This weekend marked the first ever NY State Dryland Challenge—a winding, 2.2 mile sprint race held by the Pennsylvania Sled Dog Club in musher Steven Davis’s backyard. While I’m trying to move away from sprint races, I still need to give the dogs race experience and exposure if we’re going to be attending longer races in the future. This event was less than two hours from me, so I figured I better give it a shot.

I debated running Hubble right up to the night before the race. ISDRA rules state that dogs cannot wear muzzles, so that option was out for him. My start time was towards the middle of the class, with speedier teams both in front and directly behind me. There was a good chance I’d get passed, and it would be the first time Hubble would be in that scenario. Since he’s been defensive around dogs he doesn’t know, I figured this wasn’t the best way to introduce him to races. The game day decision was to leave him in the van and run five (Denali, Willow, Knox, Laika, and Blitz) in the 6-dog class.

Day one of the race was pretty smooth-sailing for my little team. We had a solid run, although by our start time (around 11:30 AM), it was sunny and nearing 50°F. Knox was definitely feeling it, so I didn’t push them too hard. Thankfully (?) there was plenty of mud and water on the trail, so that helped cool them off. No one passed us on day one, but there were some sections of trail where you could see a team on another part of the course, which definitely peaked my gang’s interest.

The second day was a bit colder, but I think the mud got… muddier? A day of bikes, rigs, scooters, and ATVs definitely didn’t help the situation. Our start time was a bit later, but we still had a speedy team positioned behind us out the chute. The run itself was mostly fine, though Knox did take a brief second to poop. We got passed a few minutes into running, and the dogs were pretty shocked to see another team suddenly appear. Knox did a scary bark and nobody listened when I called to “gee-over” (move to the right of the trail), but the team got by us without a tangle or altercation, so I’m mostly relieved. I knew we needed passing training for Hubble, but the entire team could use a refresher.

We finished in 10 minutes, 48 seconds on day one and 10 minutes, 27 seconds on day two. That works out to roughly 12 mph, which is awesome, since we’ve been training to run at a sustained 10 mph pace. Our combined time put us at 9th place out of 11 teams, which isn’t very impressive, but that’s just fine with me. This race was all about gaining positive experiences. Besides, I don’t really expect to place when competing in sprint against speedy hound teams.

Speaking of positive experiences—my favorite part of the weekend was hanging out with other dog-loving humans. Along with fellow mushers, several central NY friends I’ve made through Bumble BFF and Twitter came to spectate each day, which was a delightful surprise. I’ve grown so used to pursuing this hobby alone. It’s comforting to find a sense of community here, especially if I plan on staying in the North Country for the long haul. (Which I do!)

We don’t have any races planned until the Tug Hill Challenge in February, but there’s a ton of work to be done between now and then. Hopefully starting soon, we’ll be working on passing training with Roy Smith’s team of hounds. I’ll be visiting New Jersey for Christmas and New Years, and plan to do the New Year’s Day training meetup in the Pine Barrens, my old stomping grounds. Along with gaining experience with other teams on the trail, I want to boost our runs to 20 miles or so by January. Fingers crossed for steady but manageable snow storms, patient dogs, and a season unlike anything we’ve done before.

Mud Mush

Jessica Marie