83 teams took to the start line for what promised to be a challenging variety of trails in this year’s Advance Sled Dog Challenge. Mushers and Skijorers with teams of 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 dogs travelled from Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland for the event in Dinner Plain yesterday.
Due to diminished snow conditions from unseasonably warm weather leading up to the event, a modified course was set. The 2 dog teams were first out on the track and subsequently enjoyed the benefit of the freshest snow cover. The touring class and skijorers travelled a short, sharp trail of around 3 kilometres, whilst the 3 and 4 dog teams ran a challenging trail of 4.5 kilometres with the 6 and 8 dog teams tackling a 5.5 kilometre course.
The unanimous crowd pleasers of the day were the final two events involving the touring class for younger or veteran dog teams and the skijoring event. Skijoring requires one or two dogs followed by the musher travelling on cross country skis rather than in a sled. Quite a sight to behold!
The winners in each category for the event were as follows:
2 dog class – David Hodgson.
3 dog class – Tony Greenway.
4 dog class – Darren Watson.
6 dog class – Peter Dobbs.
8 dog class – Donal McIntyre.
Touring class – Paul Tye (6 dogs), Andrew Gersbach (4 dogs), E’vette Levett (3 dogs) and Travis Davies (2 dogs).
Skijoring - Kelsy Gibos (2 dogs) and Phillip Friedlander (1 dog).
If you missed out on the action this year, or you saw it and can’t wait to see the agility and grace of the dogs and their mushers again next year, put August 11 and 12 in your calendar for 2012.
14 August 2011
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