Maliko's Recap
/What a fun race! We had such a great time running the Two Rivers 100. This time, Ryne sat out and worked as a check point volunteer at the Two Rivers Lodge while I ran most of the A team along with a couple of our two year olds, Lefty and Belle. This was a great experience for them to be in the midst of experienced dogs and learn to deal with a bit more demanding race schedule.
It was both incredible and nerve wracking to run Ryne’s race team, on the one hand, its amazing to see a mature team in race mode, on the other hand, I felt like I should be handling them with kid gloves at all times! Our 50 mile run into the finish line was one of the most gorgeous night runs I’ve done in a long time. The moon was so bright I ran without a headlamp for half of it, and the aurora came out to dance across the sky. One of the most beautiful scenes for me as a dog musher is watching your dog team and its moonlit shadow race across the wilderness under the northern lights. And let’s not forget what a great team Ryne has here at Ryno Kennel.
Fire and Katy led us the whole 100 miles, and they are a dream in front. Literally power steering fifty feet in front of you.
Jana and Drummer (of Boundary Sled Dog Kennel owned by our friend Amanda Gecas) were two hard driving swing dogs that absolutely loved it when we passed other teams.
Supai and Kindi ran just behind Jana and Drummer and were solid team dogs. We like to call Jana and Drummer and Supai and Kindi the two sets of twins, if you dodn’t know them well, you’d have trouble telling them apart!
Pirate and Charley (also from Boundary Sled Dog Kennel) were another set of great team dogs. They’re both big and powerful and even though Charley doesn’t always like to go very fast, he stepped it up for 100 miles.
Niagra and Belle were next in the team. Belle, I think, had a little bit of a hard time mentally keeping up with our shorter rest and faster pace, but she didn’t slack off, and Niagra enjoyed being in team for once, rather than leading the B team.
And last but definitely not least, Rucu and Lefty in wheel! These guys were great. As I’m sure you remember from my last post, Lefty is going to be a super star here at Ryno Kennel. These two powerhouse boys were amazing in wheel. They drove hard and ate everything in sight, even Lefty!
