USA : Wednesday, 26 January 2011(Local Time)
Jackson Hole in Wyoming.-The dogs of the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race (IPSSSDR) are amazing athletes, whose personalities stem from a bred-in love of running, according to race director Frank Teasley.
“When you look for a dog that can do this, you look for a dog that wants to do this,” Teasley said. “The job is not getting the dogs to run; it’s getting them to stop. You can’t teach a dog what it doesn’t want to do.”
IPSSSDR begins Friday on the Town Square with a ceremonial 2.8-mile jaunt. The 330-mile, multiple-leg race then jumps over to Lander on Saturday, where after a party with the race band at Lander Brewing Company, 21 competitors mush off for the first day of long-distance racing, Sunday. Mushers will race 35 miles on Lander’s Lollypop Loop.
The longest day of the race covers 64 miles outside of Marbleton/Big Piney.
Teasley owns Jackson Hole Iditarod Sled Dog Tours at the mouth of Granite Creek in Hoback Canyon which he has described as a “pension-plan” for his experienced racing dogs and a “high school” for the younger, less experienced Alaskan huskies that he breeds and trains.
--------------------------------------------
DogDiary4u related story :
--------------------------------------------
Teasley’s wife, Stacey, is a competitor: “It took me about half a second to realize what I wanted to do next: Mush! Every day is a learning experience, and I cherish the opportunity,” she said. “I feel very fortunate to have the dogs and the friends I have made through the sport.”
Charlotte Mooney, traveling from West Yellowstone, works as a barista at the Book Peddler Cafe and Bar in the middle of town from May to September and then takes the rest of the year off to train and race her dogs. Other racers journey from Minnesota, Alaska and northerly places where there’s lots of snow.
Many of the country’s top sled dog racers are drawn to the Wyoming race, Teasley said, because it’s a staged race like the Tour de France. With a mandatory stop each day, the racers “get to share ideas and there’s a lot of camaraderie in this race” in contrast to ultra long distance races where competitors rarely see one another.
The race is also very fast because rested dogs rotate into the 12-dog racing lineup each day. The winning teams have to average between 17.5 and 18 miles per hour versus nine to 10 miles per hour in much longer races, like the 1,161-mile-long Iditarod, Teasley said.
At the beginning of the race on Friday, local musicians Aaron Davis and Seadar Rose will act as part of the Sled Dog Tour Band.
Better known as the core duo of Screen Door Porch, they will perform at all nine stops, in settings that range from town halls to a library and a senior center. Davis said that people are surprised to see a four-person band traveling with the race.
“One grows to really respect the mushing teams because they are really stretched,” Davis said.
Story and Foto from : www.planetjh.com (reported by Ben Read)
