Sled dog championships run near Sisters

John Wood of Willow, Alaska, mushes along a trail near Sisters. photo by Jim Mitchell Top international mushers shot out of the starting gate at Upper Three Creek Sno-Park on Monday, January 10, to lauch the first of two Sisters stages in this year's Atta Boy 300 Sled Dog Race.

Melanie Shirilla of Lincoln, Montana, won the Monday stage with a time of 4:23:15.

This year's event also comprises the IFSS World Sled Dog Mid-Distance Championships.

The excitement started on Friday, January 7, with 11-year-old Canadian Duncan Salvisburg ending the first 27-mile day in first place by about four minutes in the six-dog competition.

Although he started 13th, the racers start three minutes apart and race against the clock. So it's not who gets to the finish line first; it's the fastest elapsed time that wins.

Actually, it's the fastest combined time over two days that wins the event.

The second and final day of the six-dog competition saw the competitors start in reverse order.

According to Joe Runyan, veteran Iditarod musher, "The advantage is with the pursuer. It's a lot easier to hold a position than to move up in the rankings."

After the first day's run, many veterans realized they had underestimated the snow and had probably waxed their sled runners wrong.

Most went to a harder wax for the second day's competition.

Veteran top-five Iditarod musher Ken Anderson, finishing eighth on Day 1, regained his composure to finish first by over two minutes on Day 2.

But the combined overall times for the two days put Joel Nelson, from Clearlake, Minnesota, in as overall winner.

Trailing by a mere 17 seconds was Kate St. Onge, from Millville, Utah. Third was Peter Dobbs, from New Zealand, just over a minute behind the leader.

First-day leader Duncan Salvisberg finished fourth, just over five minutes off the pace.