Racing Sled Dog News

Congratulations to Catriona Coleman for Completing her ‘Challenge of a Lifetime'

This was definitely Catriona's ‘Challenge of a Lifetime'… She had to run and care for a team of 4 – 6 dogs, covering distances of up to 60km per day with miles of up-hill climbs needing her to work with the dogs and help them by pushing and running alongside the sled in temperatures of around -30ºC .

As Catriona feeds her own two Siberian Huskies on our Command Performance food – the choice of many champion racing huskies – she contacted us to see if CSJ would consider sponsoring her trek. This we did and are proud to be associated with her success.

Well done Catriona! I know you loved the whole experience and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Ceri

Here's Catriona's first hand report on her ‘adventure'…

The trek took 5 days. We arrived in Alta on the 8^th and had our safety briefing and we started early the next day, learning (by doing) how to feed the 76 dogs as quickly as possible. We then got breakfast and back out to the sleds with our kit for the trip and were shown the sled and how to harness and hook up the dogs. Again,this was learning by doing and as soon as we had done that we were off.

From setting off we were immediately greeted by a 5km uphill climb from the village up to a plateau which would take us to our next stop. This was our easy day to learn the ropes though some people found it hard going as some teams were not working well together. My challenge this day was keeping warm. I struggled to get the huge mitts on (or should I say to get the second mitt on) and I hadn't done up my suit properly so I had a really cold draft on my chest.

The next day was a lot more technical. The first thing we did was to cross a main road, go down a steep bank and take a hard left to get onto the trail where lots of bumps the size of sleeping policemen were waiting. There were also lots of tricky camber changes so you had to learn pretty quickly where you should be putting your weight on the sled so you don't fall off. Embarrassingly, I managed to topple over on a section where two paths merged into one. The trail we were on was about 2ft higher than the other trail and my team decided they wanted to swap paths before they joined, so down we went and off I came! I then had to sprint (as much as you can in huge boots) after the sled till I got hold of it again. The rest of that day was smooth going for me although I was told to put my goggles on because of the extreme cold and they were so frozen I could only see out of a area the size of a £1 coin. Not the easiest when you are trying to see the camber of the trail etc.

When we arrived at our next cabin I was a bit bemused to find we had to get up the silly steep incline with our bags to get to the cabin. After several attempts of climbing up then sliding back down we finally made it to the top to be told we had to go back down and drill for our water and carry it back up. There was no electricity, no running water and long drop toilets but on the plus side they did have a sauna at the bottom of the hill, so before dinner some of us headed down with our swimming cozies and spent a lovely hour or two in the sauna with a few trips outside for a snow roll!

Day 3 was going to be the tough one. This was the day we were going up the mountains. I had had it easy so far but I was dreading today. The first section went by in a bit of a haze. But when we had to stop because of a tangle further down the line we stopped on the top of this deserted mountain top where the wind was blowing drifts of snow across the ice. It really did look like a scene from a documentary.

This was a long day of 60km and it took us 7 hours to get to our next stop. The last few hours were spent going up huge hills - only to be met by another hill to climb. This seemed to go on forever and some people were really starting to feel the strain but we all made it in one piece. That night some of us spent the night again in a cabin with no electricity or water while others got to stay in the big house with light, heat and even a shower! I got the short straw so it was another night of having to pee outside in the cold!

Day 4 was another long journey but this time it was across a frozen lake. This should have been an easy day but my team were not working too well (probably tired from the day before) and I had to scoot the entire morning. After stopping for "lunch” (5 minutes to take a bite of a sandwich and a drink from the flask) they were back in form. I found my team was very consistent with speed which meant although they would lag behind on the flats they could keep the speed going up hills so we soon caught up with everyone when we got off the lake.

The last day was the culmination of everything we had learned the previous 4 days. This was the most difficult day by far. We started out on the hills then came down onto a lake. We then took a very steep narrow downhill trail where we had to use every bit of concentration and every ounce of strength to stay on the sled and not crash into the teams in front. Even with all my weight on the brakes I was finding it hard and the sheer drops with twists and turns made for a hairy ride. We got down to the bottom of this hill to be met by a tree right in the way of a sharp left turn. The team in front of my got the sled stuck against this tree which slowed my team enough that I managed to just avoid getting stuck myself but it ricocheted off the track making the left turn almost impossible. I just managed to stay onfor the sled to hit a hidden stump which shot me forward enough to wind me. I thought I was going to puke but luckily the guide decided we would stop of a break so I got a chance to recover. It wasn't over yet though. We still had to cross a river which was like an ice rink, to climb back up some hills that were so steep all you could do was hang off the sled and keep your legs moving. Pushing wasn't an option because the sled was so heavy and the hill so steep but luckily my dogs were strong enough to make it with me running behind them. The last test was sledding down the main road back to the starting point.

We unhooked the dogs and said our goodbyes to our teams. We then got to shower and have a dunk in the hot tub before a visit to the ice hotel and then our celebration dinner at the lodge.

Needless to say this only scratches the surface of what happened but I hope with this and the pictures you can get an idea of what it was like.

I managed to raise almost £4500 for the RNIB and every penny of it was earned out there. Just having to pee outside in -26ºC was I think worth at least half that money! LOL

Catriona Coleman

(posted 24/05/2010)