United Kingdom Sleddog Championships 2004
Last Updated on March 30, 2004
we posted a few months back that matt was busy with the dogs training ready for the uk sled dog championships in scotland..well it paid off with matt and the guys gaining second place in their class!!!
heres how it went:
' i traveled up through blizzards a few days before the race to check out the trails....the long drive to scotland a little exciting by the fact that only 1 lane of the m6 was passable through the lakes due to the snow.
i was getting worried as i didnt have a wooden dog sled only the rig...could i borrow one?
we arrived at the Ae forest dumfries about 11.30 at night to find 2 other teams already camped out...and no snow!!!!!! but a cool -7C with a -15C windchill...boy it was cold!!! i slept in the van over night with the dogs..my mountain equipment sleeping bag doing a fantastic job...till 6.30 am when i poked my head out of the bag to find the temperature inside the van a chilling -6c...it was like a bucket of cold water hitting my face! (one of the other guys camping had mild frostbite on his cheek from sleeping with it exposed to the wind in his bivi bag!). but it made the dogs ready to go, they love the cold!!! the area was so beautiful with a river near by and the pine trees standing tall all around the valley. the accomodation of the bunk houses set against the field we were camped in.
a quick walk around the first of the 3 racing trails and returned to find the site filling up with dogs and mushers vans! lots of new faces and a few familiar ones, a quick chat and off to sign in in the bunk house. the afternoon was spent checking dogs, rigs, the best way to the trail and the start and finish shutes.
the first nights race was held after dark in -5c temperature..just right for the dogs to run in with wicked first hill 200ms long and very very steep, the dogs flew up it, all the hill training paying off, the teams that only train on the flat found it hardwork! we had a few problems with a stray quad biker who scared the dogs, kirra balked and refused to lead, i stopped swopped wolfe into lead and carried on, 1 mile in and he to sat down and resfused to move, lolly doesnt do night leading. so it was back to kirra to take us on, she did but at a slow pace, putting the brakes on full when we came across the bike a second time! the guy was really messing my team up! thanks mate!. we got in a time of 19 minutes over 3.2 miles, a good 5 mins slower than in training!
day 2 dawned cold, the previous nights soup and tatties still heavy in my tummy ( thanks agnes!!!!!!!!) the race was held at the new race site for the sled dog trails in the forest. the trails have been designated sled dog training trails for the first time in the uk! so a big well done to forest enterprise and steve lindsay for setting that up!
my team of kirra (lead) lolly and wolfe (wheel) ran well, the course was long drag up a 2 mile hill followed by a short steep up hill and then a fast down hill run into the finish, fantastic! the dogs loved it, 3.8 miles in 18.06 minutes, my legs were burning after the hills!!!
the evening was great a big bbq with all the mushers dressed up in cold wether gear, outside drinking whisky and talking dogs till late into the eveing, no one seemed to notice the -8c weather! the bbqs and whisky were keeping us all warm...much fun was had watching people trying to sneek off for a wee in the woods with out torches unnoticed, fine until the dogs spotted them all stood up and started to sing and bark in their direction till everyone looked around and shone torches to see what the noise was...a very embarashed musher taking a leek ! haha!! you cant be quiet enough with a drunk walk into the woods and a team of 16 huskies trying to make sure eveyone knew what you were up to! a fun night! back to thebunk house where my bunk mate woke me up in fits of laughter...fred allan the guy above my bunk was trapped in his sleeping bag trying like mad to get his arms out to stop his alarm clock on his phone going off....i thought the bunk was about to topple over!!!!!
day 3 was cold again and back to the day 2 trails for more of the same, we ended up running the same trail after a meeting was held on wether to shorten the course for the dogs as the temp was warmer at +4c! everyone elected the longer trails as the dogs were still fit and the temp was still cold ( anything above 15C and we dont run the dogs in the uk).
we had a fantastic run with the dogs going mental, but somehow ended up 6 seconds slower than day 2...i think it was my legs giving out on the hill forcing me to jog rather than run...sorry dogs!!! my fault you guys ran flawlessley!
but at the end we still came 2nd in our class to sooper fit guy keith johnson. it was wolfes first ever racing so he did really really well, i was so impressed with my team!
it was a sad end to a really good weekends racing socialising and living dogs for 4 days when we loaded the rig on the van, packed away the stake out chains, empted water bowls, hung up the harnesses and drove the van out of the forest for the last time! i didnt want to go home!
the people i met and raced against were such a nice bunch, no complaining or over competitiveness, everyone was willing to lend a hand with each others teams to the start and cheer them in to the finish, lend out tools and spare kit. it was a truly fantastic weekend..i cant wait till next year!!! you guys and your dogs were so welcoming!
9 hours later and we pulled into the drive, the dogs slept for the next day and were desperate to run again the following morning, i rested them for 3 days then went out for a little run...we did our normal 3.4 mile course in record fast time!!!
thanks keith, mandie and steve for putting on the event, event scotland and the foresty commision for the use of the trails, the bunk house for a goodplace to sleep out of the cold (well ish..the heating broke and we had no water as it was frozen..but that just added to the whole atmosphere of the weekend!!! and no one complained about it!!!), all the great dogs, and nice people and new friends we met...i was a blast! lets do it again soon!
matt kirra lolly and wolfe!!!
