YUKON BREWING - Hot Hounds Dryland, This Sunday!!

Yet again Yukon Brewing provide glass and aluminium wrapped T shirts as refreshingly tasty prizes for Sunday 11th's Dryland Races,

held at Cynthia Corriveau's place:

Coming from Whitehorse on the Alaska Hwy;

Turn left a few meters after the Klondike Hwy turn off at the balloons

Then Follow the directions that will be posted on signs to the parking lot.

at 6pm for registration.

Featuring 1 mile races for:

1 Pet Dog

1 Sled Dog

1 Canicross

and the "Mad Max" 2 miler for 2-4 dogs.

All on unpowered wheels (except canicross - unpowered feet), and the dogs must remain attached to you at all times (even when 4 off them have hauled you off your bike and you're bouncing off the trees down the trail - quick release? What's that?). Helmets mandatory, body armour can be quite useful.

Thanks again to YUKON BREWING, and also First Mate Dog Food, and not forgetting the most excellent gift cards for most excellent foods from YUKON MEAT & SAUSAGE, The Deli at the last race!

See you there!

STRAW $7/BALE

YUKON GRAIN FARM LOCALLY GROWN STRAW, $7 A BALE AT THE GRAIN FARM, Just off the Mayo Rd before Lake Labarge

Call 633 4092 to arrange pick up

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,

Beautiful Day for Cadence Cycle Race and First Mate Freight Pull this evening

and just a reminder - join DPSAY and race for just $10, and then just $5 for another race on the same day; or simply race as a non-member at $15 per race.

See you all there, bring good stuff for the Pot-luck BBQ!!

First Mate Extreme $39 / 40lb bag

Sponsor of tomorrow's Freight Pull, First Mate, have made their Extreme 36% Protein/28% Fat diet available at $39/40lb bag delivered to Icy Waters Ltd. Jon is taking orders now for a mid-late Sept delivery - email grizzlysnowpigs@gmail.com for more details.

Or come on out to the Cadence Cycle Hot Hounds race on Sunday and win some at the Freightpull!

Cadence Cycle + First Mate Extreme Freight Pull are ON!

5pm Sunday 31st July, at Lee Kirkpatrick and Jim Hajash's Drag n Fly kennel, km 3, Old Alaska Highway - we have our first Hot Hounds Dryland Races of the summer (really? summer's still here? thought we were in fall from the feel of it).

Startlingly magnificent prizes will be up for grabs, from Cadence Cycle on Wood Street (get all your cycle stuff there, they've supported Hot Hounds for all 5 seasons!) for places 1st-3rd in our 4 races:

1 mile 1 sled dog - using unpowered wheels (bike or scooter usually)

1 mile 1 pet dog - using unpowered wheels

2 mile 2-4 sled dog - (4 dogs are for the more adventurous among us - enjoy) - unpowered wheels again

1 mile 1 dog Canicross - using powered human legs ie running

And to begin, we'll have the First Mate Freightpull:

light 0-60lb, medium 61-100lb, and heavyweight 101lb + dogs compete in their category to pull the heaviest load 16' on a trolley generously donated for the occasion by Grizzly Pigs Farm. Last dog pulling is that categories' champion. Prizes are 3 bags of First Mate for 1st; 2 for 2nd, and 1 for 3rd.

And we'll finish up with a pot luck BBQ - so bring something to eat, drink and share, and enjoy the post race atmosphere, swop accounts of terrible passing, and show off assorted bruises and grazes (nah, only joking; no you're not, this is the bonebreaker trail; shhh, don't remind them). It 's all perfectly safe, with helmets mandatory, body armour recomended, and a detailed disclaimer you need to sign before you go anywhere near that gravelled trail.

Remember, DPSAY Hot Hounds.....where all the cool dogs go

Yes, this Blog is still alive!!!~and......FIRST MATE EXTREME comes through again!

