Wow, it has been a hot minute since we last posted on the Petter Karlsson blog! Sometimes dogrunnin’ doesn’t leave that much time for anything else. But now the blog is back, and just in time for the most exciting part of the year, race season.
The 2019 race season starts here!
Once again this year the first race for Team Petter Karlsson is our very own Metsjövidda Fjäll Race, a 320 km training race that runs through the stunning Vindelfjällen nature reserve. This year was bigger than ever with 7 teams, including 4 from within the kennel itself. That’s a whole lot of husky power packed into a very exciting couple of days.
Cold toes and clear skies
Participants left the kennel in a mass start at 9am January 16th. It was a cold race with temperatures generally hovering around -20C to -30C for the duration – because of that we used a whole lot of booties, dog coats and winter pad to keep all our canine athletes in top condition. But there’s more to cold temperatures than just extra booties. With air so crisp and clear the magical vistas of northern Sweden come alive. Trees seem to sparkle and the snow has an otherworldly glow. You can see for miles in every direction and the night sky is alive with stars. Beauty like that is not something you see every day (unless you live in Slussfors, that is!).
This training race is such a great experience for our younger teams because they get a taste of checkpoint life, taking their feedings (with thanks to our food sponsor, Bozita Robur!) on the trail, and what its like to be around a bunch of new dogs. With fantastic dog care from our race vet José the dogs young and old ran a good run.
We have a winner!
The winning team (drumroll pleeaaaaase… yeah, you guessed it, Petter won again! Congratulations on your 4 year winning streak!) came in at 22:35 on the 17th. A total time of 37hr35mins.
Following Petter was Lars Hoffman in 2nd place, Helen Mullane, Ida Kohnert (good luck Ida, on your first junior Iditarod this season!), Florence Marien, Kaisa Rebane and Christine Karijord. Well done all!
Big thanks to those who made the race possible
The mushers would like to thank all the people who made this race possible – Petter for making the trails, Race Marshall Angela for always keeping the ship above water, then the rest of the amazing team Stijn, Adam, Daniel, Moa and Markus. Thank you all for your hard work.
Thank you to our multi-talented guide Adam for his wonderful photographs.
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