 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2008 Can Am 250
We did it!! The team completed the toughest, and longest sled dog event on the East Coast!!! Finished 13th out of 21 teams who started.  Took 21:39:15 hours of rest. Total trail time was 48:42:08 Although only 12 dogs made up the team, our entire kennel is deserving of this achievement. We worked hard as a Team to get to the finish line and every puppy, yearling, retiree and mascot assisted in some way toward that goal.  This is a tough event. Drivers start out the season with personal goals to shave so many hours off their prior finish or correct a mistake they felt, in hindsight could have been avoided. If all goes to plan, the musher is ecstatic! But more often than not, Mother Nature and the demands of the trail hand the musher a new obstacle that offsets the gains achieved through prior experience. By the time Bob and the dogs arrived in Allagash, 8 teams had scratched. We were especially saddened to discover that Normand Cassavant (who helped inspire us earlier in the year) was one of those teams. So now, by default, our team was facing the possibility of finishing in the money.  20 or so miles out of Allagash, the team caught up with Jaye Foucher (a friend of ours who took Red Lantern last year on her first attempt). It appeared as though there would be a good fight amongst friends for 12th place!!  For Rhonda, waiting at the finish line was nerve racking. Overall, we were pretty excited to see that our old group had been doing a phenomenal job of keeping up a decient pace. Their leg times in general, had not been all that bad. So what was taking them so long to get to the finish line?  Unfortunately, neither Jaye nor anyone at race headquarters knew why Bob was delayed.  After Bob caught up with Jaye, he stopped to snack the team. Then Granite, our youngest team member, decided 200+ miles was enough. We’ve never found it necessary to bag a dog in training, so having to stop and escort Granite to the finish line in this manner messed up the momentum Bob had going. Bob was sure missing Kona and Saint toward the end, having to do all those hills with a dog in the basket. If they were not carrying a dog and down two great hill climbers, Bob has utmost confidence that the miles per hour on that last leg would have been better. Regardless, we are absolutely thrilled to have finished!!!  The team came over the finish line at 02:40:08 on Tuesday and received the Red Lantern Award. This is our first red lantern and is presently the most important trophy on our shelf!! We learned alot about how to prepare for a race of this length and of ourselves. Would we do it again? No doubt!! If the planets should align and we have another great training season and the right mix of dogs, you bet we'll enter! Rhonda however will likely be sitting on a beach somewhere far away from a computer. The stress of watching the stats and waiting for the team was physically and emotionally draining. Bob on the other hand was incredibly focused, calm, determined, gracious and humble. A True Sportsman as usual. Many thanks to Joyce Matott for her Canine Evaluation and Therapy guidance this season. To all our friends and family, thanks for your endless support and encouragement. To our mentors, we hope we did you proud!! To Mike and Sue, well, there are simply no words to express our gratitude. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE TEAM:
 * Granite took a ride in the sled after being slightly dehydrated 25 miles to the finish line (looked great when we got home, immediately back to his normal happy excitable self) * Saint had a case of gas in Allagash (rather scary, he is ok now ,thank God) Sorry buddy that we could not bring you to the finish line. (Saint was out of our first litter. It would have been quite symbolic to have him complete this event.) * Halley was favoring a wrist in Portage (after 70 miles in new snow, we are not surprised the vets agreed she should be dropped but we think she was faking it. Halley runs better for Rhonda than for Bob. totally fine the next day.) * Kona had a sore bicep and was dropped in Rocky Brook after running wheel position 120 miles in new snow (totally fine the next day). Click here to review complete race results | |
