rondy by night. team tangles

[tanglefoot]

hi all, back from the race....

arrived home sometime around 2am, snacked the dogs unloaded the rigs from the truck and hit the sack after a quick coffee...thought you'd like to hear how we got on. its great getting good lucks from all our iditabuddies!

it was a fantastic race, felt more like a mass training session in the dark just a really nice feel to the race.

the race was called the rondy by night, its a dryland sprint race in the dark.

i met up with mike Holbourne ( who is gonna join here soon) half way there as he was comming off a training exercise ( he's in the army ) on the famous salisbury plain - a big army training ground - looks like a great place to run dogs to me! miles of miles of trail all perfect condition....only you have to watch out for the military tanks driving at night with no lights on apparently! ekk!

we drove in convoy to the race site, to be greeted by thousands of people...and i mean thousands! it seems being a nice day everyone was out for picnics and walks with the family, we had a staging area set up for us and the trucks, which was hectic with trucks all parked a few feet from each other side by side like we were all off to the mall to go shopping, more and more trucks piled in and the air was filled with greetings, dogs howling yapping and being walked, it looked like mayhem! i took a few pics on my phone but not sure how i can get them up here yet. we got checked in collected race numbers (#57) and unpacked the trucks. mike and i managed to get the last spots next to each other so we could share a generator and lights. as it got dark we attended the mushers meeting in a huge log cabin and heard about the trail...fast , few up hills, watch out for the turns off the trail and getting back to the staging area after the race.

the start line was fantastic, a big burled arch cut to look like two big totem poles with trail start in big letters engraved in it, with the banners hanging underneath looked like the finish of the iditarod! set in a big stand of pine trees next to a log cabin! perfect! we got a down hill start with a few hills then into some twisty trails through the trees that were perfect! i was drawn as the last musher out of the evening, which was great as the temp would be at its lowest! mike just before me by two minutes.

everyone was walking dogs , fitting lights, getting harnesses and lines checked and sorting out handlers and start times, it was getting dusk and cooler by the minute and everyone had that sense of excitment, a few were talking about the quest start - i think if i worked out the timings, as i left the start line here, the first musher would be leaving the start line in the quest! - only they were going a 1000 miles longer than me hahaha!

mike look after the dogs as i helped set off the first 20 teams, the start line was flood lite which ment more than a few mushers nearly forgot to turn their lights on and got a yell at the last few seconds of 'lights!' lots of good humor and LOTS of spectators!

finaly at 8pm the temp dropped to 0c and we got exctied, the dogs were perky as everyone was coming and going and there were teams everywhere! we got harnessed up and walk to the start line, a few teams before we were due to leave, kirra was going mental! ive trained mine to be patient and to not go ape at the sign of the harnesses coming out so we can harness up with out losing a dog or them getting out of control and using energy up, its when we get to the start line they get excited. kirra was yapping and screaming and bouncing about dying to run. we hitched up straight after mike left with all but lolly screaming...she just looked focused and determined. with 1 min to go i gave a last min cuddle to the dogs and flicked on the lights...the count down finished with a GO, MATT! and we were off, it was tremendous the extra cold had sent the dogs screaming off flat out at a hell of a pace!

we made the first few turns and i spotted a light somewhere ahead in the distance which must have been mike, the dogs caught site and i flicked the big light off onto just my head torch and we sped on.. then i nearly had a heart attack! i thought i saw someone about to throw something at us from the side of the trail in the dark and swerved and shouted at the dogs to 'HIKE' at the same time looking aver my shoulder.....the person was not someone from 'peta' but was in fact a woodern finger post trail sign about 5 foot high with two 'arms' out stretched hahaha! a big sigh of relief and a little giggle at myself and the big light went back on hahaha.

the jeff style invention worked great loads of light, but the fixing needs sorting as the vibration worked a nut loose so it bounced about a bit!