The July Hot Hounds event will again be held at Drag n Fly Kennel - home of the infamous "bone-breaker" gravelled trail, and the unforgettable "Are you arresting ME?" incident when a lone RCMP officer attempted to grab Ms S Rogan for daring to drink a can of Superstore's potent 0.5% "lager" at the roadside, and was then politely asked if he really was going to fit about 30 mushers, and their dogs in his cruiser...anyway to the important future event -

FIRST MATE EXTREME have AGAIN sponsored the Yukon's unique and one and only:

SUMMER FREIGHT PULL!!

18 bags of FM up for grabs across the 3 categories, get 'em out there training pulling tyres!!

Upstart Pretender Puck will be challenging Asha for the Mediumweight title...or will he....who else is out there?

Stay tuned as the July race gets set up...looking like Sunday 3rd or Sunday 24th with lotsa luverly Omega 3 and Vitamin D rich Arctic Charr from Icy Waters Ltd to race over (well win, it'll get a bit gravelly if we race over it...)

Could've got the sled back out up here yesterday.....

Uncommon Journeys Season Finale - Great Turnout

On a surprisingly variably cool and warm day, 16 Twister teams, 2 slightly crazed Open Teams*, 3 Kid's Teams and 2 Pet Dog teams turned out for the season finale - one of the best turnouts this season.

(*because the trail was very hard and quite fast enough without hooking 9 or 16 dogs up to featherweight sleds - but hats off to those two, they did it, and fast!)

Results will be posted on the DPSAY site , click over on the right there, but this race sealed the League results:

Kid's League leader Seth Carey ran his race to complete 3 victories, gaining 30 points overall, the League Crown (ok, title) and $125 from Yukon Brewing: Well done Seth! See you next season!

Asha had competition from Tiramasu, and whilst canicrossing vs skijoring appeared a one sided race, it was interesting to see Jon slogging up the the hills, slowly catching Pippa, and then fascinating to see Pippa take off on the downhills! Still 2nd = 8 pts, and for a total of 36 pts Asha takes the Pet Dog League and $125 from Yukon Brewing for Jon.

The Twister! Aha, Stefan with a 6 point lead gallantly volunteered as Race Marshall, and Darryl came so close - finishing 3rd he equalled Stefan's 22 points (the first time we've had a tie for the Champ's position), however in the case of a tie the winner is the one with the fastest time, in any race over the season sooo:

1 - League Champ and holder of the famous Copper Trophy for year and $250 from Yukon Brewing - Stefan Wackerhagen!!! 22 points

2 - Darryl Sheepway, 22 points, $200

3 - Jon Lucas, 14 points, $150

4 - Fabian Shmitz, 12 points, $100

5 - Claudia Wickert, 8 points, $50

Many thanks to all the sponsors, volunteers, and organisers that made this season possible! see you all in oh er 6 weeks for the Dryland season!!!! Time for wheels, running with dogs never ends!!

Lotteries Yukon comes through! Show me the Money!

Funds from LOTTERIES YUKON for the RR100 costs!

Uncommon Journeys sponsors Yukon Brewing Copper Haul Twister League Season 5 Finale!

At press time this correspondant was still a bit unsure of what trail we'll be using on Sunday April 3rd - but the RACE IS ON! Meet at Uncommon Journeys, just off the Old Alaska Highway at Scout Lake Rd at 10am with your dogs and gear, volunteers most welcome and you can sunbathe whilst watching the sweaty (rather than frosted) competitors slog by - gonna be a warm one!

Season Finale, Darryl Sheepway can take the League trophy and Yukon Brewing's lovely cash if he gets 1st or 2nd - no pressure Darryl, enjoy your race :)

Sleds 4-6 dogs, skis 2-4, plus the Kid's Race - that League is yours for the taking Seth Carey, get your Dad up and make him drive you there! and the Pet Dog Race - can Asha haul Jon Lucas and his ridiculously hot red bunny suit to enough points to take the Pet League laurels?

