hi all,
hey dilli we were all set to call you but it was engaged your end..sorry you didnt get the email till late..
ok we had a good gang at the iditabuddy banquet oon the menu was nachos with chilli and cheese to start with, olives with vintage balasmic vingar and olive oil with tomato salsa, then we had a mix of fish pie, beef and ale pie, spicy chick peas cod and chips in beer batter and steak and i think we all stole some of ems ic cream for desert, we toasted lance on his win, jeff on his second, martin on his shirt, the BSSD idita project board and lots fo talk about the race, there was myself, ems, anotherukfan her hubby steve, wendy from the ITC forum and a friend of aukf and our friends mike and pauline, loads of fun wine and beer.. mike and pauline had been handling at he race during the day and in true iditabuddy fashion have become grat friends with aukf, steve and wendy, it was a really fun nite, thank you all so much!
we got some photos, including the newly formed 'team tiara'....more on that later ha ha. we'll wait for pix!
got up early after a fun night and headed off to the race...a weeks rain in 24 hours! great!!!!
we got to the race site and saw a few trucks pulling out, we guessed with guys camping on the trail there would be a few wet mushers pulling hook and scratching, but sadly when we got to the staging area, we learned they had cancelled day 2. the trails we flooded in places (bit like the kusco-swim) and someone couldnt even get a 4 wheeler around some of the course when they were assessing the trail. so we had driven 1.5 hours to no avail...i felt really sorry for aukf and team tiara as they had driven 3 hours the night before booked a hotel then drove another hour to get to the race and it was cancelled but in true iditabuddy fashion they braved the elements for a cup of hot coffee some trailside cheese burgers and a few hours looking at the teams packing up. we had the prize giving in the rain before a quick raffle and then folks departed, i think they raised about $1000 - £500 plus for the charity.
we hung about a bit and waited for most to depart before giving the dogs a run out on a short hardened trail, its wasnt suitable for the rally to be held on as it just ran along a rirge for a few miles to a dead end, but it gave the dogs that were excited dispite the rain a run out.
Ems will have to tell you her news, i'll get her to post later or tomorrow.
we came 8th in class out of 12 but we took time to rest and the trail was so bad we had to slow to walking pace to push through some bits, but i was running sassy team so just wanted to finish with her happy and wanting to go..she did! we belted through the finish and back to the van! so im pleased she has finished a race happy healthy and was very keen to run today..mission accomplished! so we are now packed up and back home, dogs, lines, harnesses mountains of wet gear all washed and hung about the place drying...and an excitable trip home after running out of gas 10 miles from home after long detour around some flooding ment we didnt pass a gas station.....ops! ems dad to the rescue..breaking down with a fully loaded dog truck isnt fun as the rescue recovery services wont touch you with dogs on board and rigs hanging off the truck. but we got home!
so the end of our season....it was fantastic...5 wins and 3 seconds plus the class win in the championship, ems's first race this weekend on possibley the hardest trail of the year a new dog running well, a litter planned of autum and iditabuddies coming to handle and cheer us on! the bootie went around with me then ems dilli! and brought her some luck too!!!!! go dillis magic bootie go!...its become famous now with friends asking if we have the lucky jeff king bootie on board hahahahaha. the iowa tshirt and neckachief also paid another visit around the trail luvmy! hee hee...needs a damn good wash now then!.......only 6 months till the start of the next season....still lots of training runs to do to warm them down..if anyone is coming to the uk this year PLEASE come over and see us and have a run out with the dogs!!
photos to follow!!
Believe in your dog team and your dog team will believe in you. – Frank Turner
TANGLEFOOT SLED DOG RACING TEAM