we caught mike about a mile or so in and both teams were then swopping the lead back and forth - a replay of the forest of dean race! all was well and the dogs were loping along fine averaging about 10 - 11 mph, being dark you cant see the hils, up or down! so we rounded a bend and dropped suddenly downhill the dogs were loping long but suddenly the change in trail ment the rig caught up with the wheel dogs, only by a few feet but as we couldnt see it and i was looking ahead at kirra at the time in lead, we just caught the gang line, it flicked up and got caught in the wheel, i managed to break and stop us. here i must pay credit to mike! he could have gone on and try to gain back a few minutes or so but instead, knowing i had caught him and seeing the gang line jammed, stopped his own team to help! i managed to pull the gang line back and stick my leg over the tugs where they join the gang line to stop the dogs pulling tight and keeping the line to tight to untangle, managed to untangle the line with a few hard pulls and we carried on.

we came to the last 1/2 mile marker and called the dogs back up into a flat out sprint to the line, we could see lights through the trees and pushed on both calling the dogs up, it was fast and furious and mike pulled ahead as we hit some ruts in the trail and crossed 2 seconds ahead. i beat him by 1min 58secs, it would have been less if mike hadnt stopped to help with the tangle.

so we got our 5th win of the season, mike got second. the awards were given in a big log cabin with everyone sat down talking dogs, reliving the race, and talking about the quest and iditarod. the organisors passed a good luck card around which we all signed to be flown out to the iditarod for our own musher, Kim to recieve (if anyone is reading this out there pleased keep this quiet - hopefully she wont be reading this and is too busy running her team). it was like the mushers banquet at the iditarod with everyone being called up by name to receive prizes, rosettes, doggy bags etc. being held in the big log cabin there was fantastic.

we packed up said our goodbye till next sunday which is the last round of the championships, its close bewteen a lot of teams and a few good runs could see people taking the lead in their class to win! the drive home was easy btu tiring, mike stopped half way to get some sleep as he was back out on exercise this morning, he was planning on sleeping out with his dogs last night, - 4c so was pulling dizzy his lead dog close to keep him warm...mike not dizzy, he loves the cold!... ok its not like sleeping out in -40F (-39C) but when you live in the uk and your not used to it, its still chilly!

[Di*]

Thanks Matt, once again you put me right in the middle of the action! >>>>CONGRATS<<<<<<< on yet another win for Team Tangles!!
You guys are building quite the reputation, awesome job!

Sounded like a real neat setting & race, just close your eyes and imagine you are in the middle of AK! Makes me think of what it must be like running the Iditarod at night, not knowing what lies ahead! Thanks again for a thoroughly entertaining read!

[dilli]

(((((Go Team Tangles Go)))))

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!Whoohoo!!!!!!!!!!
aaaAAAWWWOOOooo
Trophy Mantle of Honor is becoming mighty cluttered!

Belly rubs, nose smooches and ear skritches to Kirra, Lolly and Mr Woowoowolfe

[sc-race-fan]

Great read!!! Thanks for giving me the feeling of the race... Go team Tangles, the championship is with in reach!!

[tanglefoot]

hey sc,,you had triplets? how old is this news just in? congrats anyway!

[sc-race-fan]

Their my GRANDCHILDREN, born early at the end of October last year, less than 3lb each and now a little over 3mts later, over 9lbs each. Lucky for me I'm retired and the wife qand I can spend a little time here in NC helping out. Kinda messed up my plans for an England, Scotland trip this summer, but maybe next year!!

[mithious]

Oh tangles, thanks for that relive of your race I could picture EVERYTHING Congrats on your win Way to go Team Tangles whoop whoop whoop!!!!!!! Tangles got the tangle untangled

Sc, Awwwwww, sooo cute, congrats Grandma what a beautiful family Thanks for putting up the pic They are adorable!!!!!

[sc-race-fan]

Thanks Mith.

Went looking for a t-shirt link for Team Tanglefoot and found this writeup of the "early years".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/fo ... kies.shtml
Maybe Matt can help locate the "sales location" of the t-shirts.

[mithious]

SC..sorry, Gandpa? Have been bouncing around trying to catch up with everything Just noticed what the bottom of your post says

[fladogfan]

GOTEAMTANGLESGO WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOY YIPPEEEEEEEE

ANOTHER WIN FOR OUR TANGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!