News release, 3 January 2003
For more information, contact Dave Partee, President, Alaska Dog Mushers Association, (907) 455-9663.

ADMA to hold first Challenge Series race January 12, 2003

Fairbanks, Alaska—ADMA will hold its first Challenge Series race on Sunday, January 12, at the Jeff Studdert race track on Farmers Loop Road in Fairbanks. Classes will include 1-dog, 2-dog, and 3-dog skijoring; and 4-dog, 6-dog, 8-dog, Open (unlimited), and Mid-distance sled classes.

The general membership meeting, race signup, and draw will be held at the Mushers' Hall on Farmers Loop on Wednesday, January 8, 7:30 p.m.

At that meeting will include discussion and a vote on how to revise the Challenge Series schedule for the rest of the season, and whether to run Challenge Series Race #1 or #2 on January 12th. The distances for the first two Challenge Series races are the same for all classes except the Open class.

The tentative distances for the race on January 12th are:
Skijoring (1, 2, 3-dog): 4.5 miles
4-dog: 4.5 miles
6-dog: 5.9 miles
8-dog: 9.3 miles
Open: to be determined (10.6 or 12.1 miles)
Mid-distance: 19 miles

In conjunction with the 4-dog class, we will once again be running the AARP division for older 4-dog teams (usually averaging 8 years or older). More details on this class to follow. Thanks to the American Association of Retired Persons in Alaska for their continued sponsorship.

If you can't make the Wednesday meeting, you can either have someone sign you up and pay your entry fee, or you can phone in your entry in advance with a credit card (for more information, see http://www.sleddog.org/races/phone-reg.html). You must buy or renew your membership to race, and no entries will be accepted without an entry fee.

For more information, including race rules and procedures, visit our website at <http://www.sleddog.org>.

The current trail report is that coverage is very good, and the surfaces are pretty smooth, while some areas may still have trouble holding a snowhook. We'll update the trail conditions after this weekend (snow is forecast for Saturday).

Competitors in the ADMA Challenge Series will be vying for the 2003 Points Champion awards. Points in each race are awarded as follows: 1st place - 5 points; 2nd place - 4 points; 3rd place - 3 points; 4th place - 2 points; 5th place and all finishers - 1 point. For each class, the dog driver with the most cumulative points for all the Challenge Series races this season is awarded the Points Champion trophy. Competitors aren't required to race in every Challenge Series race to qualify for Points Champion.

Related websites

ADMA race rules and procedures
2002–2003 ADMA race schedule
Information on race entry by phone