The Dog Powered Sports Association of the Yukon (DPSAY) held its second Hot Hound race of the year at the Caribou Crossing Trading Post in Carcross on Aug. 25.
Participants had the option of racing in canicross or bikejor categories, with one-dog, one-mile (1.6-kilometre) distances for both and an additional two-dog, two-mile (3.2-km) bikejor category.
All told, 13 people and 22 dogs produced 19 different finishes across the three categories.
Martin Haefele, DPSAY president, said the race was a success.
“It went very well,” said Haefele. “We had really good trails. They were wide, they were smooth and they had plenty of turns to make it fun but also for easy passing.”
In the two-dog bikejor, Nadele Flynn was the winner with a time of five minutes and 36 seconds. Second place went to Kathryn MacDonald with a time of seven minutes and 12 seconds and Coady Lee was third with a time of seven minutes and 19 seconds.
In the one-dog bikejor, Lee was the winner with a time of three minutes and 16 seconds. Lisa Jol finished second in three minutes and 37 seconds and Haefele was third in three minutes and 45 seconds.
The one-dog canicross was the largest category with 12 different entries, including a number of runners competing multiple times with different dogs.
First place went to Ciaran Jones with a time of four minutes and 50 seconds. Peter Mufada was second in five minutes and two seconds, and Lee was third in five minutes and 40 seconds.
After the racing was over, participants got to trade stories and soak in the last days of summer.
“We had a nice fire afterwards to sit around,” said Haefele. “The weather was cooperating too. It was dry but not too hot for the dogs — it was pretty much perfect.”
This was the first time DPSAY has held a race at Caribou Crossing and Haefele noted how smoothly things went.
“The trail was really well flagged,” said Haefele. “Nobody got lost, nobody took a wrong turn, which is pretty rare. The only sort of challenge that one of the runners had was his dog decided to take a bath along the way.”
Given the race was held further from Whitehorse than most of DPSAY’s events, Haefele was pleased with the turnout.
The next Hot Hound race is scheduled for Sept. 15 at Mount McIntyre.
Contact John Hopkins-Hill at john.hopkinshill@yukon-news.com