Our First Dog Sled Race!

We volunteered to assist at a dog sled race today -- Brian was part of the "painting spots on the dogs' legs" crew and you'll see Judy here with the official clipboard!  This was the second of a three day race, but they were short races each day from the same starting point and slightly different routes.  The Tozier Track is about 20 minutes from our house.  They paint a spot on the leg or paw to signify a dog that is starting on the first day, and then a spot of a different color today for a dog that's being "dropped" -- too slow or some reason why they can't race, etc. If they don't race on the second day, they can't be put in the third day.  Then we checked at the start line to make sure they had the right number of dogs starting and that they all had the right number of spots!  They could start with ten dogs, but some had 7, 8, or 9 -- I guess you only want the fast ones, so if they're having a slow day or week, you're better off leaving them home! In the pictures, you may not be able to tell how excited the dogs are!  It takes all of those people to hold them back and keep them a little bit calmed down because they're yelping and yanking against the ropes and jumping around -- they're really loud! 

And it was cold this morning!  5 degrees at the start -- we ended the day with another ski and just finished -- only 10 degrees tonight but not too bad for a 10k ski, a beautiful and clear night. I think we're signed up to assist at another dog race next weekend!  More painting spots, more dogs in next weekend's race!