Home»All Photographs»1969-1970.Sled Dog Racing

This gallery has some not so great pictures of sled dog racing activity between 1969 and 1970. In the beginning are some over-exposed shots of the World Championship held in Laconia, NH. The race (30 x 3 miles over three days) began in the center of Laconia on one of the main streets where they had to haul snow in on trucks.

Of note are a couple of unusual teams. Most sled dogs are Siberian or Alaskan Huskies, but that year there were two competetive teams that were not. One was made up of a team of Hounds, the other Irish Setters. Both teams were competitive until the temperatures got very cold.

We followed the race through several sections sometimes using snow shoes. Along the way we encountered several shacks in the middle of the woods that were inhabited all winter. The one pictured with the older man was a sweet memory. Inside it was very cozy and he offered us some chowder that he was making as he stewed a big pot of fish.

Of interest to me are a few pictures of my dog, Thor, a thin blond husky that I trained to pull a sled. On one occasion a young boy borrowed him and won the 1 dog class--all without practicing or even knowing the dog. He is pictured with a Trophy next to Thor in front of my sled.

The cover photo is of Lane the son of one of our friends who had a chance to take a short sled ride behind Thor.

The last photo is very blurry but one of my favorites. It is of me approaching the finish line with Thor as the lead dog helped by three dogs that belong to one of the Unlimited Class racers. The back story is that I had been training Thor and had found him to be a very fast runner. He once ran over 10 miles next to my car in the middle of summer maintaining an average speed of over 20 miles an hour. One of the Mushers had noticed that Thor could maintain a lope pulling me alone on my sled on the flat. On this occasion he told me he had brought 19 dogs but was only going to start 16. He asked whether I'd be interested in entering the 6 and under dog class using my dog along with his three. I jumped at the opportunity. As I was setting up the team several people came over and told me I should reconsider. They were concerned that the borrowed dogs were world class athletes and would overtake and run over my dog. They pointed out that a large portion of the course was on a lake with a very fast surface. I gave it some thought but could not imagine the other dogs being capable of doing what I had seen my dog do in the summer at over 80 degrees F. Sure enough, Thor set such a fast pace that he was the only dog with a tight rope at the end of the race. If you look carefully at the picture you can see that the dog closest to the sled is too close to be pulling and you can see a slack rope coming from one of the dogs in front of him. Thor is out front well ahead of the two behind him.

For some really good pictures of Sled Dog racing go to rpeek.zenfolio.com and find the galleries titled "Sled Dog Racing". The best pictures are the official pictures of the Myopia Sled Dog race which I was hired to photograph.