(l-r) Roger WRØG, Karrissa (granddaughter of Al and Shirley Doree), and Shirley KCØDCW, logging times at Remer, MN.

Dogs Dogs & More Dogs

What do the numbers 29.4, 37.2 and 44, have in common?  No this isn’t a math puzzle and we weren’t counting dogs at the Mid-Minnesota 150 Sled Dog race that was run Saturday, February 11, 2006.   The numbers do relate however.  The first and second numbers are the lengths in miles of the two courses the teams of dogs ran and the last is the number of teams that ran this year’s race.

Ed Dallas, race organizer, said he couldn't have been happier with the snow conditions (4-inches of new snow in the last several days), or with the temperatures (a morning low of 9-degrees F and a daytime high of 21-degrees F), and of the record fast times this year.  Ed said he was particularly pleased that half of the teams were in the recreational class, most of whom were either new or fairly new to the sport.  “This indicates that young people are enjoying the sport and it helps to insure its longevity,” he said.  The other half of the teams were made up of Pro and Trophy class teams.  The Recreational class teams ended their race at Outing while the Pro and Trophy classes continued on after the mandatory 1-hour rest period returning to Remer and completing a total of 66.6 miles at the end of the day.

For many years BAARC members have provided all of the race communications from beginning to end "clocking" teams out of the starting gate at two-minute intervals from 9 AM to 10 AM in the morning as well as monitoring their progress past such remote checkpoints as Shovel Lake, Windy Creek, and the Gulch Loop.  Hams counted the mushers again at the Village Inn in Outing, over the noon hour.  The afternoon times were even faster than the morning with the experienced teams finishing ahead of anticipated schedules at Remer just in time for the evening Musher’s Banquet.

Operators performing flawlessly again this year were:  Steve WØTNT (the day’s MVP) at Net Control, Al WØRC, Shirley KCØDCW and granddaughter, Jim WØIRE, and Jim WØYA at the Remer start.  Along the way in some of those hard-to-find glad-we-had-an-early-start locations in the woods were: Roger WØWUG, and Jim-bo KBØLYP, Jim WØJDS and his friend Bill with both of these teams working morning and afternoon shifts.  Along the way too was the team of Lyle KØLR and Cathie KØTHY counting dog sled teams and showing them the way at a very confusing road crossing.  At the finish lines, both in Outing and at Remer, was Darrell ABØVP who is very good at seeing things get done and recorded.  He was assisted there too by Roger and Jim-bo.

Rounding out the operator activity was the ever-faithful Al WØRC who did-it-all from getting the BAARC communications trailer hauled up to Outing, to making arrangements to use the WRØG VHF repeater that operated flawlessly, to entertaining its owner Roger who dropped in to see how the operation was run, to "breaking up camp" when the event was over and hauling the trailer back again. 

Sometimes it just doesn’t seem enough to say "thank you" for all the hard work and long hours so many club members give for events like this.  Co-Event Chair Terry KIØFW was the master utility man filling in wherever he was needed, and I say that to each and every one to who helped out.