NO SNOW - NO GO....
Arrived in Oberwiesentahl in the most terrible weather for a sled dog competition. 15 minutes from destination we had … absolutely no snow – only green grass, fog and a lot of rain. ‘NO WAY we are having a World Championship here in two days’
Competed in the 6-dogs class with: lead Fox-Q, Max-Gibson, Alaska-Rocket.
FIRST HEAT... was a huge disappointment. ‘Lost’ without a warning the dogs 30-40 cm in the wet, soft snow. Had to stop and untangle God knows how many times. Really no fun for the dogs.
SECOND HEAT... was much better. After a night with frost degrees the track had improved.
Reached a top speed of 42 km/ph.
Our team moved 5 steps up the ladder :-)
THIRD HEAT... much more optimistic - after 2nd heat we had high expectations to the last race-day. Decided to spare Q today, and put our young Max (Gibson-Spec) in co-lead with Fox. WOW he did fantastic - not at all influenced by all the spectators, photographers, helicopters, etc. along the trail, 100% focused. Better cooperation, the team worked in their usual ‘happy’ way with a lot more focused energy - avr. speed of 32 km/ph over the first kilometres.
But suddenly Rocket stopped – he gave up. Never ever happened before. Did it one more time, and Michael had to bring him back in the sled. NOT easy on this track, soft and a lot of uphill with only five dogs to pull the usual + 22kilo Rocket. Lost a lot of time of course. Finished #17 (of 42). The reason for Rocket giving up in the third heat was without a doubt him being sick. Fox was sick the day after… (and still 10 days after the WC sick dogs keep coming up. 1-2 days of diarrhea, vomiting and no appetite)
OUR SWEDISH/DANISH/DUTCH-TEAM-FROST
We had a great team in Germany. Benjamin Schaap and 5 dogs, drove the 24 hours-drive from Benji’s home in SE to our place in DK. Benji, Michael, Lotte – and 13 dogs - headed for Oberwiesentahl in our van and a caravan. Thank you for being a lot like us – had SO much fun during this week. Definitely a ‘must-do-again’!! Benji finished #26 in the 6-dogs class.
Forgot one keyword…
DAMN!!! On our way home we had to pay 100€ to “Deutsche Politzei” for driving a van with a caravan before 10 o’clock on a Sunday. What kind of rule is that!? Argh!!
