| Racing in
the United Kingdom has become less challenging over the years.
For that reason, a handful of people have been thinking about
exploring ways of pushing the envelope and developing new racing
formats that are more demanding for sled dog teams. To this
end, Helen Fielden, David Patterson, Kari and I decided to put
on a slightly different kind of event. Bucking the prevailing
trend in the past, the four of us had held ten mile dirt races
which were relatively successful. This time, we decided to use
a similar distance but require a minimum load of twenty pounds
for each dog in the team. This meant that the weight of the
rig alone had to be a minimum of twenty pounds times the number
of dogs in the team. We quickly became aware that there ere
not many people with heavy rigs, so we decided to waive the
weight requirement and use a time handicap for rigs which did
not meet the minimum. Arbitrarily we selected a figure of two
seconds per pound under the required minimum.
As it turned out, over this distance, this was probably not
enough to level the playing field. We found a suitable trail.
It was relatively hilly with a number of long climbs and undulating
descents. At 9.3 miles the distance was slightly short of our
desired figure, but considering the temperature on the day,
it was adequate. We also included a mandatory one minute water
stop as a precautionary measure. March can be a relatively cold
month in Scotland. In fact, we had our most snow – one
to one and a half feet, during the first two weeks of March.
Unfortunately, by the time the event date approached, we lost
our arctic high and southerly winds started bringing in warmer
weather from the Atlantic Conveyor. On the first day we had
temperatures around 5 degrees C and rain. This made the trail
slower, but was good for the dogs. The second day, we missed
the rain but the temperature rose several degrees.
We were especially interested in getting UK Seppalas to the
event, but we made it an open race to get some of the fastest
teams in the country to participate. Unfortunately of the twelve
entries, only four had Seppala Siberian Sleddogs in their teams.
Also, only the three participating seven to ten dog teams met
the weight requirement, but one of the drivers, Ewan Robetson,
took it so seriously that he ran a seven dog team on a passenger
rig – with a passenger ! – putting him thirty pounds
over the required weight.
As this was considered a working trial rather than a race, we
were more concerned that people challenged themselves and their
teams. For this reason it has been difficult to interpret the
results. Aside from the fact that all but three of the teams
used lightweight rigs, we allowed people changed their teams
and distances on the second day.
The fastest team on the trail was an outstanding ten dog team
of German Shorthaired Pointers which had just come from winning
the 8 dog class in the Dryland World Championships in Belgium
and finishing an impressive fifth in the Pirena Stage Race.
Graeme Scott’s GSP’s completed the distance in just
over 31 minutes on both days. The slowest team was a three dog
Siberian Husky team that covered the 9.3. miles in just over
an hour and 17 minutes. By contrast, Steven Studley’s
three dog team ( including one Seppala and one part Seppala)
completed the course in less than an hour, an impressive time
for a team that has never run this distance before. Fresh from
training in Europe, Michael McRae’s outstanding four dog
Siberian Husky team set the standard for the lightweight rig
teams, covering the long trail in just over 42 minutes, showing
the level of excellence of some of the purebred teams in the
UK.
On the first day all teams, including a two dog team, did the
full distance. The second day, due mainly to the higher temperature,
a number of the smaller teams took the shorter 6.5 mile trail.
What many of our North American friends would have found interesting
was the wide variety of rigs in use. At the top end of the range
was an Austrian made Brewe rig, a picture of Teutonic engineering
magnificence.
Weighing over two hundred pounds, with full braking on each
of its four wheels and a special spike brake that rammed into
the hard –packed surface of the trail this was truly “vorsprung
durch technik” At the other end of the spectrum, was a
super light weight aluminium and carbon fibre three wheeled
trike of British design and manufacture. I actually had a try
of the latter rig, with Helen and Dave’s young Seppala,
McKinley and a cross Seppala called Lenin. What an experience
!! It was such an interesting event that I was enticed into
getting on a rig again after a ten year hiatus. I went up to
one of the sheds and pulled out my 25 year old heavy (165 lbs)
training rig, put away a few years after it was replaced with
a quad. It was rusty but when I pushed it downhill it moved
and the brakes worked after a fashion, so I entered a geriatric
– actually, I prefer the term “veteran” –
team of eight Seppalas with a combined age of 70. Riding around
on that trail on what handled like a concrete lawn roller, did
not convince me that rig racing is wonderful, but watching that
team with those twelve year old leaders convinced me
that what we are trying to achieve with the Seppala is certainly
worth it.
While we were somewhat disappointed by the small number of larger
teams and the absence of many of Seppalas in the country, we
were greatly encouraged by the enthusiasm of those who showed
up. We learned a bit from this and are planning future events
for next season, possible including a longer stage race with
minimum weight requirements. JOHN COYNE
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