We had been told about the event first by our friend Tone, here with his team:
Toivo, shown in front left, is one of my favorite facebook friends!
The second person to tell us about the day was our friend Bruce. We know him through officiating bike races in the cities, and were happily surprised to hear that he was driving up to work as a dogsled race official! (don't tell anyone, but I prefer dogs to bikes!)
This is Bruce with Hannah. We had brought our pup ... after all, she enjoys getting out and we like taking her places. It's always interesting to see what she will do! She was quite happy to sit with me and Bruce (Matt was off taking photos) but she seemed even more happy to bark ... constantly ... at all the athletes! After all, those canine athletes were barking in all their excitement, and she felt compelled to cheer them on. Not sure how everyone else felt about that. When we first showed up we saw a lot of dogs on leashes and thought "great, other people brought their dogs too!" and later found out that all the ones I had thought were spectators were actually racing.
Like this precious little springer.
Cute, perfectly groomed little pup, when sitting on a leash looked like simply a happy companion. When mom changed into ski gear though, look at this guy go! We loved the big flopping ears!
It seems that just about any dog can participate. I thought this dog looked especially happy to be out running:
And this one, clearly setting the pace!
And people of any ages too. The kids seemed so confident for their age!
And this guy ... not only is he dogsledding, but he's got the mukluks to boot (pun intended). A true Minnesotan!
A couple more of Matt's photo that really got my attention ... I love the look of focus, drive, and athleticism in this team ...
... and in this photo, how the dogs feet aren't even touching the ground ...
Great fun for an end-of-winter day, something I'm hoping we can do more of next year!
