SPK Dog Log

On the way down to Glennallen I made a double random draw for our Copper Basin 300 themed Dog Fan Club Draw. Congratulations to Kathy Ferrell who is a fan of VIOLET and Ingabritt who is a fan of SISSY

Violet and Sissy

Violet looks great and is sassy as ever. She has moved into Boondooks spot in the yard and now has “Big” (but really small) boots to fill. We think she can do it. She is SUPER talented and excited about running, barking and playing. You can’t get better than that! Violet and Sissy will both be running on Aliy’s team for the race.

Sissy is worked up this season and ready to roll. She has a flair about herself that really makes a musher happy. How she is always so incredibly excited to run, run, run… is amazing. She looks great physically and is certainly holding her own.

Kathy and Ingabritt both win a CB300 poster that features the SP Kennel Black Team, signed by Aliy and Allen plus a photo print portrait of Violet and Sissy. We hope you enjoy your packets!

We will be doing a Dog Fan Club draw next Friday, January 20th which will coincide with the Two Rivers 200/100 race. Everyone who has joined by then and hasn’t already won will be in the draw to win!

Click the button below for more information about how to join:

Click this button to take you directly to the Dog Fan Page.

Want to know how you can follow along with the Copper Basin 300 this weekend?

Firstly, I must let you know that our coverage will be unashamedly SP Kennel focussed!

We will have the team on the ground taking pictures and video and updating from checkpoints WHERE POSSIBLE. We are unsure what internet coverage we will have and will likely not be able to post directly from some of the checkpoints, especially Sourdough and Tolsona. Keep an eye on our Instagram and Facebook pages as we might be able to post pictures directly there.

Once again this year we are so lucky to have Macgellen in our corner. He will update you several times during the race with his insightful and now famous race strategy updates. He will run the numbers for you and keep you informed. We have been sponsored the use of a Satellite phone this season by Kenai Satellite Phone Rentals so will be able to get in contact with Macgellan with some further “on the ground” details when we can’t post it ourselves.

The Copper Basin 300 website gives you lots of great information. There will be GPS trackers to follow, up to date checkpoint times and links to the race rules, musher profiles and other race information; especially if you are following other kennels and mushers. (What? There are other mushers?) Those of you following along remotely will probably have access to more information that we do at the checkpoints.

The CB300 Facebook page will also be of great help to get information as it is updated regularly from Race Head Quarters in Glennallen during the race.

You may consider taking part in the CB300 “Sponsor a Mile” program to support the race. Proceeds go directly to the race and help keep things like the GPS Tracker free and put fuel in the trail breakers’ snow machines. Thanks to those who already have done so.

The local radio station KCAM will once again be live streaming the start and you can tune in from anywhere in the world! Check it out on Saturday morning.

Click on the red links above to take you to the appropriate pages.

Are you ready?

The dogs sure are and we all will be once we have the last few things ticked off our to-do lists.

The Copper Basin 300 is one of our kennel’s favourite races. Not just because we have had much success at the race but also because it is a unique combination of tough yet beautiful trails and the team that put the race on is so great to work with.

This year we are excited to run over some trails we haven’t seen before as the snow cover (or lack of) on parts of the “usual” trail made it unsafe for 45 teams to race on, so the route is new.

The race starts in Glennallen at 10am Saturday morning and heads to the first checkpoint of Sourdough campsite. Then to Meiers Lake, around to Tolsona Lake and the final checkpoint is at Mendeltna Lodge, with the race finishing back in Glennallen 300 miles later.

The field is really strong and we are looking forward to stiff competition. Two Rivers is once again well represented!

SP Kennel is fielding three teams: Allen will run his Black Team, Aliy the Red Team and Chris is taking the Red & Black (R&B) Team. We will post team rosters closer to the time as we have not completely finalised the teams yet. We have another stretch-out run to complete before we make the final decisions.

The main handler team is Mark, Moira and Wes and we will mix and match accordingly over two trucks to follow and support the teams. Ruth will be back at the kennel taking care of all those left behind, after taking December with her family back in Norway.

