Todays race.

We woke up today on race day with the weather hot and way above freezing. It was raining out side and the day looked pretty bleak for sled doggin. Looked after the dogs and watered heavy this morning. Dogs were ready and rachel ran the five dog class 6 miles it was very hot. She won it by a couple of minutes I think. she was happy about that. Now Leanne has volunteered to race again tomorrow and on Sunday. This will give Rachel's dogs some better training then we take off again on Sunday after the races. Will keep you informed.

fun fun under the sun here in alaska

Hi. Well it is the eve of the weekend races. This year Rachel will get to run one more Junior race tomorrow. Then Leanne has to race Rachel's dogs again in the adult class. But this is all part of winning the Junior worlds or even the Junior North American championships. You have to race them to win with them. SOme of the dogs still have problems with tunnels and bridges. Hopefully when we get done the week-end they will be okay with it all.
Took the family to Aleaska ski resort outside of Anchorage so the kids could ski. We have good friends here so their kids went who are also mushers. Did some skiing and no one got hurt thank god for that. Rachel and ben did the skiing and Leanne and I looked after dogs on the truck. Tomorrow Rachel leaves the starting chute tomorrow in second place. I Will work on sled runners tonight and then they should be ready for the race in the morning. I will keep you posted as to how things go. Talk to you soon.

First race and First place.

We survived our first race. We were not organized but that is why we do this. The more you race the better you get at it. The fist time off the truck can be pretty hectic. We did it once and now the second time will be much better. Leanne ran a six dog team and a four dog team. We were not expecting to leave on her four dog race so quickly so we were not prepared at all. We made a mistake in putting her four dog team together and gave her some 11 and 10 year olds that have not been trained much this year. We did not realize that she could have raced some younger leaders in her team until she left. Her six dog team was better but had trouble under the bridge and through the tunnels and got tangled up. This is okay too. The only way to get them used to it is to run through the tunnels. This is good training. That is the only reason that Leanne runs them is to make sure that they get the exposure they need to be better racers.
The Junior races went well with Rachel winning her first of the year. Congrates to her. Ben ran in the six dog as well and was third with dogs he has not even trained since last year so good for him. All the dogs on the truck got to run. That is the idea. It will get better as the races continue. The dog teams get better and so do the dog drives. SO no problem with Rachel and her team. She did what she wanted to do. she had fun doing it too.
Our next races are the 31st for Rachel and the first and second for Leanne to take out Rachels team again in the adult classes. THis is just to expose them to as much racing as possible. We are lucky that Leanne volunteers to run these dogs for Rachel otherwise they would not get a chance to run at all.
Will keep you posted after the next Junior race. Until next time. !! Talk to you later.

ONe more sleep.l

Wow it is the eve of the big day. Once a year it comes and goes. We went to the track today in Anchorage and trained 16 dogs. Rachel and Leanne went around the six mile loop. Leanne went to make sure that if the new dogs had troubles with the tunnels and bridges She could help.
Things are changing. The kids are getting older I noticed at the race track. They are not so interested in the dogs anymore. They have so many other interests. The 17 yr olds are getting out of school and dogs. IT is getting close for us as well. Really sad. I find myself wondering what I will do in the winter with out these trips to run dogs. This has been such a big part of our lives. It isn't like other sports. Your friends are running and participating with you. Those friends are your dogs. They are part of the faimiy. We have done this and have had dogs as part of our family for 20 plus years. feeding and caring for dogs. WOW it has been a huge undertaking but seemed like such a easy normal part of our lives. It is the center of all we do and plan. It can't be done unless the whole family participates.
None of this could have been done without all our sponsors. Lots and lots of them. They helped to keep us going and still are. We have made lots of good friends along the way. These people have helped us more than what I can express. They have supplied labour, parts and money to the effort of our racing. When the season turns to fall, then winter, the financial responsibility for us has been quite extensive. As parents we keep it all together all year with the responsibility of keeping a kennel and all that goes with that. Sleds, truck, snowmobile, gear etc etc. When it is time to hit the road and start filling the tank and staying in hotels there isn't a whole lot left. So by having sponsors it makes it possible to actually get a competitive team to the starting line. Of course it also gets the Junior musher (*Rachel) there as well. This is another job in itself. So once again thanks to the sponsors.
We do race on the 26th of Dec. and the 31st Then again on the 1st and 2nd. I wanted to stay until the 7th and 8th for another race. It looks like that won't happen because the kids have to get back to school and Leanne has some shifts to do at work. . We will keep in touch and keep you informed.

