Our first race of the '04-'05 season was the West Yellowstone race. Because the entry fee went way up this year, we only entered one team in the 6-dog class. However, we also loaned four dogs to Kit Wolny to run in the 6-dog class and four dogs to Dee Ogden to run in the 12-dog class. In addition, we brought six more dogs for Mike to train after the race each day.
My team consisted of Ghost, Fresca, Switch, Breaker, Charge, and Current. Ghost was the oldest at 8 years old, and he has now run lead in this race six times. He was less than thrilled about sprinting this year, so it must be time to retire him from these shorter, faster races. Fresca, my other leader who is 7 years old, is a little slower than the others, but she always puts out a super effort. The other four team dogs are all littermates who did great and could have gone faster if the leaders had been up to it. We placed 6th overall out of 24 teams.
The first day had pleasant temperatures, and I had drawn a start position in the middle of the pack. Teams were supposed to start at two minute intervals, but were allowed to start whenever they were ready. In reality, this meant that most teams started with much less than a two minute interval in between. I caught my first team right on a sharp left hand turn, but there was lots of room to get by, and we passed without incident. However, I did catch just a glimpse of Ghost's reluctance to race anymore. Instead of roaring past and looking ahead, he went by rather sedately and showed no interest in looking for more teams to pass.
Although the trail had been well groomed, there was very little snow to work with in the first two miles. There were large stretches where gravel was poking up through the snow. A couple miles further along there was a large groomer which had broken down in the middle of the trail. A nice little portage had been made to get around the machine, and we zipped on by without needing to slow down.
We passed numerous teams as we continued around the very scenic, rolling course. Mike was there to greet us at the finish line and lead the team back to the truck. My impression of the run was that the team had been steady but not real fast, and this was confirmed by my 5th place standing.
The second day was cold and clear. Ghost was no more eager than he was the first day, so we went out steady but not super swift. The 6th and 7th teams started very close behind me and passed me within a mile. Being slower teams, they did not hold to that initial speed for much longer, and we had to pass and repass several times in the next few miles until finally one team dropped back for good and the other stayed in front. At one point I had to stop and grab someone's lead dogs because his team had pulled out the snow hook while he was trying to undo a tangle, and he was being dragged. All these things plus Ghost's lack of enthusiasm cost us some time, and we finished the day in 6th place and out of the money.
Kit ran her own dogs Bob and Cody (Siberians who came originally from our kennel) plus our dogs Olive, Gravity, Redshift, and Cashew. She had to drop Cody after the first day as he seemed real tired, or at least reluctant to run after covering about half of the trail. It looks like he needs to have his thyroid medicine increased. Bob got a little tired on the second day, but he finished the whole course nonetheless. The other dogs all did real well, and Kit had an enjoyable run both days.
After the race each day, Mike ran the other six dogs from my main string. These were just simple, enjoyable training runs, but Mike timed them himself and discovered that he would have placed about tenth in the race. This was a great showing, especially since this was the first time that Mike had driven these dogs this year, and it bodes well for my Race To The Sky team. The dogs that Mike ran were leaders Voltage and Luna, and two-year-old littermates Coconut, Walnut, Raisin, and Almond.
The four dogs on lease to Dee Ogden were Phase, Circuit, Quasar, and Amtrak. They fit into his team just fine during the race, and they will be staying with him this winter and hopefully finishing Race To The Sky in February.
UPDATE: Montana's snow all melted, and the Race To The Sky had to be cancelled, so that is the end of racing for this year.