RailTrail200 Blog

What it’s like in the area of the race

xamble — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:32:01 +0000

For those of you who were following the race but couldn’t be here … a little video of what the weather conditions are like in this area. I don’t have a sled or team so I did the next best thing – I went for a drive.

Enjoy

Awards Banquet video

xamble — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:47:25 +0000

The awards were given out at the banquet this evening at the Royal Canadian Legion. Here it is …

Awards Banquet still on

xamble — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:57:32 +0000

To those who are wondering ….

The Awards Banquet is still on.
7 PM at the Legion Hall tonight (sunday)
come one – come all
Tickets $25

Clarification on race end – Race was called

xamble — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:21:55 +0000

I’d like to set the record straight.

In the last post I said that Steve Mullen withdrew from the race. That was going from information in the website standings where it said ‘scratched’ for everyone at Fiva.

Well Steve Mullen did not pull out.
The race was called by the Race Marshall.

Not having talked with him I cannot give you his reasons.

My apologies for the earlier misinformation.

and then there were none

xamble — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:16:44 +0000

Steve Mullen of the leading, and only remaining, team has withdrawn.

The race is over for 2012.

What can I say? I have little information so all I can give at this point is feelings.

Being human (and canine) not everything is within our control but we do the best we can with the weather and the terrain. From my warm indoor setting I can only dimly imagine what it was like for those who were actually out there on the course – the mushers; the dogs. And the volunteers and race staff. Call me crazy but I do feel a bit of envy. It is unfortunate that the race was not completed but I have to hand it to you, all of you – you really tried.

Thank you for that.

And after the feeling has returned and you’ve had some rest … please consider coming back and doing it again …

And then there was one

xamble — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:43:05 +0000

The weather dumped a lot of snow in the Beaverdell area over Friday and into Saturday. Efforts to repack the trail from Beaverdell onwards were only partially successful and the leg became particularly grueling for the teams. They slipped further and further back from their expected times – so much so that for a while there was some worry they had strayed off the course. Thanks to Neil Sieben for rushing all the way out there from Grand Forks with a snowmobile to run up the course and check.
But eventually they appeared – Steve Mullen’s team had been reduced to 11 dogs with one in the basket after problems on the trail.
The remaining two teams lagged farther behind and when they finally appeared they were travelling together.
At the Kettle River Park crossing a meeting was held … to continue the race or not. At that point the last two teams, Wannamaker and Walker, decided to leave the race.

As I write this (10:30 PM) the front runner, Steve Mullen, and his team are the only ones left on the course. He is headed to Checkpoint Fiva. It’s a tough leg … will he carry on from there? We won’t know until he gets there … stay tuned.

The life of a volunteer

xamble — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:30:27 +0000

It’s around 3PM on day 2 and the teams are on the toughest part of the race right now.

All the mushers thought it was great going over the top and down into Beaverdell. The dogs are doing great.

3 teams scratched (most recently bib#4, Randy MacKenzie) and the one team left in the 100 mile race is done – that leaves 3 teams still in the race.

Those 3 teams left are on the tough part of the race right now. Teams 1 and 3 left Beaverdell with 11 dogs each at 3:16PM.

They are running a bit late and expected in Fiva around 6:30PM

But what I really wanted to blog about here are the Volunteers:

An event like this can’t happen without the hard work and efforts of volunteers. There are many … and we’d love to be able to tell you about all of them but that’s not possible during the race so here’s a few snapshots of what volunteering involves …

Ken Fehr and Darcy Lea, are two volunteers that were manning a road crossing in the Christian Valley. They got home around 2AM.
Darcy has also responded to the call and stepped up to join Bob McTavish at the Fiva checkpoint to be the Ham operator.

Pete Snidal got up around 3:30AM: shoveled his driveway, visited race central to pick up the food (Thanks to Jean Pinto and Liz for the chow for Fiva Checkpoint.

Terry Toderuk had helped pack the trail out of Beaverdell before the race. The first night’s snowfall had covered the trail again so it needed repacking. He dutifully responded to the call when Bruce asked and headed up to repack the trail … only to find it was too late when he arrived. Ah … but he went, he tried.

Thanks Ken, Darcy and Terry.

If you’re volunteering and have a story or two to tell we’d love to hear it. You can leave your stories in the comments.

new pics page added

xamble — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:01:22 +0000

For those who wanted to see pics we’ve created a page just for that.

If you check out the top menu in the blog web page you will see a new button ‘Race Pics’ … click on that and you can see the pics we have addded.

Or simply click here: Race Pics

Day 2 – mid day

xamble — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:23:31 +0000

It’s day two of the race and things have been happening.

First – Two teams have dropped out.
Bibs #5 Christina Traverse and #43 Steve Taylor both dropped out at Thone (Checkpoint #2)

All the remaining teams have reached Beverdell.
with #43 scratching this means #42 Jillian Taylor is the winner of the 8 dog race.

For those curious about the conditions: The snow in Beaverdell is knee high.
Travis Reid was out there taking pix and he was gracious enough to let us bring them to you.
We’ll be getting them up on the blog and / or the race website.

Stay tuned for more details …

Race Day Video

xamble — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:27:32 +0000