GB120
Just made it back from the Goose Bay 120, and it was an adventurous weekend marked with highs and lows. Joseph took the team this time, and while he has done a few sprint races and local 40-mile events, this was his longest race ever. He took several racers (Zoom, Cyder, Goliath, Penny, Oaky, Zoya, Nuk, Ibn, Butterscotch and Crumb) and a few puppies (Hank, and Squirrel who had never raced before). Joseph went out third and had a relatively good run the first day. A ground blizzard developed and made for some challenging conditions as 20-30 mph winds were blowing down Flathorn Lake and the Susitna and Yentna Rivers. Despite the strong headwinds directly in their faces, Zoom, Cyder and Zoya drove through it in lead, and the rest of the team did great. They made it to the halfway at Yentna Roadhouse in just under six and a half hours. This put them in 9th place after the starting differentials were calculated.
Unfortunately after the halfway, the race took a turn for the worse. The two checkers seeing takeoffs were greatly overtasked, and as a result Joseph left the checkpoint eight minutes late. This was extremely frustrating because he was prepared to leave on time and the dogs just hammered their harness (expending energy) until the checkers got their act together. Joseph never got compensated for this time.
Despite the late start, he quickly picked off six teams while coming back on the Yentna and Susitna, but around Flathorn lake things got bad. Penny took a bad step in a deep snow drift and hurt her tricep, so Joseph quickly bagged her. Then, once the trail got back into the woods, on two occasions there were either forks in the trail or four way intersections, and they weren’t marked. Also, there were no sled tracks to follow from the teams in front of Joseph because a light wind and snow had covered them up. He ended up wandering up and down trails and turning the team around trying to find the right one, breaking trail some of the way. This took around 20-25 minutes, and mentally and physically took its toll on the team. It also let people far behind him catch up, and in some cases pass him. Once finally on the right trail, Joseph did his best to finish strong and eventually placed 11th out of 30 teams that started, but it was frustrating to have a team that could have placed even better. Also, several of the teams immediately in front of Joseph did not place more than eight minutes ahead of him, so despite the trail confusions, he still could have done better in the overall standings had he left the checkpoint on time. This isn’t the first and only time this type of thing has happened to a musher. It’s unfortunately all part of dog sled racing – one of the least organized sports in the world.
Looking at the glass half full, though. The team did very well. Squirrel looked like a real pro out there, and was undeniably one of the three strongest dogs in the team. This is great since she came to our kennel as a freebie because another musher, who had only run her 3-4 times, thought she was too slow to make it as a racer. It will be exciting to see how she does next season as a two year old. Also, Ibn, our dog from the Nikiski Extended-Life Animal Sanctuary finished the race, and finished strong. Not bad for an unwanted dog that had a broken leg at one time. Zoom also should get some MVD recognition. While Cyder and Zoya both led tough sections, they are six and three years old, respectively, but Zoom is only two and led through a storm and around 60-70 miles of the overall race, so considering how good she leads now, we can’t wait to see how she does as an adult.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Joseph,
We’re so proud of you!
R&B