It’s RACE TIME!!!

We’re SO excited to embark on the Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race on Saturday! We’ve been diligently preparing for the race, exercising the teams, and packing drop bags.

Just like humans, we try to “peak” the dogs at the race. During middle and late December, we trained in earnest. With camp outs and longer runs, we tried to simulate what the dogs will encounter during the races. As race day inched closer, we slowly decreased the miles and rested the athletes so that they’ll be ready to go come Saturday. Since temperatures have been hovering around -30F to -50F at home, Kalyn and I loaded up the truck with 26 canine athletes and headed to the BLM White Mountains to finish off our last training runs in the “warmth” of the hills. The temperature inversion can be extreme in the Interior, so while it was -50F at home, it was a balmy -20F in the hills. The dogs looked AMAZING on their final training runs, making it hard to pick the final athletes for our two teams! We’ll announce the final picks tomorrow!

Kalyn and I made a short video describing the drop bags and some items that we packed, and as you can see from the adjacent photo, the forecast calls for some real winter temperatures! The last few Copper Basin races have been exceptionally warm, so there’s a part of me that’s excited to hit the trail in such frigid temps. Our dogs are well acclimated to the cold, so I think they’ll thrive! Kalyn and I….well…we better toughen up. Ha!

Following the Race

My wonderful mother will be updating the blog from afar throughout the race.

We will also be equipped with GPS trackers, so you can follow all the teams here:

https://cb300.com/trackers/

The Copper Basin will be updating their Facebook page, so if you’re on social media, be sure to check it out!

Schedule

Friday January 10th: The Ryno Teams will drive to Glennallen. We’ll leave our drop bags with the volunteers who will distribute them to the appropriate checkpoints. There will be a Mushers Meeting in the evening, and we’ll draw our bib numbers.

Saturday January 11th: Race Day!

Saturday-Tuesday (or Monday): Run, rest, repeat!

Tuesday: 5 PM Awards Ceremony and Open House

Human Crew

Derek will be handling for Ryne and Team

Saeward, Tracy, and Bryan will handle for Kalyn and Team.

Tom will be holding down the fort and caring for all the dogs at home as well as keeping the house from freezing.

Katy Human (Mom) will be updating the website from afar.

As they say- it takes a village!

Kalyn took a few photos from a fun walk the other day, so of course I had to randomly include them.