Lyons races home for sixth

Volume 49, No. 16 , September 07, 2006

 

TOP DOG: ABSCO Brad Lyons and his dog Griffyn (left) bound through the Canberra Sled Dog Classic course.

By ABCSO Brad Lyons

For hundreds of years sled dogs were the backbone of arctic travel, a means of pulling freight for hundreds of miles in hostile and subzero temperatures across continents.
It was a means of survival for bands of Inuit people living in the remote parts of what is now known as Alaska. But things seem to have changed for the humble sled dogs –they are still pulling people around but now in one of the driest continent on earth.

On August 19 and 20 I was one of the competitors in the 2006 Canberra Sled Dog Classic in Kowen Forrest, Queanbeyan.
This racing meet was a national point score event with mushers (drivers) and teams from across Australia, ranging from one-dog teams right through to six-dog teams pulling gigs (sleds with three pushbike wheels) with a single musher.

The race attracted about 700 dogs belonging to amateur mushers, as well as the professional trace teams who compete on the national circuit.
On day one of the time trial, it was -6 degrees as we prepared for the first leg.

I was running in the Touring Class which was a 2.6km sprint track for one-dog teams, with teams being sent out of the “shoot”, or start line, in 30-second intervals.
I began with a disadvantage by pulling bib #173 and started last – this meant that if I was faster than the other teams and caught them, I would have to deal with passing situations.
These can end up with teams in tangles costing valuable time.

Despite the start, my Siberian husky Griffyn and I had a sensational run with clean passes and started day two in ninth place for the Touring Class.

For the second day of competition the thermometer dropped to -8 degrees and organisers decided the second leg would be reverse track in reverse order.
Going the opposite way prevents the dogs from remembering the course, forcing the musher to have greater control in cornering.

Reversing the order put the slowest mushers and their dogs on the course first, leaving the faster teams at the back, making the emphasis of the race not only speed but technical expertise and musher and mutt teamwork.
After a very respectable second leg, Griffyn and I finished sixth in our first national event, a sensational accomplishment for our first racing season which comprised one second place and six first places in South Australia.

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