You know you want to be there, 10am, Uncommon Journeys, Sunday 3rd April

more and better details at the DPSAY site, just look to the right and click the link!

Muktuk Adventures Race Day: A Great Day out, and up, and down, and up again....

Mike and Jessica Simon set up a real Twister at their estate today - 10 miles of twisting, climbing, falling (plenty of that) trail through the woodlands and along the power line (ed: there were two...really? I was too busy concentrating on staying upright). Excellently marked, it was a competition of both speed, and command leaders.

In the Kid's class lone Seth Carey took 2 dogs and a sled round a shorter section of hills, and in the Pet Class Asha took Jon for a walk (canicross) through the same.

All results in depth at www.DPSAY.wordpress.com - just click on the link at the right. But what do today's results mean for the lucrative League standings, and the future possessor of that very attractive Copper Trophy?

To qualify for the league, Twister racers must volunteer for a full Twister and compete in 3+ races, although points can only be counted from a maximum of 4 races; Pet Dog and Kid's racers must compete in 3+ races (counting points from a max of 4) and volunteer for the Twister (or get a parent to in the case of kids...only). Which means with one race left this season we have interesting situations:

So long as Seth makes sure his Dad brings him to the last race, he's won the Kid's League, he has 20 points and Dad Steve volunteered today - $125 just waiting for you to turn up, run, and claim it Seth!

Pet Dog - Asha is out in front with 28 points from 3 races and Jon's volunteered, Sandro has 14 points from 2 races so needs to volunteer and run next race; Cheryl Kawadja has 18 points from 2 races so again must volunteer and race at the last race meet. If Cheryl wins (quite likely on past form) and Asha doesn't place, then Cheryl get's the $125 & League Title. (Pet dog league 2nd is $100, 3rd $75)

The Twister! AHA! Claudia and Fabian sit with 8 points each, both have volunteered; Jon has 12 and volunteered; Darryl S has 16 and volunteered; Stephan W has 22 and NOT volunteered.....ahh a dilemma - if he races the last race he's out of the League, if he volunteers and Darryl gets 1st-3rd, Darryl wins. Theorectically Jon could get 10 points (ha ha!) but that's so theorectical we can forget it right now. So Stephan (how wettbewarbsfahig are you?) - $200 for second place in the League guaranteed if you volunteer, possibly $250 and the trophy if Darryl doesn't make the top 3; Darryl, go for it, 1,2,3 and you get $250 and the shiny copper trophy for a year! You're pretty certain to get $200 anyway, whatever happens....nice, it's all down to the last race. And thank you Yukon Brewing for another season and another load of cash -

Yukon Brewing, sponsored over $8000 in cash on the CHT since 2006

Go buy their most very excellent beer so they can keep sponsoring us!

Yukon Brewing Copper Haul Twister: March 13th

For all details, see the DPSAY blogsite!

Next Twister Race Day - Sun March 13th

At........Jessica & Mike Simon's, km 5 Mayo Rd.

New venue, new trail!!...keep tuned for race confirmation details and number of dogs.

Brave Decisions at the DPSAY River Runner 100 startline

At 4.45pm this evening it was around -22'C at the DPSAY RR100 dog yard....with a 40-60km/h north wind picking up the snow and hurling it south with a windchill below -32. Set to become 60km/hr sustained from the north later in the day, the wind was blowing in the trail with that gritty, sandy snow. The first 10 miles of the race were up the Yukon, north into the teeth of the wind, then 17 miles of crosswinds on the Takhini River until the relative safety of the Dawson overland trail before climbing up some exposed hillside trails...all marked, but probably blown in.

I'd signed up for this because I wanted a fun race after the Q300. It didn't look like it was going to be a lot of fun.

A lot of entrants took the brave decision to carry on and race it, and kudos to them, they're going to have a real experience under their belt when they get to Mendenhall. But I also think those that decided to withdraw at the startline also made a brave decision, it certainly was hard for me.

