Gerry Willomitzer's
Blackjack Racing Kennel
Newsletter - December 26,  2004
More training on the Canol Road and Sheep Mountain Lodge 150

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Hi everyone,
The December newsletter has long been overdue. This is largely because of my participation in the inaugural Sheep Mountian Lodge 150 race, which happened on December 18 and 19 between Glennallen and Palmer, Alaska.

Training on the Canol Road:
After four training runs on the South Canol Road, about 2 hours southeast of Whitehorse, I felt it was time to go to a small race in order to break the training routine for the dogs. I am not a fan of trucking the dogs to "the Canol", but lack of snow at my place forced me to go there in order to get some quality runs. Usually these Canol Road "expeditions" take up to 30 hours, which includes loading the truck, drive (2 hours one way), getting two teams ready there. 4 - 6 hours run one way, camp-out at Quiet Lake, and return. Starting in Mid November I did this once a week, enlisting the help of Sebastian 2, Dieter (both "slaves" at Blue Kennels), our tenant Rosa, and Jenesse to drive a second team of dogs.

The Canol Road is ideal for early training because it traditionally receives early snow and the old highway is absolutely safe for dog teams to use. There are no sharp turns or corners, but some "good" climbs of up to 1800 feet. Quiet Lake Campground is about 50 miles in, and provides good parking for the dog teams and a shelter with a huge barrel stove.

Sheep Mountain Lodge 150:
Here is what the Anchorage Daily News reported from the race:

"Sheep Mountain mushing victory goes to Mackey
INAUGURAL: Kasilof veteran finishes early Sunday afternoon.
Daily News staff (Published: December 20, 2004)

Lance Mackey of Kasilof won the inaugural Sheep Mountain 150 sled dog race Sunday. He arrived at the finish at Sheep Mountain Lodge at 1:08 p.m. to finish in 25 hours, 2 minutes.

While Mackey was presumably warming himself in the lodge and dreaming of what to do with the $1,800 first-place prize, a close battle was brewing for second place.

Jason Young of Kasilof passed Gerry Willomitzer of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, in the last five miles to take second in 25 hours, 56 minutes -- just 30 seconds ahead of Willomitzer.

The move meant an extra $450. Young collected $1,350 and Willomitzer $900.
Young closely tailed Willomitzer after the pair left from the second and final five-hour layover at Eureka Lodge. The final stretch follows sections of the old Glenn Highway.

Familiarity with the course likely helped Mackey and Young. Race director Zack Steer said peninsula mushers have been making the long drive north to find snow and train along the trails of the upper Matanuska Valley. Mackey and Young specifically ran the final stretch so their dogs would be familiar with it, Steer said.

"Obviously, it paid off," Steer said.
Rick Corcoran of Valdez won the veterinary care award, while Maegan Mackey of Eagle River won the sportsmanship award for going to find musher Thomas Knolmayer of Eagle River after he fell from his sled.

The course was made up of three 50-mile legs, and started and ended at Sheep Mountain Lodge. Mushers had two mandatory five-hour layovers at Eureka Lodge."

As you can see we achieved a respectable finish. The last two hours of the race were quite dramatic, as I tried to hang on to my second place position, which I had gained during the second leg. In warm weather (-2C) and fresh snow I raced Jason across the final two hills, hoping to pull away from him on the downhill side. 5 inches of newly fallen snow slowed us down, however, and Jason caught up to us (after having been as close as 100 Meters for 2 hours) one hundred meters before no-man's-land. No-man's-land starts a mile from the finish line and trail does not have to be given anymore there. But 100 Meters short of the "safe zone" (passing would have been difficult for him due to a narrow trail and deep snow) I had to move off the trail and let him pass. Still I was happy with a third place finish, especially as the dogs performed way better than I had hoped for. Joseph, Ophir, and Yentna had been in their first race ever. Jack, Maggie, Blaze, and Jeckell did solid work in lead. After arriving at the truck they all ate a huge meal, and got some well deserved sleep in the dog boxes.

The trails had been in excellent condition up to the night before the race, when it started snowing and blowing. Add warm weather and a trail that led the teams across a mountain range similar to Eagle Summit on the Quest, and you have the "toughest little race in Alaska". A special thank you to Zack Steer, the 2004 second place Yukon Quest finisher, for organizing this early race and opening his lodge for the mushers. Visit his web site at www.sheepmountain.com .

The 12 hour drive to and from the race had been uneventful. In early January I will be driving back the same way to the Copper Basin 300. Before then I hope to have most of my food drop preparations done for the Yukon Quest and will put one more long training run on the dogs. Due to lack of snow I will drive to the South Canol Road for this training run. All other runs will be done from home, if necessary with the snowmachine instead of sled. But there is snow in the weather forecast, so we'll see. Visit the Copper Basin website (www.cb300.com) on the weekend of January 7 and 8 for race updates. Another source for Copper Basin race info is the Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com).

Here the complete results of the SML 150:

See ya,
G