Red River Sled Dog Derby 2010

Red River Sled Dog Derby 2010
Mar 2nd 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Midwest
Location: Finland, MN
Time - 10:32am Central Standard Time
Temperature: 30 degrees F (-1C)
Conditions: Clear, sunny, warm
Forecast: Partly cloudy today, mostly cloudy tomorrow. Highs in the 30s, lows in the teens


Above picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/tscherer/4397049050/in/set-72157623405751751/ It shows my team coming into the finish of the Red River Dog Derby. Yes, I am wearing the Mask.

The Red River race was awesome! We had an absolute blast and it was truly a rush blasting out of the starting chute with twelve dogs. Quite a change from running the usual suspects (my 8-dog BG150 flower power team). I remember the first time I ever drove a 3-dog team and I thought THAT was insane. Not so much now!

I let this team go faster than I have before in any race (with this particular team that was not a problem!). Running on the river was a lot of fun. Gonzo had a fun time deciding which side of the river we should run on! He led the entire way and was a goofball but did a good job, especially since he was not used to me as his musher.

The Red River is seriously windy. It curves around something crazy and sometimes it does turns that almost have us heading back in the opposite direction. A lot of fun. The dogs often sped up nearing the curves, excited to see what might be around the next bend. Sometimes we would catch another team, sometimes another team would catch us.

The night run was perfect. It was clear with a full moon to light our way and the temperature hovered around zero and the dogs were rocking! We couldn’t have asked for better running conditions. The air was cool enough for ice crystals to form in the air and they caught the light of my headlamp and glittered as we ran along.

When the sun came out the next morning, the dogs all turned back into pumkins. They still ran nicely but it was warmer and nobody runs as well when the temperature is going up and up and the sun is beating down. I used a ski pole for the first time in the Red River, to help the dogs. I liked using it and I’m sure the dogs appreciated it!

We finished in 6th place and I had all twelve dogs finish with me. I was really, really pleased. This race was just a lot of fun and I can see myself coming back to do it again sometime in the future. Jen and Sarah of course did a great job of having everything ready when I came into checkpoints. I think they had a little too much fun though! But seriously, BIG THANK-YOU to Jen and Sarah!


Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/tscherer/4394164236/in/set-72157623523592702/

Find more pictures, links and results on http://www.redriversleddogderby.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1

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3 Responses to “Red River Sled Dog Derby 2010”
Dave Lukosik on 03 Mar 2010 at 10:14 pm # edit this

Sounds like you and the team had a great adventure and gained lots of good experience. Lots of photos available from the race website, enjoyed viewing them. I bet that full moon made for a beautiful journey on the Red River! Did you still use a headlamp at night? Jamie Nelson won the race. What type of dogs was she running? Your dogs looked like they were having a great time from the photos! The Red Lantern musher was a 2005 Iditarod veteran and Beargrease veteran. I wonder what slowed him down? You are probably itching to run a 16 dog team next! Happy trails!

Jen on 04 Mar 2010 at 11:04 am # edit this

Hi Dave -
Alice was driving one heck of a team in this race! I think she was pretty impressed with the power in front of her. All the mushers were very accomplished and experienced and driving very well trained teams. Alice had the only all Siberian team - just one 9 year od Alaskan and two half Siberians. She had 6 yearlings on the team.
She did very well!
Rock on Alice!!

Dave Lukosik on 04 Mar 2010 at 9:31 pm # edit this

Thanks Jen for your feedback! Your Kennel has the best looking and best running Siberians in my opinion! That was a beautiful photo of you and one of your sled dogs on the Iditarod Trail in the March 2010 issue of Alaska magazine. Looking foreward to following the MCK team and Blake on the Iditarod Insider starting this Saturday! Take care, Dave in NC