Dogs that Fly

Ben SPEEDING past camera

GO BEN!

RACHEL FLYING OUT OF CHUTE

GO RACHEL!

Our way home.

Tues. Feb. 24

This morning we said good bye to the Summers in Anchorage. What a great family to stay with. I don’t know how they do what they do living in the city with sled dogs and loading in their truck every day if they want to go training or racing. The bylaw says that the dogs have to be kept quiet. The dogs are only allowed to bark for 10 minutes at a time or a complaint to the city can be launched. Then your kennel license could be taken away from you. This makes it difficult as you are always after the dogs to keep them quiet. With limited space, time and knowledge the Summers have a fantastic Dog team and Morgan is the one to watch in the future. Morgan and Hanna share the kennel. Hanna is oldest and has a tremendously busy life and will be done with the sled dogs soon. Morgan on the other hand has a mission to start winning with her dogs. Like she has something to prove. I like that. That attitude is the attitude that will get you out training dogs when you are tired or the weather is bad. Etc. Lots of reason not to train but is totally necessary. 

  We had to got to Eagle River to see a wonderful Friend named Randy Lutes. He had a four wheeler we were to pick up and take home with us. Randy came out every day of the race to watch Rachel and Ben. His wife and grand daughter also came out to see the dogs. It was great to see Randy out at the races. I had alot of good laughs with him.

  After getting the four wheeler I went back in to Anchorage to get some lotto tickets being sold for the Rowdy sled dog races. Then we were on our way at around noon. It didn’t take long when while climbing a steep grade the back passenger wheel exploded and we were stopped on the side of the road. We worked away and got the spare put on and were on our way. When we got to Glen Allen we stopped and put a used tire onto our rim and continued on with it as our new spare. 

  We pulled into Tok Alaska at around 8:30 and grabbed a hotel room for a good nights sleep. We are not far from Haines Junction Yukon at this time and will be home later tonight. Thank to all our supporters out there it is great to see so many help Ben and Rachel get to and from the races and also helping us out while we were staying there.

Aleyska

Time to Ski with friends.

Mon. Feb.23

Today we all went to Aleyska ski resort 45 minutes south of Anchorage Alaska. Hanna and Morgan Summers went. As well as Rachel,Ben, Leanne and Darren. The four kids went skiing and Leanne and Darren went to relax.

I have to say that this ski resort made the best hamburger I have ever had by Far. It was the black angus burger. This burger was made from the best grade A beef and that is it, pure tasty beef. The best beef I have ever had. Wow was it ever good. Leanne and I looked after the dogs for the kids while they spent the Day skiing in the beautiful sunshine in Alaska. It was a beautiful day.

Come to think of it the whlole three days that we raced were beautiful as well. We have raced in Alaska before but never in such great conditions. Warm but not too warm for the Dogs. The slight breeze that blew on each day was cool enough for them.

anchorage world championships

Getting Race Ready

Hi everyone. Our three day race here in anchorage is now over. Rachel had more problems with her team again today. It was worse today because now the leaders would stop as they got to the bridges and tunnels where the team dogs would stop and make the leaders stop. Basically the team dogs stopping trained the leaders to stop as the trouble continued. Rachel worked after the race on the second day to make her team dog go over the bridge and through the tunnels. THis dog did good today but the leaders just thought that they were stopping at the tunnels and the bridges. The leaders were also stopping at the crowds of people watching the race. Rachels times were very good considering the trouble that she had. This race is very difficult for dogs because of all the obstacles that they have to go around and by. It was a good training experience for the dogs and Rachel.

Ben is now the 2009 7 dog world champion and ran a clean run today to win it. He ended up running after some ones pet dog out on the trail. He lost some time but not too much. Winning over all by less than half a second. It was very close in the end. Two very competitive teams were in 1st and 2nd. The times were a little farther behind in third and so on. Congratulations Ben. He works hard and puts his time in with the dogs but does not often finish that high in such competitive competitions. It is really nice to see him win here in Anchorage.

As for Rachel I tell here there is more lessons in losing than winning and she must take the good with the bad. She is focused on making a team for the Junior North American championships in Fairbanks in two weeks. We had a good time seeing lots of old friends and making some new ones while we were at it. Ben Rachel Morgan and Hanna go skiing tomorrow and we head home on Tues. Talk to everyone later. Bye for now.

