Took a little road trip out to Newboro, Ontario to run Lucy in the skijoring class of the Rideau Lakes Cup (they also had sled dog races). The skijoring course was geared to the novice/intermediate level at an easy 5 km, with the course set entirely on Newboro Lake.The great thing about a trail that's on a lake is that there were no distracting prey smells. Woo hoo! On the other hand, there were some fairly icy sections, which often happened to coincide with moguls resembling frozen waves. The good thing is, I didn't fall on the icy sections - would have been a hard landing! Actually for once I managed not to fall at all.
Lucy was awesome on the way out, running fast and focused. After we hit the turning loop and started to head back, she was totally lagging and from previous experience I'm quite sure it's because she really really had to "go" but just couldn't find the right place to make her deposit. She got passed by a dog who hadn't yet learned the art of passing politely, and although she was surprised by the other dog's behaviour it didn't seem to bother her too much. As we approached the finish line, Lucy picked up on the cheering of the crowd and started to canter again, much to my relief as I really needed her assistance to get up the slight but icy incline to reach the finish line.
The skijoring class was a very small field with only five of us in total. We came in at just under 22 minutes, placing third, with the top two teams coming in around the 15 minute mark. Much to my surprise, this race had a cash purse, with all participants taking home part of it. We took home enough cash to cover the entry fee, pay for the gas, and buy some tasty treats for the dogs to counter the somewhat guilty feeling I got from "making money" off my dog. If we ever finish in the money again, it would be cool to donate it to a rescue, but the chances of me getting a share of a purse ever again are really extremely, extremely low, at least until I greatly improve my skiing technique and Lucy learns to stop inspecting all of the interesting smells along the trail! :^D
3 comments:
Congrats on the placement & prize money. No need to feel guilty, you were working hard too and I'm sure Lucy had a blast.
Great photo of the startline. I'd be scared of the first 100 m too if my dog was hauling ass like that.
Thanks.
Yeah I quite like this photo too, at least the dog half of it. I cropped myself out because my entire body has this panic-struck look to it as I saw we were quickly approaching the lethal combination of ice, bumps, and a turn, and the bonus is it was in full view of the audience, potentially making for quite a bit of entertainment. Fortunately I let the audience down by staying on my feet. ;-)
Most of my falls on skis, bikes, etc. are in front of an audience. Had a great fall coming down a steep rocky trail last summer in front of a group of 15 people or so. It was great, there was blood and everything.
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