Merry Christmas.

traveling to Anchorage Alaska

We made it to our good friends house yesterday. We are so happy to be here. The weather coming this way was very cold. Now we are here the weather is much better. Rachel ran her team last on Sun. It was 25 below at home in the Yukon too. Rachel ran the dogs very slow in the cold and the dogs looked good. We left home on Tuesday morning a little later than first planned. Dog are ready to race on Boxing day at Rachel's first race. We stopped in Tok on our way and picked up a female that had been there raising puppies for a friend of mine. Now they have some great dogs to start with.
We are all wrapping the gifts and getting ready for christmas here at the Summer's house in Anchorage Alaska. Lots of fun. for us here and will get to race later on. Merry Christmas.

We are looking forward to it.

More cold days

Hi to everyone. Rachel went out with friends for sleep over night on a friday night. This is relevant because she has to get home in the morning to train dogs. As a parent you are always concerned what your kids are doing when they are out. The best part of Rachel needing to be home to train is she is likely thinking of the early morning and may just change what she is doing during the night. She made it home and was very cooperative and willing to train the dogs on Saturday morning. This was great.
Saturdays training. Was cold and the trail was pretty hard. The condition were perfect for snow balls to form on the dogs feet. It takes a combination of conditions and various types of dog feet to make this happen. I believe it has to do with different foot temperatures and various insulting qualities of the dog's foot itself. The snow temperature and air temp is a factor as well. Some dogs never develop snow balls on their feet others will. When this happens the little snow balls start to grow on the hair inside the foot. The balls get bigger. When the dogs step down the balls get stepped on and it hurts their feet deep inside . You end up with cracks on the webs inside the feet. This takes time to heal up because of the location of the wounds. Dogs have a tendency to lick at their sore feet as well. This takes off any ointment you apply and makes their feet worse with all the licking. The cuts have to heal from the inside of the body out so it does take quite some time to heal. Dogs that have these cracks need to have booties on to keep training. Booties are not good because it slows the dog down and can cause slipping. A dog that slips at high speeds can injure themselves. It takes the dog time to get used to the booties and they soon learn how to run on them.
Sunday's training run started late in the day. It was hard for everyone to get going. The trail was perfect. Hard fast and better for the feet. Rachel ran one of her fastest average of the year so the average is coming up. good sign as this is the purpose of the training to make the average speed to climb. Once the average speed is up near 19-20 they are ready to race. We do not train the dogs at these speeds ever. We do have training runs where the dogs do bursts of top speed but that is all. The training is going good. Almost time to leave.

It warmed up again.

Hi things got warm again. IT really tightened the trail up because it got warm and then cooled off again. making the trail really hard. The dogs ran their first set of six miles in the warm weather. They looked really good after the runs in the heat and recovered fast. This is because of the way Rachel looked after them last year. Nice to see them look this good this time of year. What a difference from last year. They look really really good already.
We R hoping to get a run in sometime this week before it gets really really cold. I hope that Ben really really helps his sister train her dogs. Got some more work to do to the truck before we leave on the 20th. Then we will be ready to roll. Then we stay in Anchorage from the 20th of Dec. Till the first week of Jan. Talk to you later.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfe

Well the weather warmed up again. We ran our first six mile runs on our trail system. Finally. It was soft but not too bad. The weather was four below and the dogs were hot. They could handle it really good this season. Due to the very warm year last year our young dogs got conditioned to the warmer weather. The trick is to get them used to the weather but not over do it the first year. IF you do they become worse and have less heat resistance. Their first year is very important in a dogs life. You can really really see the difference in dogs that trained in their first year and ones that never did as much training. We really looked after them and they are really looking good this year because of it. The dogs can handle the increase in miles really easy and bump up in mileage fast. It shows that all the work done during their younger years was worth while.
For now it looks like we are heading to Alaska on the 20th of Dec. or so. Staying in Anchorage the whole time and racing where ever they will have us. LOL. There should be ample time to go ski and other things during this time. We will also do a second trip to Alaska in Feb. We will run the Junior worlds then. We also want to bring very nice young man from Rankin Inlet if he is able to make it. He will stay with us and run dogs. Long enough for the dogs to get used to him and then he will come with us to race the Junior world championships In Anchorage. Alaska.