World championships Anchorage Alaska

   Hi from Anchorage. What a drive. It always is like that. We drove straight through to get here and recover before the race. We left at six a.m. and got to bed at 2 a.m. It is a slow drive in allot of places. Not a easy haul. Thanks to Leanne we made it without a overnight. 

  We landed in the super 8 Anchorage the first night. Got to bed at 2a.m. Up early to look after the dogs and track down our billets. Evan and Debra Summers. Daughters Morgan and Hanna. Nice place and we settled right in. Great people. We stayed here on the thursday rested the dogs and made them a good early supper. 

  The final training runs at home prior to the trip left Rachel in need of a older leader to come with here to lead her team. Not the best choice but the only one that she had considering the age of her young leaders. Rachel's younger leaders were not ready to race with so many obstacles here in Anchorage. We did do our best to peak the team and get them ready for the Worlds by laying off and running less and less distance. 

  First day of the WOrlds Rachel ran Dini her old leader. Leader is about nine and ready to retire a while ago. She ran this leader in her Arctic Winter Games team last year. She raced for three gold metals. Still this dog is ready to retire. It was Dini Overtime. On lead Single point dog was Gypsy. Then on wheel was Slick and a yearling called Rusty. 

  The first day of competition brought warm weather but a great hard fast trail. Some new snow. near zero c. some cool wind out of the North was blowing. Rachel Left the chute in 7th position and was running 5 dogs. She came back with a 3rd place finish but had lots of trouble with the young dogs laying down at the tunnels and the bridges stopping  the team.  Not much time separates first from fifth. 1st 20.59  2d 20.37 3rd 20.35  4th 20.47. 5th.  20.52  Very close race.  Second day Rachel has the same problem even after taking the troubled dogs to the tunnels and walking them through the tunnels until they felt better about being there.  She slipped to fourth. She was very disappointed. Her old leader is barely keeping up if at all but at least she is going in the right direction. Day two. 1 st 18.07  2nd 19.23 3rd 19.30 and Rachel ran it in 19.44 with all her problems. She is trying to figure out what to do. Her overall time is 40.31  3rd is 40.05 2nd is 40 even 1st is 39.06. She can still move up.

  Ben in the seven dog did fantastic. was third on the first day. 28.32   1st was 27.00 2nd was 27.47 . Today Ben was first with a time of 27.22 and first overall with a time of 54.47 second is 55.09 3rd is 100.09  Some good racing here at the world's as expected. It is a dog race so you never know what could happen so we will see tomorrow the final day of the race. 

  Ben and Rachel worked their butts off this year training through thick and thin. The third day should show this by the toughness of their teams. If anyone was on the xbox instead of training will regret it on the third day.  So I will let everyone know what happens on day three sometime after the race. 

  It is very exciting to watch and to see Ben and Rachel reap the rewards from a job well done. Talk to you all later.

Hello again

   Well we leave tomorrow. Not much to report. Ben and Rachel continued to work with the dogs in spite of the lack of racing. I was happy to see this. The enthusiasm was low, even for Leanne and I . Today is different. Ben and Rachel are happy today and excited to go to race. 

  Ben has the best team I think. I wasn't allowed to change anything this year with the teams. This was the first time. I usually divide the dogs so they each have the best team possible. Ben is running in the seven dog class at the worlds. 

  Rachel on the other hand is struggling with leaders. All young leaders. It is difficult to train new leaders with new leaders. This is what has been happening because Rachel's older leaders are running too slow to stay ahead of her team. Then the new young dogs make mistakes and teach each other to make mistakes. It is good to have a reliable well trained leader to teach a new one. As far as speed the teams are a little slow. The overall average speed is too low. I am not sure if it is  because Ben and Rachel are holding the teams back too much. We will find out when they race. I hope that they are happy at the end of the day with the teams that they have trained this year. We are staying at some friends house. Ben and Rachel are going skiing as well for a day. It will be a good trip and all will have fun. I will keep in touch as the races happen so everyone can find out what we are up too. Talk to you later 

good day

  Hi everyone. It is our final few training runs before the worlds. The snow keeps on falling and the trail keeps getting softer. It has been hard to get the speed from the dogs lately. So many variables that you just have to do the best you can and forget the rest. 