3/4 Skijorers led out, 11/18 sleds followed. Please follow their progress on the DPSAY blogsite, good luck to them all!

Cheers

Jon

DPSAY River Runner 100 - Sign up by Saturday or pay a late fee!

With 11 Sleds and 4 skis already signed up, it looks like there's going to be a good race over Rendezvous Weekend. There's 15 places left and it'll cost an extra $50 to sign up after Saturday - if you want to be part of this historic event (c'mon, even if you're on a sled you can still say you were part of the longest skijor race in...North America? the World?) sign up this week!

Click on the DPSAY link just to the right for all the info and entry form.

Icy Waters Ltd Race Day, Icy breeze!

A cold morning got a little cooler with a chilly north breeze adding wind chill to a thermometer stuck around -23'C. The two dedicated sprint kennels put out 2 teams each, with Drag n Fly taking 1st + 3rd, and Dead Broke 2nd + 4th - full results should be up on the DPSAY site shortly.

Genna rode a superbly decorated sled with 3 dogs in the kids race, with a great time of about 12 minutes, and won for Persistance Kennel the 10 blocks of dog food prize from Icy Waters Ltd for best decorated sled/skijorer - well done!

3 Pet dog skijorers turned out to brave the chill and had a fun time also.

Thanks to Icy Waters Ltd for the cash; Yukon Brewing, Yukon Honda, Yukon Grain Farm, Aurora Booties, and Muktuk Adventures for the merchandise prizes.

The word on the QT is the next race may be at a different venue - which should spice the race up a bit, hopefully it won't be up and down a road like the Copper Haul - which is nice and pretty safe but lacks a certain soupcon of excitement. Thanks to Icy Waters Ltd for hosting!

Icy Waters Ltd Race Day - Trail "sticky"

Trail run today by Jon, apparently the new fresh snow + the cm or so that fell today makes the trail feel a little sticky, so perhaps not so slick as expected. -18'C at 6.25pm and overcast with the odd snowflake falling - and the question on everyone's lips is "are the organisers going to pack the trail?"

Icy Waters Ltd Race Day - Trail update

1" fresh snow fell last night, -16" and cloudy Saturday am

Icy Waters Ltd Race Day - Looking Good

With the trail settling and hardening with the mild weather, and then -12 predicted on Saturday we should have a hard and fast trail for Sunday's Valentine's Day Race - don't forget, best decorated sled/musher or skijorer wins 10 x Dog Food blocks from Icy Waters Ltd. And of course not forgetting the Twister winner gets presented with the carved antler trophy (from Earl, many thanks) and DPSAY pays to have your name emplaced on the back - and we should get Tony Radford's name on there from last year!

Will we see Tony "Bandit" Radford go up against Dave "Tagish Tornado" Johnson again, although rumour has it Dave may be bringing more than one team for a pirate jockey. The rather scarily fast (and even more scarily competive - Stephan "Ja! I MUST Win" Wackemalloutofsight) skijor contingent will also be speeding on the predicted glassy surface - Darryl Sheepwins: wax your skis for once goodness' sakes, it makes those few seconds difference.

The League is wide open, after 3 races the accumulated points are as follows - long distance trot-along with a sled (!?) Snowpigs have 6, Cynthia Wickert 12, Pierre Duc 8, Claudia Corriveau 4, Fabian (F*** this long distance s***) Schmitz 2, Crispin Studer 10, Alex Rocket 8, Stephan (to win is to succeed) Wackerhagen 12, Darryl Sheepnotquitewinningasmuchasinsummerway 8, Gaetan (out through the "in" trail Stepping Stone) Pierrard 2, Dave "Tagish Tornado" Johnson 10, Tony "Bandit" Radford 8, and as far as we can note, only Jon Lucas of not-exactly-skijoring Snowpigs and Fabian (FTLDS) Schmitz have fulfilled their League volunteer requirement (and I'm sure to be deluged with emails if that is not correct - and oh come on, those names are only jokes...unless....).

