2014 1st Place Voyageur Classic 8-Dog
This was billed as a 70 mile race, two 35 mile legs with a 2 hour layover plus start differential. It ended up being more like an 82-84 mile race as each leg was 41 or 42 miles. I was third out of the chute and the dogs were pretty amped up and crazy to run, we caught the two teams ahead of us pretty quickly so were in the lead most of the first leg. It sure was a fast and furious ride, I loved every minute of it!!! Lost a few minutes with the team turning down the wrong trail at a confusing intersection but finally got to the checkpoint. Left after our rest 40 seconds behind Frank Holmberg though we caught him pretty quickly, we ran very close together pretty much most of the race, taking turns in the lead, aside from a few times where he pulled ahead or I did. Closer to the end he had a couple hundred yard lead on me and we ran like that for a ways, then in the last mile of the race my team caught and passed his in no mans land! His leaders ran next to my sled across the finish line 4 seconds behind me!!! Talk about a close race! He has a great team and ran a great race! Had some sore feet and a few other minor issues but was so proud of my team they did a super job! Great race and so nice to feel safe with all the road crossing support from the search and rescue teams and the lead snowmobile that stayed ahead of me the whole way:) My mom handled for me as always and she loves this race as she didn't have to do much!!! lol Thanks to my dad also for all his help with training, trail packing ect!