麻豆社区

The local mushing season is off and running.

The Yukon Brewing Twister Race Series got underway Sunday morning with a great turnout of mushers and dogs at Mike and Jessica Simon's home, located at Mile 4.5 on the Mayo Road.

The series is organized by the Dog Powered Sports Association of the Yukon.

Ten mushers and five skijors raced each other over seven miles of Yukon terrain, with the first musher, Mandy Pearson, crossing the finish line in a quick 22:52.

Stefan Wackerhagen was the top skijorer, finishing in 24:18.

The Twister Race Series began years ago with a race taking place at Icy Waters on Fish Lake Road once a month during the winter months.

This is the second season that the series will use a variety of different routes, rather than running the same trail for every race.

"That adds a little bit of fun to it,鈥� Wackerhagen said. "It's quite important, these regular small races.鈥�

While there are regular race combatants, others will attend certain series events for training or recreational purposes.

"For some, it's just about socializing and going out with the dogs,鈥� Wackerhagen explained. "It's a nice community. There's enough people that are competitive that it's nice.鈥�

The Twister Race Series is made up of four races.

The second race will occur on Jan. 6 at the traditional race site at Icy Waters.

Due to the running of the 30th Yukon Quest and the River Runner 100, there will be no recreational race in February.

The fourth-annual River Runner 100 will take place Feb. 23 and 24. The 130-mile race, which welcomes both sledding and skijor teams, is the longest skijor race in the world. It runs from Whitehorse to Mendenhall, and back again.

The Twister Race Series will conclude in March with two races 鈥� one March 3 at Fox Lake and the other March 24 at the Takhini Hot Springs.

"That was an awesome race last year, so we decided to have that to be the finish of the race series,鈥� said coordinator Fabian Schmitz.

While the race series is somewhat competitive and involves small monetary purses, Schmitz said the series is more focused on "having fun, meeting people, socializing, that kind of stuff.

"There is a bunch of people that are very competitive, but it's a multipurpose series.

It's about people getting on the trail, people exercising their dogs. For a lot of mushers, it's also about training their dogs in a race scenario.鈥�

Schmitz said every participating musher has a different reason for competing in the series, and that's simply the nature of the sport.

"It fulfills a lot of purposes,鈥� he said. "Everybody sees it as a little different. That's the nice thing about it. Everybody gets what they want.鈥�

A $400 purse is split between top mushers and skijors for each race event.

Competitors who are members pay $10 per race, while non-members pay $15.

The season opener was special and surprising, said Schmitz.

"We were happy to have a great turnout 鈥� 15 teams were there,鈥� he said. "They all competed in the same category. We didn't have anyone signing up for the recreational and pet dog classes, and that is a category we really try and promote.鈥�

Schmitz said newcomers should not feel intimidated to come give the sport a try.

"We want people to come. I don't know what it is. Maybe people think 鈥極h, I can't go there. There's all these professional mushers.' And we're not. It's all about fun. It's a great event to come and ask questions, to meet with people who can help you.鈥�

Yukon Brewing remains the major sponsor, last year donating a set of new mushing bibs.

"It was awesome that they stepped up,鈥� Schmitz said. "This year, they stepped up again and gave us $1,000 for purses.鈥�

Aurora Booties and Coast Mountain Sports also sponsor the races, donating prizes.

Race host Mike Simon donated a red lantern for the season opener, which was eventually awarded to Christina Reeves.

Full seven-mile sled race results are as follows: 1st 鈥� Mandy Pearson (22:52); 2nd 鈥� Mathieu Derred (23:36); 3rd 鈥� Jess Wood (25:33); 4th 鈥� Armin Johnson (26:37); 5th 鈥� Maren Bradley (29:00); 6th 鈥� Magnus Kaltenborn (32:01); 7th 鈥� Marine Gastard (33:41); 8th 鈥� Fabian Schmitz (34:50); 9th 鈥� J.J. Levy (38:22); 10th 鈥� Christina Reeves (45:26).

Full results of the seven-mile ski are: 1st 鈥� Stefan Wackerhagen (24:18); 2nd 鈥� Cynthia Corriveau (26:15); 3rd 鈥� Alison Morhan (31:43); 4th 鈥� Virginia Sarrazin (41:30); 5th 鈥� Robert Siefke (42:35).