Kearney

Photo by Marsha Ma and Co.

Our first international race is in the books! Kearney was also our second (ever!) snow race—a fact that surprised a lot of people. Having learned to mush in southern NJ and with unpredictable winters these past few years, I’ve just mostly ran dry land events. But I’m hoping for that to change! (Climate change be damned…)

As mentioned, this winter has been unkind to mushers everywhere. I was several hours into our drive to the race and it was still over 50ºF—in Canada—with no sign of snow. It wasn’t until I arrived at our hotel (20 minutes south of the race site) that I finally saw snow.

The trail crew for Kearney worked their magic and managed to set things up nicely despite the challenges. And day one was definitely a challenge! The temperature was still well above freezing and the snow was the consistency of mashed potatoes. Our six mile (5.5?) slog was demoralizing for myself and the dogs. Though we missed his power, I was glad I made the decision to run Faye instead of Atlas. He would’ve been sinking up to his elbows with his weight.

The dogs slogging through the mashed potatoes at day one’s finish. (Photo by Emily Ferrans)

Despite having a pretty slow run, I was surprised to see we finished in fifth out of eleven teams. The trail wasn’t just tough for us, it was tough for every team out there. After the first day of racing, a big group of mushers met up for dinner and did what we always do—talked about dogs. I’m grateful to be included in this community, with folks I’ve known since I started back in New Jersey and new friends I finally got to meet in person.

Race day two was like an entirely new trail. The temperature fell below freezing and didn’t come back up, so everything firmed up from the day before. I was worried things would become an ice luge, but the Kearney groomers worked their magic again.

In most two day sprint events, my team runs a little bit faster on day two. I don’t know if I’m just less anxious and hold them back less, or if they just find a groove. Either way, it’s usually by seconds or at most a minute or two. Kearney day two, our time was over five minutes faster than day one. That’s how much the trail conditions improved. It was a pretty white-knuckle run as the dogs whipped me around the twisty, technical trails. We crashed once coming down a hill, but it was one of those calculated falls that I couldn’t avoid. We got ourselves right-side up quick and kept on boogying.

Just as every team struggled a bit on day one, they all improved a bit on day two. We managed to hang onto a respectable fifth out of eleven overall and third out of the six “all breed” teams. I couldn’t be prouder of these dogs, especially after spending so much of the season training in mud.

Photo by Emily Ferrans

Next up, we’ll be participating in the ceremonial Seguin Mail Run back in Canada this upcoming weekend. I don’t know how much winter will be left after that, but I’m hanging onto hope we’ll get more time on the sled before spring rolls through.

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February Plans

We’re entering the last full month of winter with hardly any snow on the ground and nothing significant in the forecast. Our local race, the Tug Hill Challenge, was canceled for the fourth year in a row (2021 was due to covid, 2022-2024 due to poor trail conditions). We’re back on wheels for training, and with the super soggy conditions, that means limiting our runs to avoid damaging neighbors’ land.

Our only other close-by option for training is the state forest, but that will be tricky. There isn’t enough snow to safely sled with the full team. The ATV is off limits when there’s even the thinnest bit of snow cover. I’m not sure there’s enough coverage on the motorized trails for the snowmobile—but that might be our best bet. I’ll have to figure it out soon.

We need to increase our mileage before the end of the month, since we’re attending the 12-mile Seguin Mail Run on the 24th. However, over the next week, our sights are set on the Kearney Dog Sled Races. After Tug Hill was canceled, I decided to enter Kearney on a whim. At the start of the season, I had wanted to run Kearney’s 20 mile race, but balked after realizing it was a two day (20 miles each day) event. As the season picked up speed, I assumed I’d be training for events in the 10-15 mile range, so Kearney’s other classes slipped my mind. Bad weather has us behind in miles and other race options canceled or postponed, so running Kearney’s 6-dog, six mile class should actually be just right for where we’re at.

I haven’t decided who the race team will be yet, and it will probably be a race-day decision. I do plan to have Hopper and Willow lead with Hubble and Blitz in wheel. Team dogs are a bit of a toss-up. Sagan will likely be one of them, as she can also lead if I need to swap anyone. I’m fairly certain Laika will sit this one out, as this looks to be a spectator-heavy event and she doesn’t do well with large crowds. Atlas would definitely provide more muscle than Faye, but I’m not sure I’ll need (or want) that if the trail is hard and fast. Faye may also handle warm temperatures better, so we’ll see how things shake out.

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