Brent’s team – Jeep, Morello, Lucy, Slater, Evo, Pink, Captain, Woody, Ursa, Arlo, Sluice, Jackson and FIgment.
On December 5th we loaded up 23 dogs and two humans (Brent and Ida) in our Wild and Free truck, and headed south. After spending one night in our Fairbanks home base (we have a cabin and a dog yard there which is so great for traveling and town trips) we kept on driving to Cantwell on Friday. Once in Cantwell we got our sleds packed and dogs settled in for the night. We got a good nights sleep and on Saturday December 7th we started the first race of the season.. The Alpine Creek Excursion Sled Dog Race – a 65 mile run on Denali Hwy with the finish line being located at the lovely Alpine Creek Lodge.
This was first and foremost an opportunity for us and dogs to travel to different trails, pack our sleds heavy and get the dogs some more experience meeting other teams both on and off the trail. However, it was also Ida’s first “race” which made it all more special than “just” a training run.
We took our time, not quite “racing” but more so making sure we all had a good, positive experience. This was especially important for the dogs in the race team who had never done a race before, and for Ida of course. Our teams finished in 8hr 3min and 8hr 37min and placed 16th (Brent) and 18th (Ida) out of 27 teams starting.
Ida with her team; Darla, Chica, Tobuk, Kutuk, Hero, Treason, Eris, Josephine Jip and Tock.
Once at the lodge we enjoyed a great dinner and some drinks with the rest of the mushers before getting some good rest.. We had packed enough food and gear to stay a couple extra nights so on Sunday we watched all other teams take off starting the trek back to Cantwell, and we enjoyed a nice training run in the afternoon. Dogs got some good training both mileage wise, but also great training when it came to camping out and eating/resting “on the go”.
On Monday we woke up to 20mph winds and 41F, and we packed up and took off towards the truck. It was a warm day for a 65 mile run, but dogs did great and we all had fun.
We were so thankful we were able to be a part of this race and get such great training in for the dogs! Thank you to Jennifer, Claude and Bob Bondy for the amazing hospitality, and such a fun event!
