The night race was first and we were off like a rocket in freezing conditions. We kept up a good pace, executing the turns well and flying up and down the hills until Shanta took a left turn too sharply and became tangled in the rig. We stopped for about half a minute to sort this out and were then heading towards the finish line where the trail has been resurfaced in places. The team slowed down with every section of new surface and picked up speed with the old surface, but we were now within sight of the finish line and for the last half mile we sped along.
Sunday morning’s race was over the same trail but in daylight and again we flew off the start line. After the first right hand turn Shanta again slowed her pace and every so often picked it up again. It becomes obvious that she didn’t like the resurfaced patches of the trail so we ran at her pace. As we near the finish line Rusky and Shanta decided they wanted to go and say hello to a marshall but with a quick word from me we carried on and crossed the finish line. Upon inspection of the trail the newly surfaced area has been covered with the size of stones you would find on a railway line. We finished in sixth place in each race (well done the team) and were still the fastest all rescue four dog team.
Our next race is on the 29 January at Longmoor, over a six mile trail.
So far this season we have only covered nine miles in three training runs. This race involves a pair of mushers doing two legs each. I teamed up with my partner, Em, who went out first and put the team into the third spot in our class. I went out at 10:10 in the number two leg, by which time the temperature had risen to 12 degrees celsius, fairly close to our limit of 15 degrees celsius. We had a good, uneventful, race and crossed the finish line with a time of 15 minutes 30 second which put us in fourth place. The Sunday race was cancelled due to the heat and humidity.
The Polaris team came fourth out of our class. I was the only person to run three dogs, when all the other teams were made up of four dogs. I was very proud of my team’s effort and look forward to the next race in November.
Mike the musher and his team of dogs.
The above race took place in the Forest of Dean starting on Friday night 25 and finishing on Sunday 27 February. We entered the Open Class and on Friday night the first stage, around Mallards Pike Lake, was over 4 miles where we encountered 6 inches of mud, rain, mist and strong winds. As we left the start line the rain came down with a vengeance, we quickly became covered in mud, and uppermost in my mind was to get us home safely but I missed a marker for a left turn and the team pulled us into a very enclosed wood path and a huge mist bank which immediately put out my helmet light just leaving me with the main rig lighting. We continue through the misty wood section onto the open trails and are heading for home. We recorded a time of 25:15:096 minutes as we crossed the finishing line.
On Saturday the dogs are given a small feed of Burgess Supadog Active early after which I carry out a pad check on each dog. This next stage of 3.8 miles is run twice – once in the morning and again at night. We were off at 08.34 in dry conditions but still very muddy underfoot but we have a good run keeping up a good speed, both uphill and on the flat, and cross the line recording a time of 25:36:156 minutes Our next run is at 18:04 so I feed the dogs early to allow this to be digested in time for the start. After checking the dogs pads and a warm up we left the start well, heading up a hill onto the flat and then down a slight hill and when we are about 1 mile from home I can hear the team behind calling the turns. We continue on and get to a very muddy hairpin left turn where my team grind to a halt – Diesel and Rusky are trying to pull a bit but Shanta is up to her belly in mud. The rig sticks in the mud and I have to lift it out of the mud and try to walk it with the team pulling us out of the mud as best we can. The following team catch us up just as we get out of the mud and we race hammer-and-tongs to the finish, crossing the line in second place at 28:30:228 minutes. Once we are all cleaned up I check the pads again only to find that Diesel has got a sore left rear paw which could have been caused anywhere on the trail. At this point we all need some well earned sleep to prepare us for the Sunday morning run.
On Sunday morning I check Diesel’s paw again but it still seems very tender so I decide to drop him and run the rig on two dogs only which will be the first time they have ever raced side-by-side. We do a few short runs to see how this is going to work and everything seems fine with Shanta on the left and Rusky on the right. The Sunday morning stage is a re-run of Friday night and we set off in dry conditions but still with mud everywhere. We fly off the starting line at 08:34 hours and get into a cracking fast pace. I see 2 people on the trail with 2 lost dogs so I shout ‘trail’ to allow them to clear to the edge and we fly past. For a new team we are travelling very well with all turns being executed well. We hear the team in front calling a turn so we quicken our pace, closing up on the team in front with three more turns and the final run for home. We came in second at 20:43:624 minutes but what a run with the new team!! Despite the fact we had to drop Diesel off the team we still did a very fast time and were the fastest team in the Open class at this stage.
We finished the Wyedean Quest Open Class in 1 hour 40:05:104 giving us second place in a class of nine!!
We ran 16 competitive miles over some very tough, demanding and technical trails in three days and I couldn’t ask for more from the team of Diesel, Rusky and Shanta with Musher Mike.
