It's a beautiful (& chilly) morning here at Husky Homestead! We wanted to take a moment to say "Happy Valentine's Day" to all of you out there, and to update you a bit on that Jeff guy. :)
Jeff reported that he had a GREAT time at the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in Minnesota! He commentated on the race for the iFan Sports Network. You can check out the link and watch the archived webcast to hear Jeff. While at the race Jeff saw a few dogs that he recognized.... "Iceman" (from the Top Gun litter and sibling to Viper & Maverick), "Clumber" and "Hertz" who was in one of the mid-distance teams. He helped our friend and former Denali Doubles musher Shaynee Siepke to the start of the race, and he ran into a number of other friends while there as well: our long-time friend/co-worker from Husky Homestead, Robyn Schmidt, as well as Mark Nordman, Will Steger and Arleigh Jorgensen! When you add in the two cousins of Jeff's that showed up to join the festivities as well, it sounds like Jeff had one heck of a reunion down there! It seems Jeff hasn't been hurting when it comes to meals either, he was invited to join Jamie Nelson for the 1/2 way dinner award and reported that it was delicious. Several past Husky Homestead visitors surprised him as well, bringing their photos to the start for Jeff to autograph. It definitely sounded like it was a fun time!
A big congratulations to Dave Turner for his win in the Mid-Distance race, and to Ryan Anderson for his win in the Marathon! Great job!
After the culmination of the Beargrease, Jeff headed over to Bayfield, Wisconsin (way to go Packers!) for the Apostle Island Sled Dog Race. Jeff borrowed some dogs from friend Mike Bestgen and signed up to run the 6-dog 60 mile (30 miles/day) race! Jeff placed 7th out of 15 teams, while Mike came in 6th in the 8-dog 80 mile race (40 miles/day). Way to go gentlemen! For a complete list of finishers check out Sled Dog Central.
While in Wisconsin, Jeff also had the opportunity to do a little ice fishing with his cousins. Walleye was on the menu!! Oh, and I guess a bit of Sauger was too.
Jeff is now back on the west coast soaking up a bit of sunshine before he jets off to Norway for the 30th anniversary running of the 1,000km Finnmarkslopet! He will not be running the race, but will be following along.... check out the promotional video for the race by clicking here.
Until next time.... Happy Trails!
HH Crew
