Beaskádas 2021
In lack of snow in Tromsø, we decided to head north to finally be able to take the sled out and have a little taste of winter and cold temperatures.
The autumn has brought a lot of ice, and no snow, and therefore we’ve not been able to train as much as we had planned. Our dog team has been running only 740km since August.
When the long distance race Beaskádas 300 announced that they were organizing this year’s race with a shorter distance due to Covid-19, we decided to enter a week ago.
Two years ago I did sprint races with 4 dogs, my goal is to do longer races with larger teams of Siberians, and a 8 dog team is a good start in the long distance world.
The whole week was spent with packing and prepping for the race, as it was a lot of obligatory equipment needed in sled.
The team is composed of dogs from 3 different kennels in the Northern part of Norway, and I feel very fortunate to be trusted with and to choose between so many good and well trained dogs, and put together a whole team.
The dogs in my team were:
The vast Finnmark plateau is something special, the race stretched from Suolovuopmi Fjellstue and all the way to Mieron - close to Kautokeino and back again to the Checkpoint at Suolovuopmi.
The first leg is 110km long and the second leg uses the same trail only shorter, 50km (Bingis).
Between the first and the second race there is an obligatory rest (at least 4 hours) at checkpoint for the dogs.
I was super stressed about the start, with 50 participants in the race, and eager dogs. But we got lots and lots of support from the race crew giving us a hand with the team as we took off.
We left as the second last team at 10:51 PM.
The landscape was breathtaking and I had the company of two Golden Eagles and some ravens along the trail.
We arrived at Mieron at 16:15 and departed back to Checkpoint at 16:19. Along the trail I had some breaks to give the dogs some snack (small pieces of frozen moose meat - which they loved).
We came into checkpoint at 21:25 in the evening - the dogs rested well, ate well and enjoyed a good power nap at dried grass under wool blankets as it was cold. Minus -20 Celsius degrees, snow and wind.
- Skádja Av Slidre Fiord - (lead) my truly amazing lead dog I bought from Leif Herleiksplass & Ragne Kristine Smuk (Kennel Vesterelva & Viddashusky) in October 2020.
- Malin Av Viddashusky - (lead) owned by Madeleine Hanssen (Framover Siberian Husky Kennel) did such a good job in lead with Skádja all the way.
- Nova Av Viddashusky - (point) owned by Monica A. Sundset & Ingrid-Helene Sundset (Kennel Snykovet)
- Chai Av Viddashusky - aka Tundra 2 (point) owned by Monica A Sundset (Kennel Snykovet). Nova & Tundra were the youngest members in the team and this was their first race ever. They both did great.
- Krutt - (team) owned by Madeleine Hanssen (Kennel Framover)
- Panda Av Viddashusky - (team) owned by Madeleine Hanssen (Kennel Framover)
- Snykovet’s Bajas - (wheel) owned by Madeleine Hanssen (Kennel Framover)
- Vesterelva’s Prosit - (wheel) owned by Leif Herleiksplass & Ragne Kristine Smuk (Kennel Vesterelva & Viddashusky)
The vast Finnmark plateau is something special, the race stretched from Suolovuopmi Fjellstue and all the way to Mieron - close to Kautokeino and back again to the Checkpoint at Suolovuopmi.
The first leg is 110km long and the second leg uses the same trail only shorter, 50km (Bingis).
Between the first and the second race there is an obligatory rest (at least 4 hours) at checkpoint for the dogs.
I was super stressed about the start, with 50 participants in the race, and eager dogs. But we got lots and lots of support from the race crew giving us a hand with the team as we took off.
We left as the second last team at 10:51 PM.
Leg 1
The dogs had lots of energy and just wanted to run. At first I didn’t see any other teams, but a few moments later we catched up with 4 other teams. I tried to keep the speed down so that the dogs shouldn’t burn off all the energy early in the race.The landscape was breathtaking and I had the company of two Golden Eagles and some ravens along the trail.
We arrived at Mieron at 16:15 and departed back to Checkpoint at 16:19. Along the trail I had some breaks to give the dogs some snack (small pieces of frozen moose meat - which they loved).
We came into checkpoint at 21:25 in the evening - the dogs rested well, ate well and enjoyed a good power nap at dried grass under wool blankets as it was cold. Minus -20 Celsius degrees, snow and wind.
Leg 2
We left the checkpoint at 03:12 in the morning, enthusiastic with good spirit, but already 5km into the second leg we had a little problem as the lead dogs and point dogs were ready to mate.... and the boys of course did not hesitate to take up their invitation...
I tried to move the dogs around in the team, but we were stuck, and had to call for assistance to avoid fighting between the dogs and unplanned matings as well as injuries caused by the wire connecting the dogs in front of the sled. Luckily the race crew came to rescue within a short time, and assisted me back to checkpoint with snow mobile.
All dogs are happy and healthy- no injuries happened, and there will be no puppies in two months.
We arrived back at the hotel in Alta at 6 AM this morning and have spent the day with dog care and sleeping.
In total we covered 130km’s only lacking 30km to complete the race.
I tried to move the dogs around in the team, but we were stuck, and had to call for assistance to avoid fighting between the dogs and unplanned matings as well as injuries caused by the wire connecting the dogs in front of the sled. Luckily the race crew came to rescue within a short time, and assisted me back to checkpoint with snow mobile.
All dogs are happy and healthy- no injuries happened, and there will be no puppies in two months.
We arrived back at the hotel in Alta at 6 AM this morning and have spent the day with dog care and sleeping.
In total we covered 130km’s only lacking 30km to complete the race.
I’ve learned so much this week about long distance racing, thanks to a lot of people in the sport, but especially thanks to;
- Monica A. Sundset & Rune Sundset for everything, and the opportunity to do this, and to have the chance to be around your dogs and take them with me to adventures across the country.
- I’m forever thankful that Monica is such a great handler for me at the races, she support me everyday and it’s wonderful that we can share the joy of the dogs and the sport together as she also knows the dogs inside out.
- Tore Albrigtsen & Sandra Sabine Gollor for all the support, advices, trainings, letting us borrow equipments and sometimes dogs to keep up with the bigger teams.
- I also want to thank Madeleine Hanssen, Leif Herleiksplass, Ragne Kristine Smuk, Maria Louise Sara, Hege Ingebrigtsen, Per Sverre Simonsen, Karin Bergbjørn, Renate Strugstad Paulsen, Ben Marsden, Carina Jakobsen, Andreas Hansen, Laila Arvola, Gisle Mjaatvedt and Virbac Veterinary HPM.
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