Indian River Sprint Race

The results are in!

The Small 'N' Mighty Racing Team came in 1st place out of 10 teams! 

We almost didn't place at all though...on Saturday I almost missed my chute time! In sled dog racing, you have a "chute time" and a "start time" which are 1 minute apart from each other. You're supposed to be in the chute for your chute time and then you wait there for the minute until your start time. If you miss your start time, the clock starts for you anyway and you have to go out at the end of your class. So depending on how many teams are after you, you could be adding a substantial amount of extra time to your race time!

I got into the chute just has the starter was counting down "5...4...3...2...1...". I just BARELY made it!

After that minor mishap, we had a tangle/ball up on the trail when we passed a team. Char, who was running lead with Salsa, wanted to join the team behind us after we passed them. It took me a few seconds to get everyone straightened out and headed in the right direction but we finally got our crap together and finished in 1st!

On Sunday, we were able to hold our place and Sydney made her debut as a leader running in tandem with Salsa. Sydney did EXCELLENT! Passing trail help? No problem! Passing a team? No problem! 

She is becoming quite the professional! 

Jetta got to come along with us to the race so she could get a feel for the racing scene. She's not quite sure what to think yet...

She will get the hang of it soon though and will be ready to rock next year!

All in all, we had a GREAT weekend! We would like to give a shout out to ALL of the people that had ANYTHING to do with the race you are so greatly appreciated! 

Next stop, the Thunder Bay Classic in Alpena, MI! 

Meet Jetta!

Say hello to the newest member of the kennel!

This is Jetta, she's a Siberian Husky and is just under 2 years old. She's the half sister to my other sibe, Char.  I'm looking to advance to the 6 dog class in races next year and hopefully Jetta will want to be apart of the team! 

She will be coming to the race (OMG, we have a race!!) with us this weekend so she can see what it's all about. I'm going to do with her what I did with Sydney; take her to all of the races this year so she can get a feel for what they're like so she'll be ready to take part in the madness next year! 

Welcome, Jetta!

Don't Put The Sled Before The Dogs...

Well...I spoke too soon...first race: cancelled. :P

The local news did a little segment on it: 9/10 News
(If you look close, you'll see a pic of my team and I at the first Indian River race 2 years ago! My team is being led to the starting line so it's only a back shot...I'm wearing bib #14.)

However, they say every cloud has a silver lining and there is one here. Although the temps are going to reach almost 50 degrees F (!!!) tomorrow, they're going to go back to normal on Sunday and stay that way for the entire week. It's also supposed to snow on Sunday so as long as we get a couple of inches to cover the icy base we'll be left with after the warm up, we'll be good to go!
The trails in Kalkaska (destination of our next race) are said to look good so as long as they make it through the unseasonable temps tomorrow, we'll have a race next weekend!

We managed to get in some good runs before the temps rose and on one of those runs I brought along one of my cameras. Here's a little video I put together of the footage I got. :)
Small 'N' Mighty Racing Team Video

Let's Get Ready to Rrrrrace!

A week from now, at the same time today, we will be at a race!
We're not sure where we are going to go yet (whether we'll do a GLSDA race or M.U.S.H) but we know its going to be a great time!
The team is coming together quite nicely and we should be ready to rock by the weekend. We're so psyched!