We were excited about this years race season as we had 2 new 1.5 year old males in our main 6 dog team.  As well the rest of our team were all 2-3 years old.  Two weeks before our first race in Ft St John in December I tore my achilles tendon playing basketball and ended up in a cast for three months.  We had to scramble and find help trainig the dogs and running them in races.  We were lucky to have friends train them and race them al l winter.  My wife Laurie was convinced to run our main team at some of the races.

Houston Sleddog Classic  Jan 2-3/99
Conditions:Temps were mild at about 0 C on saturday
and +3 C on Sunday.  Trail had blown in on thursday prior
which made the trail slow and soft.
 6 dog 6 mile Purebred Race
 
Houston Sleddog Classic Jan 2-3/1999
Place
Driver
Saturday
Sunday
Total
1 Laurie Bryce * 29:34  28:54   58:28
2 Steve Rooke  29:43  30:31  1:00:14 
3 Glen Sorensen 31:55  30:24  1:02:19 
4 Robyn Clausen   30:26  36:12 1:06:38 
5 Eliza Sorensen  33:44 34:41 1:08:25 
6 Fergus Beattie  33:17 35:45  1:09:02
7 Mark Miller  34:16  35:43 1:09:59 
8 Vicki Decoffe  34:47  36:51  1:11:38 
9 Heather Davis  42:27   41:17  1:23:44 
10 Stephanie Bellehumeur  42:52  45:07 1:27:59 
This was Laurie's  3rd race ever and the first time running our 6 fastest dogs.  After 4 wipeouts
on our thursday training run at the race trail we were wondering how the actual race would go.  She had no problems on the trail and just Iskut (her first race) did not want to cross the finish line both days as she seemed to be afraid of all the spectators..  (Taku, Anzac, Iskut, Nelson, Bulkley, Dawson)


Falkland International Sleddog Races
Trail Conditions -5 C to +5 C Warm
Sunday snowed heavily - trail was soft
Trail has lots of rolling hills
6 Dog Purebred 6 miles
Falkland Sleddog Races January 9-10/99
Place
Driver
Saturday
Sunday
Total
1 Carol Juba* 26:45 31:33 58:16
2 Karen Yeargain 28:04 31:32 59:36
3 Jeff Beliveau 28:29 34:16 1:02:45
4 Steve Rooke 28:12 34:44 1:02:56
5 Daniella Decoffe 28:29 35:20 1:03:49
6 Lee Eberle 35:51 43:45 1:19:36
7 John Conrard 56:25 scratch
Laurie could not make it to this race so our friend Carol Juba ran our dogs for the first time.  She had a good clean run the first day but on day two Iskut was trying to take a poop most of the way around and would not go on the run or when Carol stopped the team.  Karen Yeargain caught up to her about 4 miles out and then Iskut finally pooped and then the team ran well for the final two miles. (Taku, Anzac, Iskut, Nelson, Bulkley, Dawson)
 


100 Mile House
Conditions: Temp around freezing both days
Trail hard packed and fairly fast
Many teams had problems with trail marking and
were invloved in tangles to get on the right trail.
 
6 Dog 6 Mile Purebred
100 Mile House Jan 9-10/1999
Place
Driver
Saturday
Sunday
Total
1 Mark Miller * 24:46 24:22 49:08
2 Steve Rooke 26:16 23:19 49:35
3 Jeff Beliveau 28:57 25:29 54:26
4 Laurie Bryce* 32:04 26:52 58:56
5 Vicki Decoffe 34:03 27:16 1:01:19
6 Tony Fiala 33:07 30:32 1:03:39
7 Jamie Ross 32:55 32:21 1:05:16
8 Heather Davis 37:12 35:46 1:12:58
9 Karl Tress 39:41 43:55 1:23:36
10 Pat Evans 47:37 46:34 1:34:11
 
*At this race we put two teams in the race. Mark Miller who helped train our dogs while I was in a cast, ran our Fastest 6 dogs and Laurie ran our next 6. The trail was fast and had some very sharp corners that may have been too much for Laurie in her 4th race ever.  Mark had only minor problems the first day and then a tangle with an Alaskan team on day two but the dogs ran well.  Laurie's team ran well and she got some good experience on this challenging trail. (Taku, Kalum, Nelson, Anzac, Bulkley, Dawson)


 Wells , Gold Rush Race
 Conditions:  Temps were from -25 C to -10 C
Trail was good, a little soft in spots though
 
