I think, so far,
Kyle has the best story of how he got involved in dog sledding. I hope I can do it justice with the written
word.
His inspiration
initially came from his grandmother who had her own 2 dog team that she used to
haul grain and oats and he still has an old photograph of her with her dogs
that he looked at often when he was younger.
At 18 after meeting
his wife, Jen, and each owning a dog, a Pit Bull and a Sheltie, they decided to
add one more to the family, a Rottweiler.
This crew of pups got him thinking, if his grandma could do it with 2 surely
he could do it with 3.
Kyle builds his own
sleds, in fact he is incredibly resourceful having even built the house that he
lives in now.
So at 18, he built
his first sled. I'm not sure it would
have been legal at any race. He said it
was a big heavy wooden thing that somehow included an old lawn chair, a few of those
kids crazy carpet sleds and lots of staples.
In fact the harnesses were home made as well using cheap Petland store
brands covered in wool socks and duct tape.
Living in Calgary at
the time he chose to use the back alley to take his dogs for their inaugural
run. Hooking everything up and
standing on the back of the sled he discovered his mix matched team of dogs had
no intentions of pulling him anywhere.
This was not about
to deter Kyle. Instead he grabbed a
tennis ball and threw it ahead of his little team who surged forward for the
chase. The rest of the day, running
back and forth along the alleys of Renfew Calgary were spent having to get off
the sled, grab the tennis ball back from the dogs and throw. It must have been quite the sight.
However it was
enough for Kyle to begin hunting through the Bargain Finder paper where he
found his first 'real' sled dog.
This is another fun
story that you will have to ask him to share with you in detail. It includes a rather large Malamute dog that
was full of fury and teeth. The seller
put Kyle on a sled for his first ever run with 6 dogs, a crazy run in which he
lost the team. However he came away
smiling, hooked, and the owner of a new dog that shredded the seatbelt in his
car on the way home.
This dog turned out
to be one of his best leaders.
15 years later and
now in the Rimbey Alberta area with a yard full of Alaskan Huskies at OpenCreek Kennels, I'd say it ended up the way he'd hoped and dreamed.
Kyle's first race
was at the Canadian Challenge in 2015, almost 13 years after his ball chasing
team took him for a ride through the streets of Calgary
His most memorable
experience of that race also highlights one of his dogs, Kayto. A yearling in 2015 ending up being one of his
best leaders, especially as he went into this race without a good leader to
begin with.
Not having enough
supplies waiting for him at the wilderness checkpoints he had to carry an extra
drop bag with him making a very heavy sled for the hills he had to traverse
before Montreal Lake. The dogs were
tired by the time he got there and he was hoping to get across the lake before
dark.
The wind had picked
up and the teams desire to run was waning.
What he needed was a leader to take charge and he found that in this
young dog who still looked raring to go.
He remembers Kayto turning his head into the wind and pulled the team
all the way into Harolds, never missing a marker.
When asked if he had
any plans beyond this race he wasn't 100% sure, although he seemed to have his
plans well thought out. He says he
would stick with mid-distance racing for now, eventually qualifying for the Yukon
Quest, attending races such as the Eagle Cap and the Beargrease
in order to build up experience and do well enough to gain sponsorship so that
he can one day afford to run the Yukon Quest.
His high energy
levels and positive spin will get him there, that I am sure of.
Kyle and his crew try out sprint racing in Didsbury
Photo Credit: Mike Forhan
No comments:
Post a Comment