut and carved up our course. Volunteers were forced to stop the teams and turn them around, thereby cutting out the mish-mash of gouges at the return loop.

Most effected by the manoeuver was team Dogged Pursuit who were completely confused by backtracking, especially when they knew the "real" trail goes that-a-way, not this way. The hiccup cost musher Erin Spicer precious seconds, allowing Alan Mark's four-dog team and Seth Carey with three dogs to slip ahead into first and second place. Thea Carey's two-dog team brought up the rear with a finish time of 12 minutes flat.

5 km Pet League
Asha pulling Jonathan Lucas and Pippa Lawson with Tiramisu were neck and neck with Jonathan edging out Pippa by a nine slim seconds. New to the league was third place finisher Elisabeth Weigand with Stella, a dog that once ran with Bob Fink.

Thanks to all our sponsors for the Icy Waters Ltd Race Day. Please support the following businesses:
Midnight Sun Alpaca, Yukon Grain Farm, Yukon Elk Antler, First Mate Dog Food, Aurora Booties, C&D Feeds
and
Yukon Brewing
who support all of us in our pursuit of dog sports.

posted by Jessica Simon
yukonwriter@lycos.com