So, 10am, Sunday 13th - Valentine's Day special, Cash from Icy Waters Ltd, Dog Food from First Mate (which powered Fabian's, and Jon's, team through the YQ300 - Jon never realised there were so many voices in his head till he was camped out at -32, in the dark, alone on Coglan Lake....and he doesn't particularly want to hear from most of them again...ever); Delicious Arctic Charr for man, woman, and dog from Icy Waters Ltd. Most refreshing T shirts from Yukon Brewing, if you're lucky a delightful Yukon Ag Assoc T shirt (don't all rush now, we know how popular the last ones were), great wearing booties from Aurora Booties, Certificates from Yukon Honda, and Straw from Yukon Grain Farm.

See you all out there!

ICY WATERS Ltd Sponsors DPSAY River Runner 130

Come and race and get the money - 22 spots left! 3 sled teams already signed up

Call for Support

Finally a politician with dog sense!
Twister and Hot Hound fans know MIKE SIMON as a volunteer on countless races. He's running for nomination to be the Liberal candidate in Lake Laberge riding.
The nomination meeting is at the Hootalinqua firehall
(Mile 4 Mayo Road, right hand side after Takhini Gas)
at 7 p.m. on this THURSDAY, JANUARY 24.

Please come out to show your support, even if you don't live in the riding. You don't need to be a party member and this is a chance to ask a future member of the territorial legislature about those pressing issues such as:

• Can you make the City relax their 3-dog limit?
• What's your position on animal protection?
• Can we get the Dog Sled Track lease back?
• or, anything else that's got a burr in your fur.

Hope to see you at 7 this Thursday at Hootalinqua. Regardless we'll be out on the trail again this Sunday!

posted with permission by yukonwriter@lycos.com

Duffy's Pets race POSTPONED!

It doesn't often happen, but it really is predicted to be just too cold this Sunday. Blame the La Nina effect.

Very sensibly the Duffy's Pets and Tanzilla Harness Supply Race Day has been POSTPONED to

SUNDAY JANUARY 30th

and becomes a most excellent warm up for that slightly less important YQ300!

See you all on the 30th! Keep warm.

Duffy's Pets & Tanzilla Harness Supply Race Day - Race ON!!

Inspiring new poster design courtesy of "LONE TRAILS PHOTOGRAPHY", Stefan Wackerhagen and printing by long-term sponsor INKSPIRATIONZ GRAPHIX.

Thanks to Claudia Wickert and Fabian Schmitz for organising this one, so if you have any complaints you know were to take them... and receive the time-honored CHT response "if you don't like it, race somewhere else!"

So, to the info and goodies - Duffy's Pets and Tanzilla Harness Supply have put up the $$ purse, and most valuable merchandise prizes have been kindly donated by Icy Waters Ltd, First Mate Dog Food, Aurora Booties, Muktuk Adventures, Yukon Brewing T-shirts finely wrapped in glass and aluminium, C&D Feeds (we know some of you have a cat, cos the prize is cat food), Yukon Honda, and Yukon Grain Farm (with their $7/bale straw - where could you buy cheaper? or better? or hasn't burnt I don't know how much fossil fuel and pumped out climate changing CO2 getting up here?).

Meet 10am Icy Waters Ltd, km 4.2 Fish Lake Rd, Sunday Jan 16th - 10.5 mile Twister sleds 2-6 dogs, skis 2-4; 5km 1 Pet dog running erm oh yes, 1 Pet dog (and if it's cold Jon might just Canicross the whole thing with Asha enjoying trotting behind!); 5km Kids, 1-4 sleds, 1-2 skis.

Volunteers required and made very welcome (Arctic Charr as a thank-you, plus a prize draw! we like our volunteers!), please let Fab + Claude know at 335 2920 if you want a fun day out, and some delicious Arctic Charr!

Enjoy!