This Just In! - Bet

OHMYGOSH!  Bet here, and boy is my fur red!

With all of the juggling of the interwebs, then the hostage negotiating with cranky Sherpas for Bait (more on that later, but shhhh don't say anything to the Musher), I totally forgot about updating the blogasphere about the race.

Ahem.... THIS JUST IN!  It was a very exciting race ending dear readers, you should have been there.  Full of mystery, intrigue, and drama!

Ok, actually the snow was just amazingly glue-like and the poor dogs slogged and slogged and slogged and pulled and pulled, and the mushers pushed and pushed, and it literally took them all FOREVER to get anywhere, so the kind racing officials called the race in Greenwood... whew!

The Musher got 3rd place, Richard got 4th place, and the winner was Steve Mullen, with Stefaan De Marie in 2nd place, and honorable mention to Gerry Walker!

All of the curly tails are fine, the Musher and Richard are fine, and nobody set their pants on fire... sigh.

For your viewing enjoyment, I bring you the after race banquet video!  You'll get to actually SEE the infamous Barry!  We're also disappointed that Richard was too overcome with pride to speak, because he has that really cool accent thing, but you do get to see my Musher, who says that she's coming back to the Rail Trail 200 again... I hope I can come along, I heard they have really good cookies there.

An Update! - Bet

Good Morning everyone, Bet here!

Before I go into details, I just want everyone to know the EVERYONE is FINE!

I got a late night call from Helen the handler (who still smells of fresh baked cookies even over the phone) who told me that she got a call last night from the Musher!  This is very weird because normally mushers don't have phone access on the trail... but it turns out the Team North Wapiti was back at the hotel in Grand Forks trying to dry off.

It seems that there were trail issues: trouble marking the trail, all of the new snow (which was really REALLY, did I mention REALLY wet and heavy snow), and the race coordinators decided to suspend the race until Sunday morning at 6 am with a restart at the Fiva check point.  They are cutting out a 40 mile section of the race and will run to the finish which is 60 miles.

The Musher reported that the snow is wet (I think I may have mentioned that already) and everything is soaking wet and heavy.  There has been no place on the trail for them to dry out their gear, so they headed back to the hotel for some drying and rest time.

The curly tail in Richard's bag was Meg, who tweaked her wrist and needed to rest.  To even things out, Beauty will stay on the truck tomorrow to keep Meg company.  Jinx is pooped too, she's been doing a valiant job leading the Musher's team and is a bit sore, so she may stay back and take a well deserved break depending on how she feels in the morning.

The Musher mentioned something about mountains before she got cut off from Helen the Handler... I'm hoping she didn't mean Mt. McKinley and the recent sighting of some balloons and a cat.  We hope to retrieve Bait soon, and have hired some sherpas to go retrieve the wayward kitty.

I am pleased to report that the Musher and Richard are now both underway again at the race, and we hope to have the full story once the Musher dries off the curly tails when they get into Grand Forks again (ETA around 12pm Grand Forks time).

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The Wait For An Update - Bet

Bet here!

I'm sure all of you are anxious for an update, and I sure wish I had one for you, but I don't. 

Sled Dog racing isn't like NASCAR (because the dogs would get really dizzy going around in a circle, and can you imagine how messy that track would get?), and there are long lulls in updates because most of the races are held in really, REALLY remote places that don't have the interwebs (gasp!) and sometimes they don't even have phones (GASP!) or dentastix home delivery (GAH!), so sometimes we all just have to wait it out.

While we all wait for word from the field, I thought I would play a little game with everyone.  There won't be a prize given for the fastest to answer, other than the prize of learning a little bit more about the Musher and her Pretty Sled Dogs.

You can find the answers on this blog and also at the place where the Musher use to put her "diary" entries (before we got her switched over to blogs).

1.) Why didn't Karen run the Yukon Quest in 2006?

2.) How many Iditarods has Karen and the Pretty Sled Dogs run?

3.) How many Iditarods has Karen and the Pretty Sled Dogs finished?

4.) How many times has Karen caught her pants on fire?

5.) What state does Karen sometimes travel to for training?

6.) Why is Kara depicted in cartoons with a fire extinguisher?

7.) What year did Karen break her sled and had to have a replacement flown out to her?

8.) What are the "little piggies"?

9.)  Hector had a bit of an embarrassing issue.  What was it?

10.) What is the name of Kara's dog bed?

I hope that keeps some of you busy until we get a real update from the field.

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Rail Trail 200 Is On! - Bet

Hey everyone!  Bet here, your roving Border Collie Reporter!

We're please to announce here at North Wapiti Central that the Musher and Richard are on the trail and racing in the Rail Trail 200!

Richard is Bib #1 and the Musher is Bib #5.

Unlike some of the other "big time" races, these little races are hard to report from (especially since I'm not along on the trip) because the updates from the race organizers are sparse, and the Musher and Richard (for some reason) don't like dragging along 200 miles of ethernet cable so they can provide real-time updates.

We've made a few attempts at improving communications with the mushers during races:

We also tried another, lighter method of tracking, but the Musher put her foot down:

So, using space-age technology and some duct tape, we are proud to announce that Team North Wapiti has launched its first video Catallite:

Bait "volunteered" for the duty and bravely sailed up into the air with a nifty camcorder, ready to take overhead shots of the race as it happened.

Unfortunately we made the mistake of allowing Kara to determine the best time and wind direction for the launch, and we're sad to report that Bait is now somewhere near Alaska, but sending back fantastic shots of the mountains... along with some pretty pathetic meowing in the background.

The Trip to Rail Trail Sled Dog Race - Bet

Bet, your roving Border Collie reporter, here!

Just accessed the Interwebs to check on the progress of the Musher and crew.


Apparently the cranky dog truck had even MORE problems (cha ching) on the way to Grand Forks (BC, not ND) and the mechanics aren't even sure the duct tape and band aids they put on it will fix the problem, so that's a big bummer right there.

The Musher and crew are now at Grand Forks (BC) and awaiting the start of the race in a few hours... watching the rain.  Yep, rain.  Never fear, the Musher is in good spirits, the curly tails are ready to get pulling, and I'm warm and comfy on the couch.

So, you're probably wondering who made the trip this time!

The Musher

Richard

Barry

Tess

Jinx (who still doesn't have a sponsor, I mean COME ON!!)

Bang

See

Utin

WiFi

Charge

Roscoe

Turtle

Crunch

Q

Wolvie

Dasher

Bingo

Meg

Tramp

Beauty

Rocket

Billie

Irving

Shooter

Runner

Astro

TopDog