Dogsled.com: Mushing news, Iditarod, Yukon Quest, sled dog events

Thirty one year old Wendy Davis wins the 2007 DIAVIK 150 Canadian Championship Dog Derby in Yellowknife, NT by 19 seconds with a total time of 10:38:36, becoming the first female winner in the event's 52-year history. Sam Perrino hot on her tracks arrived in second with a total time of 10:38:55. Davis is proving to be one musher to keep an eye on, she won the 2007 IPSSSDR and  placed 4th in the 2006 IPSSSDR. She began mushing in 2000 in Oregon. She is employed by the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyoming, leading climbing expeditions. 

This year's Diavik 150 began on Frame Lake, extended to Checkpoint #5 on Yellowknife Bay near Dettah, and returned back to Frame Lake along a 50-mile trail. This is a 150 Mile Race/ 3-50 Mile Heats with a mass start at each heat. 12 Dog Pool, 10 Dog Daily Limit. Race results:

1 Wendy Davis - 10:38:36
2 Sam Perrino - 10:38:55
3 Brent Beck - 10:44:28
4 Warren Palfrey - 11:09:12
5 Grant Beck - 11:27:21
6 Anna Anderson - 11:36:50
7 Trevor Lizotte - 11:43:35
8 Carol Beck - 11:46:12
9 Dave Poitras  - 12:19:05
10 Julian Landry - 14:12:31

Working dogs have long been part of life and survival in the North. In the late 1700s, explorer Samuel Hearne described dogs used by the Dene people as trained, docile and tractable. Generations later, after the turn of the 20th century, dog trains used for traveling and hunting were sought after for their speed and endurance as racing teams. By the late 1930s, formal races were organized on Great Bear Lake near the Eldorado Mine. Races in Yellowknife began to make the newspapers by 1946.

In 1955, the NWT Fish and Game Association decided that it would be fun to put on an annual  "Sleigh Dog Race" in Yellowknife. The prize of  $50 for first place was awarded to Alfred Drygeese, who ran the 40 mile race in five hours, twenty-seven minutes and thirty seconds. Prizes for other racers consisted of sacks of flour, groceries and rifle shells. The race was such a success (there were thirteen racers instead of the expected eight), the prize money had already blossomed to $500 by the following year.

For its first 20 years, the derby had been considered by most mushers to be a long distance race, but in 1973 the Iditarod in Alaska set new parameters for "long distance," covering over 1,000 miles and taking over two weeks to complete. The Canadian Championship evolved into a 3-day, 150-mile event and has since become one of the world's most popular races.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed