SPK Dog Log

The RED and RED AND BLACK teams have been settled for the Two Rivers Solstice 100/50 mile race starting 11am on Saturday at the Pleasant Valley Store in Two Rivers.

Aliy will be racing a team of veterans with Beemer and Pud in lead while Meghan is taking the yearlings for their first race ever. She will be taking some veterans in her team also to lead the way for the youngsters with Kipper and Scout out in front.

Click here for the team line-ups.

Wendy will be handling for the teams and posting progress reports and pictures as and when she can during the race.

Go Team(s)!

After just over five hours on the road, the BLACK TEAM is settled in at Glennallen ready for the Copper Basin 300, starting at 10am Saturday. They have just enjoyed a hearty dinner and will get lots of rest tonight before they embark on 300 miles around the Copper River Basin.

The team has been finalised with Scruggs and Quito likely to lead the team out on the first leg to the Red Eagle Lodge in Chistochina in the morning. Expect to see Olivia and I.V. in lead at some point also. Click here to see the full team roster.

This will be the eleventh time Allen has run the Copper Basin 300. He is looking forward to a good race with lots of competitive teams entered. The weather forecast is for warm, snowy conditions and a few areas of ‘overflow’ are expected so it will be challenging for the teams; but then, the Copper Basin is always a challenge regardless of the weather.

The handler crew of Ray, Ryne and myself (Moira) will keep you updated as much as possible over the next few days. We’ll be taking photos and video and will post whenever we have internet connection. You may also wish to keep up to date with checkpoint times and information at the Copper Basin 300 website www.cb300.com. We expect teams to start coming in Monday night/Tuesday morning.

Go Team!

Oh and check out who is on the official CB300 poster! This pic was taken back in 2010.

It is winter in Alaska and SP Kennel is in the thick of the sled dog racing season.
This Saturday, January 12th, is the start date for two races.

The Copper Basin 300 starts at 10AM in Glennallen in Southcentral Alaska. Allen will be racing the Black Team in a competitive field of 40 mushers from Alaska and Canada.

The CB300 highlights:

• It is a competitive field of top quality mushers and dog teams.
• Is exciting for the fans and spectators. The checkpoints are accessible and dog teams can often be veiwed from the road system. 
• The SP Kennel Handler crew – Ray, Ryne and Moira – will be on their toes as they assist the Black Team from the start to finish. Although no outside assistance is allowed; handlers are critical in terms of pre and post race dog care, drop dogs, maneuvering the team through the five designated checkpoints, as well as checkpoint clean up. 
• The CB300 is the best 300 mile race to get the SP Kennel dogs and mushers somewhat prepared for the Yukon Quest.
• The BLACK TEAM line up will be posted Saturday morning.
• Moira will be reporting with videos, photos and details from the CB300 on the SP Kennel Dog Log.

Lester needs a nickname!

Lester is not the most dominant dog, he is a small dog who is shy and reserved but he has a place on the team.

Aliy says he is a super talented sled dog and has been running in lead so far this season. He finished the Iditarod last year as a three year old and is surely headed to the Quest or Iditarod again.

Lester is unique with his red coat and pretty blue eyes, an unusual combination.

Any ideas for a nickname for Lester?

With the Copper Basin, Kusko and Yukon Quest just around the corner there are a thousand and one things that need doing. Along with getting the dogs ‘race ready’ there are plenty of other important details that keep everyone busy. I caught up with Allen yesterday as he was working in the garage and I asked him what he was up to.

Nutmeg is a powerhouse, she’s been on the SP Kennel racing team for six years!

She considers herself one of the strongest, brightest and best performers at the kennel. She’s run the Iditarod six times and the Yukon Quest twice so there isn’t much more she needs to prove.

This will most likely be her last competitive racing season but then again, who knows? She’s been arguing with Aliy about that all season.

Check out Scooter crashing the filming! She’ll get her turn later.

A full SPK team effort was called on to organise the food drop bags for the upcoming Copper Basin and Kusko 300 races. A lot of thought and experience goes in to deciding the composition of the bags and forward planning is required to have the correct amount of snacks cut and kibble packaged ready to go. Allen, Aliy, Meghan, Ryne and Moira (plus Stormy and Tig) spent Saturday afternoon organising Aliy and Allen’s bags for these two races.

The dog snacks include frozen turkey and chicken skins, “BLT” (beef, liver and tripe – yum!) and salmon. For their meals we use mixture of two different recipes of Eagle Pack dog food.

So, the dog food is sorted! Next up is the human food and all the other bits and pieces that make up a drop bag including fuel for the cooker, booties, dog coats, spare parts for the sleds, lines, harnesses etc etc etc! We’ll think about that tomorrow.

The Winter Racing Edition of the SP Kennel Howler is ready for viewing.

In this edition we give a rundown on the two races so far and a look ahead to the Copper Basin 300, Kuskokwim 300 and Yukon Quest coming up. We’ve also written about what exactly we mean when we say we are getting the dogs “race ready”.

Click on the image to left to view the Howler in a new browser window!