Yesterday our sleds from Daniel Mellina and the Antipode team got delivered from France safe and sound :o) always a bonus…

Both sleds are well equipped with two snow hooks, a sled break & drag/snow mat… and collapse/fold down to a nice transportable flat pack.

Very much looking forward to giving them a blast out on the trail in Sweden……

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 9:08:06 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

6 dog class:
Bachmann Florian	Vöhrenbach	GER	Veteran
Ballas Thorsten	Lampertheim	GER	Veteran
Lorenzo Lorenzo Roberto	Galicia	ESP	Rookie
Marina Javier	Burgos	ESP	Veteran
Martinez Erik	Le Vernet	FRA	Rookie
Rogg Hans	Mindelheim	GER	Veteran
Dr. Schmid Christoph	Rimbach	GER	Rookie
Steigenberger Otto	Kiefersfelden	GER	Veteran
Weber René	Menziken	SWI	Rookie
8 dog class:
Binzer Lutz	Langerringen	GER	Veteran
Bizkarguenaga Zautua	Vizcaya	ESP	Rookie
Bogart Fabienne	Maura	NOR	Rookie
Cremer Susanne	Saint-Andelain	FRA	Veteran
Föger Erwin	Obsteig	AUS	Veteran
Gausereide Per Olav	Maura	NOR	Rookie
Gut Thomas	Frauenau	GER	Veteran
Hansen Morten	Oslo	NOR	Rookie
Heilemann Marte	Oslo	NOR	Veteran
Kriegler Winfried	Wiesenburg	GER	Veteran
Kronbach Johannes	Hüfingen	GER	Veteran
Kuhn Uli	Wotersen	GER	Veteran
Laudel Jens	Netzichkau	GER	Rookie
Link Michael	Schalkstetten	GER	Veteran
Netzhammer Stefan	Büttenhardt	SWI	Veteran
Dr. Offer Gerhard	Mieming	AUS	Veteran
Ruiz Elvira José Felix	Aranda de Duero	ESP	Veteran
Stolz Jürgen	Penzing	GER	Veteran
Wightwick Stephen	Seaford	GB	Rookie
Winter Heini	Augsburg	GER	Veteran
Wüthrich Rudolf	Zweideln	SWI	Veteran

Total: 30
Last update: Sunday, October 28, 2007

Monday, October 29, 2007 9:02:47 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Today we started training dogs on 7 mile loop. Will go 7 miles tomorrow, then one 4 mile before scheduled rest days; followed by 7 mile runs until around the 11th Nov, when we leap frog to 12 miles…

Sunday, October 28, 2007 5:40:40 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

As from yesterday, entries for this very picturesque mid-distance sled dog race held in the Italian / Switzerland Alps became available.
With great enthusiasm and after prior reconsideration of entering the Pirena, I faxed my entry form today as a participant. This will be my first MD race, which is approximately 40-60 km per stage, total approx. 300 km, split into 6 stages as follows.

January 12/13th Lü –S-charl, Val Müstair/Switzerland
January 15/16th Prags - Cortina / Italy
January 18/19th Sexten / Italy

This will also be my first race on snow (rookie for sure)... but I’ll get plenty of practice and snow under dogs feet prior to the race in Sweden; where we will be staying at Graham Kent’s kennel (Axehandle mountain) for three weeks. Graham tells me that they got there first snowfall last night, and that it’s currently -5c :o)

My first time on the sled in Feb 2007, Magali leads…

Besides rekindling my sled experience once we are in Sweden, I will need to teach training partner and good friend Malc the ropes so to speak. But I don’t’ think I’ll have Malc holding on to me like I held on to Magali when we went out on single sled :o)

Travelling: For us there will be a lot of driving involved, for starters, Graham Kent’s kennel is 1637miles from my place in England. And the Alpen Trail (Alps) is another 1645miles from Grahams; followed by 844miles back to England. Thankfully this will be divided up three ways, three drivers…

The Party outbound from England via the Euro tunnel on the 16 December 2007 will be:
Me – Race Musher / Driver
Malcolm Goodwin (friend & financially supportive) – Training Partner / Handler / Driver
Michael Wightwick (brother) - Handler / Driver (will join us in Sweden a couple of days prior to leaving for the Alps)
Oh, not forgetting the dogs (fifteen)… view us here.

Others that have helped me with decisions and information:
Alan Stewart - Cairngorm Sled dog Centre/Aviemore
Graeme Scott - QuickStep Kennel
Heini Winter D - AT Organisation
Jacques & Magali Philip - Noatak Kennels

For further information on the Alpen Trail; please visit alpentrail.com

Have a great season…

PS: We are currently on the look out for sponsors!

