IditaProject Forum

From Rick Casillo:

Hello everyone I just wanted to give you an update. I will post more about the race later. Myself and more importantly the dogs are good. In fact this was the best time I have ever had racing dogs. My decision to withdraw was in the best interest of the team however their is a lot more to it that I probably will not go into. It’s unfortunate because this team was completely set up to charge hard for the second half they were eating like wolves and their attitudes were incredible. The power and speed we had was incredible. That’s all for now, thank you for all the well wishes.

Thanks for the info Flower.

Jeez. I wonder if we'll ever hear the whole story.

It was a statement that made me feel more confused...

Yes, it was a head-scratcher for sure.

"lot more to it that I probably will not go into"

not fair to say that and leave us wondering like this.

It's bad enough (but understandable) the official 'best interest of the team' statement, when we have to wait for the actualstory to come out, and most Mushers are graceful enough to share

But to then do the 'there is a story', but add 'but I'm not going to tell you' is beyond frustrating!

Makes me wonder if he was given the option: scratch or be withdrawn.

Could be. If they were having awesome runs and going their fastest then i would think it’s something else, not health related.

As a RM and RJ myself then the other thing could be, scratch or we with draw you. It’s better for the musher to scratch rather than be withdrawn. His statement to me says i aint happy about scratching when i was doing so well, so i’ll say it was in the best interest of my team but also there is another reason i am not happy about and don’t want to discuss. I have seen that line/tone before when i have had to give someone that option before taking it away and having to dsq or withdraw. Think like this. Scratch is better than a withdraw which is better than a dsq. To me this says the RM made that choice for him. I have an idea why/what reason as i’ve had to use it on a musher for that exact reason in the past in races in uk, italy and latvia but as we don’t know for sure then I won’t suggest it as it’s not fair on rick to suggest thats why. That’s also a reason for his comments and the possible RM’s options to him.

Could be. If they were having awesome runs and going their fastest then i would think it’s something else, not health related.

As a RM and RJ myself then the other thing could be, scratch or we with draw you. It’s better for the musher to scratch rather than be withdrawn. His statement to me says i aint happy about scratching when i was doing so well, so i’ll say it was in the best interest of my team but also there is another reason i am not happy about and don’t want to discuss. I have seen that line/tone before when i have had to give someone that option before taking it away and having to dsq or withdraw. Think like this. Scratch is better than a withdraw which is better than a dsq. To me this says the RM made that choice for him. I have an idea what as i’ve had to use it on a musher for that reason in the past in races in uk and latvia.