Tok Inaugural Skijor Race
March 15-16, 2003
The Tok Dog Mushing Association (TDMA) held its first ever skijor race in conjunction with the Junior Race of Champions on Sunday, March 15-16, 2003. Seven local and two Fairbanks competitors participated and it's reported that all had a good time.
Fairbanks' own Janet Smith and Peggy Raybeck took first and second, respectively, in the Pro Class. (See Janet's story below.)
If there is enough interest from Anchorage and Fairbanks skijorers, TDMA is considering a Skijor Race of Champions or something similar next year for the 50th edition of the race. Please let Sandra and Roy Perry know via e-mail or call them at 883-3647.
| Skijor Novice Class, 2 dog limit, 1 mile | ||||
| Place | Competitor | Day 1 | Day 2 | Total |
| 1 | Mary Kwart | 3:50 | 3:42 | 7:32 |
| 2 | Sage Twixil | 4:18 | 4:16 | 8:34 |
| 3 | Jan Persson | 5:07 | 5:14 | 10:21 |
| 4 | Sue Insminger | 18:46 | Scratch | |
| Skijor Pro Class, 2 dog limit, 3 miles | ||||
| 1 | Janet Smith | 11:24 | 11:36 | 23:00 |
| 2 | Peggy Raybeck | 11:53 | 12:32 | 24:25 |
| 3 | Russ Persson | 13:28 | 13:56 | 27:24 |
| 4 | Kevin Cooper | 14:40 | 14:38 | 29:18 |
| 5 | Suzette Twixil | 19:48 | 21:02 | 40:50 |
Submitted by Roy and Sandra Perry
Skijoring & Contra Dance in Tok: A New Venue
By Janet Smith
A trip to Tok in the winter with your dogs is a guaranteed good time. (It helps to bring a human friend too!) While Tok is a relatively small community, their dog facilities easily rival those in Fairbanks. The Tok Race of Champions has a reputation for good fun, good trails, and great competition. However, one thing is lacking in this race. A skijoring class. This year, in an attempt to change this, the Tok Dog Mushers' club decided to do a trial skijor race at their Junior Race of Champion towards the end of March.
Feeling the need for a little adventure and wanting to support the effort, Peggy Raybeck and I loaded 4 racing dogs and 2 old timers in my oversized 19 hole dog truck and headed east! The race was scheduled for early afternoon so we didn’t leave Fairbanks until early Saturday morning. While this fit our schedules better, it meant we missed one vital aspect of the Tok experience- the Friday night feeding frenzy. The Club always has a chili feed or potluck during the registration/draw that is free to all racers and handlers. Nevertheless, when we arrived we were welcomed like celebrities and thanked many times for coming all the way from Fairbanks. We were just there to have some fun and felt the club and volunteers deserved the thanks for holding a skijoring race.
Anyway, back to the race. We had just enough time to get the low down, change our clothes, and get our dogs ready to go. There was no shortage of help to assist us to the starting line. There were two classes in the skijoring event, novice and pro. There were about 6 local people, aged 10-50, in addition to me and Peggy signed up in the two classes. There was a variety of equipment from fish scale skis, to three pin bindings, to racing skis. The novice class went one mile and the pro division went three. The trail was in great shape considering the winter we had. The snow cover was excellent, the only challenge was a few areas with snow machine moguls. The course goes through some fields and some woods and is mostly flat except for about a ½ mile stretch with some short, sort of steep woop-dee-doos. One of these got me! There was a little concern about the width of the trail. I had no problem with it but was told there are plans to widen it for next year. All the participants just seemed to have a good time.
There is always something going on Saturday night in Tok. After a great dinner at Fast Eddy’s- (they are very dog friendly too) we attended a contra dance at the Dog Musher’s Hall. The dance was commemorating the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System. There was live music, cake, and free souvenirs. The party was over by 10, which allowed for plenty of rest for day two.
Sunday started out a bit cold, but by the time we got around to skijoring, it had turned into a perfect March day. Peggy and I were to defend our first and second places from the day before. Things went off without a hitch, I actually made it around this time without falling! It didn’t take too long to compute all the results and the musher’s hall soon filled up for lunch and the awards ceremony. The junior mushers got trophies- the littler the musher, the bigger the trophy! The skijorers got hand made stained glass trophies. The people in Tok are always going out of their way with things like this. As I started, it is always a good time in Tok.
We were grateful for the opportunity to skijor and compete at a new venue and hope that the Tok Dog Mushers’ club will continue on with their skijoring race. We were glad to meet so many skijorers in Tok and hope they will use our club as a resource to expand their interest.