2007 Fun Run Finale Race Results

North Star Golf Club
March 24, 2007
4° F

Reported by Carol Kleckner

A cool morning with new snow greeted a large number of skijorers and their dogs at the North Star Golf Course for the final fun race (although not the last event for ASPA!) and barbecue.

Classes offered were 1 mile, 2 mile, 4 mile and 8 mile.  One ASPA record was set and that was the largest pile up of teams at any one spot when five teams had a picnic on the front nine as spectators waited in anguish for the first team to come out of the trees.

Many watched from the club house as we saw five teams very close together coming up the hill on the far side of the course.  As they did a small turn into the trees we were anxiously waiting for who would come out first…and we waited…and we waited…NO ONE came out of the trees for what seemed like minutes….I guess there was some passing going on and without having the cleanest passes many dogs got tangled up.  No one was hurt and there was no growling amongst the dogs-they knew that this was a FUN race and that is what they were having.  The racers broke out of the trees and three teams of one dog came to the finish as two teams of three dogs continued on to finish out their 8 mile run.

Mike Malvick had an earlier start time and was several minutes ahead of the melee behind him which allowed him to have a clean run and win the 8-mile, 3-dog class by a minute and a half over second place finisher Emily Bernhardt.  Brian Charlton finished third.

Andy Warwick won the 4-mile, 3-dog class and improved his season best time by 35 seconds.  Don Kiely was second and Sara Elzey finished third.

Chad Carroll won the 4-mile, 2-dog class and beat Greg Jurek's season best time by 21 seconds.  Peggy Raybeck was second and David French finished third.

Peggy Raybeck won the 2-mile, 1-dog class which was the largest class of the day with a season best time of 8:45, 18 seconds ahead of Katie Breen's previous standard.  Janet Smith was second and David French picked up his second third place finish for the day.

Sara Elzey raced 13 year old Shadow around the 1-mile course, foreshadowing her being awarded the Alder Award later in the day.  The Alder Award was established by Chuck and Tone Deehr to encourage skijorers to keep training and performance records for their dogs.

The final fun race of the day was a 3 person relay with one dog each. The first teams started in a mass start.  Then, when a team  was sighted coming around the club house, their teammate could take off.  Team Dog Daze of Don Atwood, Andy Warwick, and Mike Malvick successfully defended the relay title they won at last week's Birch Hill race.  The relay victory made Warwick the only triple winner of the day after he also won the 4-mile, 3-dog class and the 2-mile, 2-dog class.

Don Kiely was awarded "Volunteer of the Year" for his tireless coordination of more than ten skijoring race events during the year.  Andy Warwick was runner-up.

This race could not have happened without the help from these folks:
Race Director: Don Kiely
Registration:  Don Kiely, Carol Kleckner
Starter:  Pat DeRuyter
Handler:  Erin Atwood
Timers/Results:  Judy Warwick, Sara Tabbert, Lisa Baraff, Chuck Deehr
Reporter: Carol Kleckner
Meal Arrangements:  Carol Kleckner
Barbecue Chefs: Bud and Jamie Marschner

These sponsors provided prizes for today’s race:
49er Feed, Alaska Feed, ASPA, Beaver Sports, Canine Caviar, Food Factory, Nancy Hausel Johnson, Raven Cross Country, Sara Tabbert. 

For a complete list of ASPA’s 2006-7 sponsors, please visit http://www.sleddog.org/skijor/sponsorlist.html.

ASPA Results Page

ASPA Home Page

This page was updated March 24, 2007
Please send corrections or comments to Mike Malvick.