  Ben and Rachel are having some slow averages from their teams. I am not sure exactly why. It is easy to blame the trail conditions all the time but there is always more reasons. I know Rachel has had some leader problems lately. Her main leaders just won't do it this yr.  Rachel has been busy training new leaders. Young new leaders. This can take a season to make a good pair of leaders. They do not become good leaders without going through some races successfully.  This is another problem. We have not been racing enough because there is no place to go race this yr. that matches their race distances. To be out racing is about the best training you can do to prepare for your big races.  The training has been steady but a little on the slow side is all. The dogs get sour on the same training trail all the time also. This slows them down because a lack of enthusiasm for the area that they run in.  After the last run the dogs got sore feet from the punchy surface of the trail. This is because of the big dumps of snow that we keep getting. I need a blade that pushes snow off the trail.  In any case Rachel has what she has and that is what she has to race with. 

   Ben's team is strong. He has the biggest dogs to use. I am not sure how that happened except he usually gets the biggest dogs because of his size. He needs more power to pull his heavier frame around the trail. He ended up training all eight of the biggest dogs. His dogs seem to be moving quite good and power through even the bad trail conditions. Ben's average speed is down a little also because of the training. We have to speed up these teams somehow. If the trail won't allow it then it is hard to do. You can''t go down the road with the dog teams so we have to be happy with the trail we have. It is nice and flat and smooth just soft on the top. 

   Ben and Rachel train today after school. We will be looking for some high speeds today. Hopefully the trail set up hard. We all will be getting ready by packing and getting all the little details ready for our trip. The world's are held in Anchorage Alaska. We are all looking forward to our time there. 

  Buddy and Terry Streeper are there and just finished racing the Exxon Open championship. Buddy won the open class with 18 dogs I believe. He set the new track record and averaged 20.2 m.P.H over 15 miles. WOW> This sport just gets faster and faster every year. It is almost impossible to catch up year after year. The breeding program has to be perfect and you have to breed for five years down the road.  A person needs to have allot of puppies every year to add to and improve your team. It is a fun but expensive program. 

  We are waiting on a answer from one sponsor.  We have a place to stay in Anchorage with some friends and We are getting some gas money from a friend who wants us to pick up his four wheeler. This all helps out for the trip. We are all looking forward to our races and we will keep in touch as things get closer to race days.

  

Dogs are lookin good

  The weather has co-operated lately so Ben and Rachel could get some good training in.  The dogs are ready that is all I can say. They have never looked so good.  It makes it difficult now to keep the team ready for the next race. We are doing some maintenance runs. The only way this can happen is to decide what is 75% of their top speed.  There is no reason to run them at 100% when we do our training.  Ben and Rachel reach near top speed on their intravels. Not when they are running their six mile runs. When the world championships are nearer we will taper the training and peak them before the race. 

  With out racing Ben and Rachel have untried leaders to race at the worlds. This is something we  are not used to. We usually prepare by participating at more races so the leaders know what they are doing. This just hasn't been possible this year. Oh well it is different every year. You try to keep your season's consistent with each year as far as how many races you go to and your training but there are variables that are not in our control. 

  Ben and Rachel have been supported by many sponsors this year. Grandma and Grandpa Kinvig. Grandma and Grandma and Grandpa Labbie. Paint en Place. This is an auto body shop and friends of ours. Smith drill bits. This is a company that supplies drill bits to drilling rigs. They are also friends of ours. Minconsult. A mining consultant from B.C. They work in the Yukon. Donald Banks. Another friend here in the Yukon. Kal Tire Yukon. They work hard at keeping tires on the truck and keeping it running.  Sport Yukon has just recently came on board to help Ben and Rachel. We have many many friends that help out.  All these sponsors are key to getting us down the road to the races.  We appreciate them all. 

  Not long now to the World championships. We are hoping that Anchorage gets some snow for the World Championships. There wasn't any there not long ago so here's hoping.

  We will keep in touch as the world's gets closer and fill everyone in on the preparation. Then on the trip and finally the results. We are looking forward to that.

  Talk to you later