Friday, October 12, 2007 8:10:03 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

During summer 2007, Arctic sea ice plummeted to the lowest levels since satellite measurements began in 1979. The average sea ice area for September was 4.28 million square kilometers (1.65 million square miles), the lowest September on record. At the end of the 2007 melt season, sea ice area was 39 percent less than the long-term average from 1979 to 2000. Some estimates based on ship and aircraft records acquired prior to the satellite era suggest that sea ice may have retreated by as much as 50 percent since the 1950s.

Click here to view full article with video clip.

Monday, October 08, 2007 8:59:27 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

Spot the dog walker!

Err... Someone's in season / heat...

Sunday, October 07, 2007 5:26:46 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

Tonight we started quad training with 14 dogs on 4 mile loop. I put one of my recently flown over babies in swing (leader Chrome), and the other; powerhouse Fuego in wheel… as always, it’s extremely pleasing to watch sled dogs in action, that just want to pull hard for the love of it :o)

Sorry! My camera doesn’t take good pictures at dusk…

I will keep Chrome in swing for now… it will give her a chance to get use to our complicated training trails and a chance for her heat/season to pass.

Getting ready for training the night before…

Nice and clean… I don’t think it will look like this anymore after a few days of training with rain…. Oh-well… never mind :o)

Training life at the other side of the world (Alaska); Magali captures a great photo illustrating dogs working hard at there kennel just for the love of it!

Friday, September 28, 2007 9:02:04 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

Today with much delight, I picked up my babies Chrome and Fuego from the London Gatwick airport…

There journey started on the early morning of the 25th (AK local time) at the Noatak Kennel near Nenana, Alaska, where Jacques and Magali drove them to Continental’s cargo facility in Anchorage, via the state vets USDA office for endorsement of paperwork.

It was just a few days ago, both Magali and I where stressing out with regards to raising the correct paperwork for the state vet to endorse, as Chrome and Fuego where going to travel to the UK under the Pets Passport Scheme… but I had good feeling that all would come good in the end :o)

Magali, I owe you a few roast dinners now!!! All the best to both of you, have a great season…

Chrome (Leader)

Fuego

Thursday, September 27, 2007 9:37:48 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

Over the last couple of months I’ve been designing and re-fitting out the dog van.
Today K9 Cages fitted out the van with cages capable of housing 16 dogs in total (two dogs per a cage), and as a bonus; welded my dropping dog anchor points to the van…
Looking over the completed work, I was most pleased. K9 cages had done a superb job here!!!

Eight way split (rear view)

Eight way split (side door view)

Locking mechanisms, non rattle

One of the anchor points for dropping dogs

I will post more details laters, which will include ventilation and insulation techniques used to help battle against heat build up while dogs are travelling within the van, especially under our UK winter daytime temperatures.

Monday, September 17, 2007 7:47:07 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

This weekend I spent making and preparing new lines for fall training. These are designed in retrospect with the new 1 and ½ foot necklines.

I use bright colours so we can easily see the lines, as a lot of our training is done under the moonlight so to speak within a dark forest.

Sunday, September 16, 2007 7:43:15 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

Weekend before last, our new environment... (outside run)

A week laters....

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 8:58:48 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0] 

As I got rained off today with re-fitting out van, which I will post about laters, I made a start on lines ready for fall training…

The necklines I’m making are 1 ½ foot long, woven together with the technique that Magali taught me over in Alaska.
In AK, Jacquie and Magali use 2 foot necklines, which gives much more freedom for the dog in moment, and you can clearly see this as the necklines are not tight like we see when running on 1 foot necklines over here in the UK.
When I first came back from my visit in AK, I introduced the longer necklines to my friend Malc, and like I first thought over in AK, instantly thought this would increase the likelihood of tangles, not so!!! Why is this; purely because the necklines run angled into the dog from the mainline by about 10-15 degrees. We have far less tangles now then we used to get with the 1 foot necklines, with a great improvement on dogs freedom of moment.
Why are you using 1 ½ foot necklines and not 2 foot? Purely because our training trails are quite narrow with built up woodland on each side. So I wanted to restrict the distance on how wide the dogs could run; so for us, the 1 ½ foot necklines work well in that sense but still give the dogs more freedom of moment over that of the 1 foot necklines...

Sunday, August 19, 2007 8:37:16 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [0]