Top Team on right, Laura Daugereau with Pork and Jacob in lead.
California's Siskiyou Sled Dog Races
by Lisa Wright
WEED, California - Spectators and mushers alike enjoyed a thrilling weekend of entertainment and competition in California's only Distance sled dog racing competition, the Siskiyou Sled Dog Races. The races were held January 12th_14th at Deer Mountain Snowmobile park outside Weed, CA. With evening and early morning temperatures last weekend dipping below zero, the crowds were a bit lighter than expected. However, the mushers and their dogs could not have asked for better conditions to compete in the various events.
Wally Clements, a film producer from Oxnard CA, recounts, "While in the preliminary stages of creating a documentary on sled dog racing, and .
how the mushers train their teams (or how the dogs train the mushers), I was on hand to shoot some footage at the Siskiyou 135 Dog Sled Race. This was my first encounter with the sport in person. Watching Iditarod coverage on television, and movies like 'Eight Below' and 'Snow Dogs' had been as close as I had come to this kind of event, and I wasn't quite prepared for what a wonderful experience it really was:'
Mushers representing 10 states, from Alaska to New York, competed in the racing events that included a 135 mile race, two-day combined time 18 mile Mid Distance, 5.4 mile (8, 6, and 4-dog) Sprint, and 2-dog Skijor Races. On Friday, a vet check of the dog teams was held. The club also hosted an educational outreach with musherl school visits, followed by a well attended Mushers Banquet at the Sons of Italy Hall in Weed.
The 135 mile race started at 9 am on Saturday, with first place musher Rick Larson completing the course just after 3 am Sunday morning. The final musher to finish the I 35 mile race was Barbara Schaefer (this was her first distance race). She arrived just before 6 pm on Sunday evening due to her team stopping to recover 10 miles before the finish point during the race.
During the awards banquet on Sunday night, mushers and teams shared tales from the trail, and racers received their awards and prize money. Second place distance winner, Jon Bunderson, of Sand Point, Idaho, exclaimed heartily at the awards ceremony, "I was not mentally prepared for the difficulty of this course. Maybe I thought there'd be palm trees and beaches? This is California you know!" The race purse totaled $7000. Iditarod veteran Rick Larson received a check for $1410 for I st place in the 135 mile race. All the participants raved about the condition of the course, the organization of the competition, and repeatedly acknowledged the success of the event to Race Marshal Pat Campbell. Campbell is also the director of the Siskiyou Snow Dog Sporting Association and a distance musher bound to relinquish his race marshal position in 2008, allowing him to compete. Several special awards were given including: Best All Around Musher - Jerry Bath; Best Dog Care - Laura Daugereau; Most Perseverance - Barbara Schaefer; and Snow DogVolunteer Extraordinaire - Caralee Scala.
The youngest person in the competition was 11 year old Alea Robinson of Anchorage, Alaska, who placed 1st in the 4-Dog. 5.4 Mile race.Alea, the Junior North American Champion, has been running dog sleds since she was 4 years old and has aspirations of competing in the Iditarod. The only other young competitor was II year old Kelsey Brozovich of Klamath Falls, Oregon, who placed 13th in the 4-Dog race.
Special Thanks to Pat Campbell, Distance Race Marshal, Allen Iverson, Sprint Race Marshal, Race Vets, Steve Bowen, Melanie Donofro, and Belinda Abbot. Appreciation also goes out to USDA Klamath National Forest Goosenest, Shasta Trinity and Modoc Districts, Siskiyou Institute, and Scott Valley Bank, California's oldest independent Bank. For more information and the race results visit www.siskiyousnowdogsports.net.
Mushing. Marcn/Apri/2007 45