Tomorrow we’ll post a coverage guide which will give you links to some of the other places to go for race information. Keep an eye out for that and you may wish to keep that handy during the race.

Allen in from a training run tonight – Back / Front.

Let’s not forget about our ‘mature’ dogs. We have a few dogs here at SP Kennel who are not doing the hard core training for the Copper Basin 300 ~ starting in only 6 days! The rosters for the CB300 will be released this week but here’s a ‘heads up’: all three teams are comprised of dogs between the ages of 2 and 9. We have not been training the Yearlings for this race and we have not been training the Mature dogs for it either. So… what have they been doing? Laying on their backs chewing rawhide bones? Well, it’s a YES to the rawhide bones! But all these dogs have been on their own training schedule’s.

Quito and Nacho are the oldest dogs training for a race this season. They are both 10 1/2 years old. Of course, just like humans, “old” is relative. As we know, age is both physical and mental and, oh yea… has a little to do with luck. Anyhow, Nacho and Quito are physically gorgeous, fit and mentally they still want to do it. So they will get their chances this season.

Quito is enthusiastic, sassy and can move as smoothly as she did as a youth. She seems no different than she was 5 years ago. However, we know that she is older… like us … so we have been training her differently. Quito has been doing only some of the longer training runs but never on consecutive days. This is so that her recovery time is longer. She is also doing shorter runs in order to stay stretched out.

Nacho is a happy, happy dog! He is now a bit slower than his sister and much slower than the main Racers. His gait has never been smooth! (He looks like a raccoon loping across a picnic table.) So Nacho’s training schedule has been quite a bit slower in speed this year. Although he was never a main leader during his main racing career, he is leading most of the time now, so that he can set the pace ~ usually 7 or 8 mph. Slow and steady will also get it done!

Look for both Quito and Nacho to race in the Two Rivers races.

SP Kennel sponsor, Bob Huston, is a community service ‘kinda guy’. When he heard that Aliy and Allen were in Anchorage in December for other sponsor obligations he jumped on the chance to do several motivational grade school presentations. The timing was perfect because the kids had a TREMENDOUS amount of energy ~just prior to Winter Vacation and Santa’s Visit!

Allen, Bob, Aliy and Linda Steiner before the Russian Jack Elementary Relay Races began.

Aliy and Allen talked for a few minutes about facing challenges – both on the trail and in life – and then we had a Relay Race. The kids first had to get dressed in Musher’s Gear, then push a small dog sled around a birch tree (blue chair) and back thru thick standing willow bushes (kids with their hands in the air) and finally return to hand off the sled to the next musher. BUT… before the next musher could start their leg in the relay someone from that team (Teams names were: Quito, Scout, Junior and Commando) had to spell a word – out loud. Believe it our not…the BEST spellers won the race! And that was TEAM Commando!

Aliy talks to the kids; Allen shows them how to push the sled.

Gearing up for the race in a Mushers Parka; Maneuvering around the “tree”.

The Willow Bushes were thick in the school gymnasium!.

So now that the SP Kennel Mushers have warmed up with both North Star and Russian Jack Elementary Schools Races perhaps they are ready for their own races… bring it on!

WOW! Thank you all so much for joining our Dog Fan Club. We have hit the 200 mark so, as promised, we have done a bonus draw! Congratulations to Peggy Long who is a fan of SCOUT!

Scout rules SP Kennel. He saunters around the yard claiming every spot as ‘his’. But when a dog is as accomplished as Scout, can you blame him? He is in full training again this season and he looks GREAT!

Peggy wins an SP Kennel T-shirt and some other goodies plus a photo print portrait of Scout. We hope you enjoy your packet Peggy!

Our next scheduled Dog Fan Club draw will be on January 13th and will be Copper Basin 300 themed! Everyone who has joined by then and hasn’t already won will be in the draw to win!

Click the button below for more information about how to join:

Click this button to take you directly to the Dog Fan Page.