Czech couple posts wins in Birch Hill Skijor Race
On their way from
A new mass start was designed to allow Alaskans traveling to
the World Championships to experience this race format, which will be used
there. Jim Herriges started the 15K mass start
race in the lead. But Jana Porubska and her
team of pointers chased him down out on the White Bear Loop at Birch Hill.
They swapped leads back and forth through the remainder of the race, with Porubska leading coming into the stadium and staying ahead
through the finish. After the race, Porubska
exclaimed about how nice the trails were—“and not as steep” as those she runs
in
Andy Seitz, finished second in the
Men’s class and just ahead of second place women’s finisher Kriya
Dunlap. Dunlap and Seitz were skiing within sight of leaders Porubska and Herriges when Dunlap
caught a ski tip on the leg of Seitz’ dog and went down. The resulting jerk in her line broke her
skijor belt and released her dogs. Andy Seitz showed great sportsmanship
by catching her dogs and waiting for her to retrieve them.
The two-dog class continues Sunday as part of the North Pole
Winter Carnival Sleddog Races at
Becky Voris, of
In the 5K Fun Race, Brian Charlton
finished first in the 2-dog class in
In the 3X3K relay event, the team of Charlton, Elzey, and Malvick failed to hang onto their lead going into the last leg, finishing 10
seconds behind the Porubska/Altherr team.
Steven Sheehy, Julie Schwab, and Tamara Rose finished
third. Some of the relay dogs were being tapped for a second race in the
day. Not all were as enthused about it as the
Porubska’s dog Jumpy
who made his second run of the day to come from behind for the relay win.
Following the Czech couple to
For complete results of the races on the beautifully-groomed
Jim Whisenhant Ski Trails, see below.
| Place |
Skier & Dog(s) | Time(min:sec) |
| 15K | Two-dog Skijoring | Women |
| 1 | 26:01 | |
| 2 | Kriya Dunlap (Oban, Brahma) | |
| 3 | Susan Seitz (Ed, Mabel) |
28:23 |
| 4 | Cindy Salmon (Chinook, Coho) |
30:18 |
| 5 | Gail Davidson ( |
36:06 |
| 15K | Two-dog Skijoring | Men |
| 1 | Jim Herriges ( |
26:03 |
| 2 | 27:05 | |
| 3 | Sven Grage(Raffi, Razelle) |
35:13 |
| 4 | Steven Sheehy (Sputnik, Ahi) | 35:50 |
| 5 | John Eichelberger (Sumo, Stella) | 36:06 |
| 10K | One-Dog Skijoring | Women |
| 1 | Becky Voris (Attla) | 22:31 |
| 2 | Julie Schwab (Lulu) | 29:45 |
| 10K | One-Dog Skijoring | Men |
| 1 | Pavel Porubska (Jumpy) | 21:51 |
| 2 | Mike Malvick (Corky) | 24:17 |
| 3 | David French (Boone) | 32:52 |
| scratch |
Brian Charlton (Ole) | |
| 5K | Fun Race | 2-dog |
| 1 | Brian Charlton (Sally, Taco) | 13:55 |
| 2 | Sara Elzey (Shadow, Ayla) | 14:30 |
| 3 | Scott Campbell (Tommy, Ruby) | 14:57 |
| 4 | Andy Warwick (Zip, Licorice) | 15:04 |
| 5 | Amanda Byrd (Avril, Miley) | 15:30 |
| 6 | Peggy Raybeck (Smokie, Bandit) | 18:42 |
| 7 | Bernie Baecker (Lucky, Tallie) | 23:06 |
| 5K | Fun Race | 1-dog |
| 1 | Ted Wu (Ty) | 16:20 |
| 2 | Mike Malvick ( |
17:44 |
| 3 | 18:01 | |
| 4 | Tohru Saito (Pierce) |
18:59 |
| 5 | Sarah Thorton (Puck) | 19:47 |
| 6 | Kelly Hill Scanlon (Henry) |
21:44 |
| 7 | Lisa Allen (Eli) | 23:23 |
| 8 | Jim Altherr (Sophie) | 25:12 |
| 3 x 3K Relay |
|||
| 1 | No Name | Pavel Porubsky ( Jim Altherr Jana Porubsky (Jumpy) |
23:16 |
| 2 | BSM squared | Brian Charlton (Sally) Mike Malvick (Billie) |
23:26 |
| 3 | No Name | Steven Sheehy (Puck) Julie Schwab Tamara Rose (Beesley) |
27:16 |
| 4 | Goldstream Express | Amanda Byrd (Miley) Andy Seitz Sue Seitz (Avril) |
27:48 |
| 5 | Last Second | Jim Herriges (Ole) Ted Wu (Ty) |
27:52 |
| 5 | No Name | Gail Davidson ( Lisa |
actually 13K, 9K, 6K, and 3K.