With all the success Tagish’s Dave Johnson has been having Outside the territory so far this year, it’s about time he won something on Yukon soil.
Piloting a six-dog sled, Johnson took first in the Duffy’s Pets & Tanzilla Harness Supply Race Day, presented by the Yukon Brewing Copper Haul Twister series, off Fish Lake Road Sunday morning.
“It’s an awesome race,” said Johnson. “The trail was great and the weather was 20 below, so it was good for the dogs.
“I’m running a bunch of young dogs this year, so it’s good for training, passing other teams.”
Adding to a growing list, last month the Tagish musher also took two seconds and a third at the Cariboo Challenge Sled Dog Race in 100 Mile House, BC, and two firsts and a third at the Wilderness Classic Sled Dog Derby in Elkford, BC.
“They are two- or three-day races, and they have a four-dog class, a six-dog class and skijoring,” said Johnson. “That way we can run in all the different classes.
“We train yearlings for Streeper Kennels (in Fort Nelson, BC), which is probably one of the top sprint racing kennels in the world.”
Just 50 seconds behind Johnson in the 10.5-mile event was Tony Radford with a six-dog team. The previous weekend Radford was first in the 10-mile, 4-6 dog division of the Carbon Hill Dogsled Race.
The event’s top skijorer was Stefan Wackerhagen, coming third overall with three dogs, outpacing fourth and fifth place finishers Darryl Sheepway and Cynthia Corrivaeu - both skijorers.
“They’re both pretty fast,” said Wackerhagen. “Cynthia is fast with two dogs and Darryl had four, so I knew it was going to be a pretty close race.
“We just try to go as fast as we can.”
Wackerhagen was the fastest at a December Copper Haul Twister event in December, once again beating out Sheepway by just a few seconds. At the Carbon Hill race Wackerhagen was first in the 30-mile skijor race for 2-4 dog teams.
Placing first in the five-kilometre pet dog division was Kathrine Scheck. Scheck was third in the six-mile skijor event at the Carbon Hill race.
RESULTS
10.5-mile twister
1st Dave Johnson - 37.17 (six-dog sled)
2nd Tony Radford - 38.07 (six-dog sled)
3rd Stefan Wackerhagen - 41.58 (three dogs skis)
4th Darryl Sheepway - 42.16 (four dogs skis)
5th Cynthia Corriveau - 43.50 (two dogs skis)
6th Kyla Johnson - 68.16 (one dog skis)
Five kilometre pet dog
1st Kathrine Scheck - 16.07
2nd Cheryl Kawaja - 16.35
3rd Sandro Holzinger - 20.34
4th Mark Manolis - 23.44
Five kilometre kids
1st Seth Carey - 12.05
2nd Thea Carey - 15.03
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com