The mushers’ meeting and banquet at the Copper Basin 300 Mile Sled Dog Race was a pretty casual affair, more like a gathering of friends at a local pub than an official ceremony. Nevertheless, the mushers were all briefed on weather, trail conditions, checkpoint rules, etc. The drawing for bib … Read More
In my previous post I mentioned that Aliy and Allen spent some time autographing copies of the official Copper Basin 300 Mile Sled Dog Race poster. Well, as it turns out, the photo used in the poster is of Allen, taken just a few miles before he crossed the finish … Read More
The SP Kennel teams loaded up for the Copper Basin 300 Mile Sled Dog Race early this morning. It was dark and very cold — almost -50 degrees! — but with Aliy and Allen plus their “handlers” — Allen’s daughter Bridgett helping him and Bob Hauer working with Aliy — … Read More
The Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race is this weekend! Allen has won the CB300 in three of the past four years, and with his back-to-back wins in the last two years he is looking to “three-peat”! The pace here at the Kennel is at full speed — packing gear, … Read More
Aliy crossed the finish line at 7:35 this morning, taking fourth place in the GinGin 200 Mile Sled Dog Race. She was very tired as usual, and even colder than normal after spending almost two days in temperatures below -40 degrees. We immediately snacked her dogs, took off their booties … Read More
As you now know, my aborted snow machine excursion meant that I would not be out at the mid-course checkpoint with the teams, but instead relegated to waiting at the start/finish line in Paxson for the duration of the race, estimated to be between 36 and 48 hours. Although the … Read More
Once again, “the plan was perfect!” I’d carried a snow machine down to Paxson in the back of my pick-up truck, with a plan to drive it out the Denali Highway to the GinGin 200 Sled Dog Race checkpoint at MacLaren. I figured that I might be able to shoot … Read More
With three dog teams in the GinGin 200 Sled Dog Race, we had even more than the usual amount of preparation to do for the start. In very good order, however, Aliy, Allen and Bridgett did their final sled packing, then it was time to drop the dogs, put on … Read More
Our travel plan to the GinGin 200 Sled Dog Race was perfect: Leave the Kennel at 2pm in three trucks — two dog trucks (with 30 dogs) driven by Aliy and Allen, and a pick-up truck (carrying a snow machine) driven by me — to meet Bridgett at the Fairbanks … Read More
We’re packing the trucks and loading the dogs, getting ready to head to the GinGin 200 Mile Sled Dog Race this weekend. So, the pace at the Kennel is at full speed! We will be running three teams, with Aliy, Allen and Bridgett mushing ten dogs each. The GinGin is … Read More