6 Dog 6 Mile Open
Wells Gold Rush Sprint Races
Place 
 Driver
Saturday
Sunday
Total
1 Robyn Clausen
2 Laurie Bryce*
3 Glenn Sorensen
4 Ron Whyte
5 Craig Johnson
6 Mark Miller
 
Laurie ran our fastest 6 dogs here plus a slower 4 dog team.  In the 6 dog race she only had one minor problem passing but the dogs did not seem to be running that well. (Taku, Anzac, Nelson, Iskut, Bulkley, Dawson)
 

Canmore Jan 30-31/99

Conditions:  Trail was excellent as usual.  Temps wee about 0-3C both days.
6 dog 6 mile purebred class
 
Canmore Sleddog Classic  Jan 30-31/1999
Place  Driver Saturday Sunday Total
1 Ann Stead  23:23  22:07  45:30
2 Laurie Bryce*  22:57  22:37  45:34
3 Wendy Novak  23:39  22:08 45:47
4 Steve Rooke  24:09 22:35  46:48
5 Michaela Probst  24:57  22:55  47:53
6 Don Herr  25:18 24:10  49:28
7 Rick Wannamaker  25:40  23:52 49:32
8 Glenn Sorensen  25:00  24:47 49:47
9 Darryl Himmelspeck   25:18  24:42  50:00
10 Dena Wannamaker   25:39  24:32 50:11
11 Robyn Clausen  26:06  25:05  51:12
12 Tammy Herr   26:23  25:38  52:02
13 Eliza Sorensen  26:48  27:07 53:56
14 Wes Widener   28:04  26:22  54:27
15 Jason Legere  27:18 27:12 54:31
16 Chris Novak   28:21  26:49  55:11
17 Stacey Mellick  29:23 25:55  55:19
18 John Van rooyen  29:01  27:05  56:07
19 Vicki Decoffe   28:39 28:06 56:46
20 Gerard Christiansen  30:05  30:50  1:00:56
21 Keith March   31:39  31:24  1:03:04
22 A. Smith  29:32  42:43  1:13:11
23 Rob Couture  35:25 37:45  1:13:14
24 Ross Gregory  37:40  38:56 1:16:37
 
 This was our biggest race of the the season and the dogs did well.  Ann Stead came from behind two years in a row to win the Purebred Class.  Our team consisted of  Taku and Kalum lead, Anzac and Nelson team, Dawson and Bulkley Wheel.


Ft Mc Murray (Anzac) Winterfest  Feb 20/21/99
Conditions: Sunny and 0 C to +5 C both days
Lake trail

4 dog purebred 4 miles
 
Ft Mc  Murray Feb 20-21/99
Place 
Driver
Saturday
Sunday
Total
1 Dena Wannamaker 13:43 16:28 30:11
2 Laurie Bryce* 14:57 16:13 31:10
3 Daniella Decoffe 15:35 17:30 33:05
4 Chelsea Wannamaker 15:25 18:31 33:56
5 Doug Willet 15:59 18:09 34:08
6 Bob Bourget 15:55 19:07 35:02
7 Darryl Himmelspeck 16:32 19:07 35:39
8 Mark Hartem 17:16 20:17 37:33
We were surprised how well our 4 dog team did here as there is a marked difference between our best 6 dogs and the rest of our dogs. We switched Bulkley and Iskut from our main 6 dog team and put them on the 4 dog team as they don't have the top end speed to keep up on this fast lake trail.  (Tsiu, Fraser, Bulkley, Iskut)
 

6 dog Purebred 6 miles
Ft Mc Murray Feb 20-21/99
Place
Driver
Saturday
Sunday
Total
1 Laurie Bryce* 20:57 22:30 43:27
2 Doug Willett 21:56 23:24 45:20
3 Rick Wannamaker 21:44 24:19 46:03
4 Bob Bourget 23:05 24:48 47:53
5 Dena Wannamaker 22:46 25:37 48:23
6 Darryl Himmelspeck 24:14 27:45 51:60
7 Jack Tobin 23:39 28:38 52:17
8 Stu Ross 25:08 33:01 58:09
 We switched our team up a abit for this race and put  two small 30 lb females in for this race.(tetsa and kalum). They have great top end speed but not alot  of strength. This was tetsa's first time racing on our main 6 dog team this year.  This was our last race of the year.  (Taku, Anzac, Kalum, Tetsa, Nelson, Dawson)