We've had a few hick-ups with our race season this year. Not with dogs, or equipment or training but with the actual races themselves. The two races we had planned on doing BOTH got cancelled. The Interior Stage Race a three day event of 25 miles, 45 miles and 35 miles was cancelled due to .....we don't know what. Our second choice the Chatanika 100 (100 mile race) was cancelled due to lack of volunteers.
Three weeks ago we were looking at the prospect of not doing any races at all this season. We took a look at what was available in the Fairbanks area and decided that this years races would have to be sprint races or nothing at all. Sprint it is then!!!
For distance dogs to change gears and go from a long distance trot to a short distance lope can be a difficult, but the Sun Dog Express crew seems to be up for the challenge. We will only be doing the six dog class in the Alaska Dog Mushing Associations Challenge and Limited races. Some of our tour dogs are too big to be asked to run that fast and it frustrates them to do so. We have a few rescue dogs that have some sprint dog blood in them. We are going to see what they are made of.
So far the dogs really seem to be enjoying the high energy of sprint racing. In Challenge Race #4 we finished 4th and finished "in the money". Not bad for a bunch of distance/tour dogs out of their element. As always our main focus is to have fun because that is what we do best.
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