This race was held in our own backyard, literally. A couple racers even turned up at my front door looking for registration and coffee. Rich did a great job as timer despite multiple stopwatch malfunctions. The weather was perfect for me, another warm sunny day, but a bit slushy for the racers. Again, it was lots of fun to photograph.
I am proud to say that as of today we are officially members of the Lorne Mountain Community Centre! Rich was even a volunteer at the 2014 Carbon Hill Sled Dog & Skijor Race. He was the man with the stick doing the timing for the 10 mile dog sled race. He had the power to launch a team of energetic huskies with the wave of his wand.
Richard counting down the start for a dog sled team.
I was on Oscar duty. Keeping him close by I was able to take some shots near the start. It was great to see the frenzy the dogs were in, raring to go. One dog in particular seemed to effortlessly levitate himself.
A dog team just before they set off on a 10 mile race.
I could have photographed these dogs all day, but Oscar spotted some other kids playing and wanted to join in. Since he hadn't had much chance to play with other kids since we moved out to the boonies, motherly love won out over the love of photography and we joined the fun. Some of the kids Oscar was playing with were francophone, and although they were speaking different languages, they all seemed to understand each other just fine. I got to practise ma francais un peu.
Oscar climbing the snow hill at Lorne Mountain Community Centre. At one point he stood wobbling at the top of the hill, jumped in the air as high as he could, and slid down to the sound of gasps from onlookers.
In between mountain climbing and playing, Ozzie took snack breaks. His snack of choice, snow of course.
A tasty treat.
All in all it was a great day. We came back in the afternoon for the Arctic char supper and awards. We met lots of friendly locals and we're really starting to feel part of the community. As we keep hearing, "You either love it here, or you hate it." And we love it.
A dog sled racer at the 2014 Carbon Hill Sled Dog & Skijor Race.
Today we went to Cool Dogs and Hot Springs, a dog sled and skijoring race in the Yukon Brewing Twister Series 2014 held at the Takini Hot Springs. As you may know if you follow this blog, our landlords, the Sheepways, compete in dog sledding and skijoring. Our little piece of paradise is also home to Stardog Kennels and we sometimes see Darryl and Katherine Sheepway take off on practise runs from our living room window, often after dark with only a headlamp to light the way. We might see them more If we had any living room furniture.
We're not stalkers, honest, it's just really cool to watch. If they played bridge in their spare time we wouldn't watch them at all, I'm sure. Maybe if it was Monopoly or Yatzee, but definitely not bridge.
From what I've heard, Katherine is very successful at skijoring which is like dog sledding, but with cross country skis instead of a sled, and I think at least slightly more crazy. When Darryl told us about the race today, we thought it would be a great way to spend a Saturday and an opportunity to get some unique photos as well.
Katherine Sheepway competing in the Cool Dogs - Hot Springs race at Takini Hot Springs today with what we affectionately refer to as "our dogs" although we've only known them for about a week.
"Our dogs" were very well behaved and seemed to be alert and eager to run. Before Darryl competed in the dog sled race he carefully checked all the dogs paws and applied wax and booties where necessary.
Most of the spectators were photographers like us, except for someone named Hans-Marcus who had a small entourage and even a banner.
Oscar enjoyed the racing but mostly I think he liked eating snow. At one point he declared, "Snow is my favourite food!" We let him have the buffet of his dreams while steering him towards pristine snow.
