Canadian Challenge: Thursday Night Update

Second Place 12 dogs are in, and it's Girl Power!!
Congratulations Jennifer Campeau and your puppy team, 11 dogs still running strong.

Jennifer as she leaves the start
Photo Credit: Kandis Riese

I had been wondering if she would leave her husbands side, then almost 2 hours from the finish she pulled ahead, leaving Jason and his team of 6 a good 5 miles behind to take third place.

In fourth place will be Randy Mackenzie and his team of 9, running at a good pace they are about 30 miles from finishing as I write this.

Remy made it into Stanley Mission at 5:21 with 10 dogs where he will take his 5 hour mandatory rest.   All the previous teams have been able to take extra long breaks here at Stanley as their finishing places were secured for the most part.
Remy however may want to keep to a strict 5 hour break if he wants to keep his fifth place standing.

You see there is a girl running just behind him!  Christina came into Stanley 2:27 hours behind Remy, and although that sounds like a good lead (and it is), it doesn't give much room for Remy to take a nice long break.
AND Darren pulled in just behind Christina with 6 dogs.

So we have a race for fifth, six and seventh place.  We'll see how the teams rest up and when they actually get on their runners to leave.   Could be a fun finish to watch for.
Guesses? As the sun starts to come up over the horizon we could see the first of these three running to the finish line.

In the meantime, Steven, if all goes well with his 8 dogs, is sitting in eighth place  If his run to Grandmothers Bay, where he now comfortably rests for a bit, is any indication of things to come he could very well hold that spot.

Which leaves Joshua as our red lantern holder in ninth spot.  Joshua as I write this update is sitting at almost 10 miles out of Grandmothers Bay.

Good luck everyone, and Congratulations to all.

I wont be awake to see Randy cross that finish line, but I'll be there in spirit.

Canadian Challenge: Jason Campeau

Jason is returning to the Canadian Challenge, an unplanned stop for him as he didn't think he would make it in time.  He and his team were out running  the Yukon Quest instead but ran into a spot of bad luck out on the jumble ice injuring a few dogs. 

When it came time to make the decision of whether to push through to the 200 mile stretch into Dawson he had to think of his young team.

It wouldn't be fair to bag any dog in an already over stuffed sled for the long ride ahead, and Jasons philosophy is, if the dogs are not having fun then it's not worth it.  He said that as a musher you have to check your ego at the door and not push the dogs too hard, and as he was running 11 yearlings it was even more important to make sure they were having fun.    These one year olds are the future of his kennel, Atka Kennels in the Rocky Mountain House area and he didn't want to take any further risks.  The Quest this year was all about training, giving a chance to the young guys.

Returning to the Challenge he says feels like coming home as it was his first real competitive race.  It will certainly feel very much at home for him as not only will he be racing with his wife, but his Mom, Dad, 2 brothers and both his daughters will be there as well.

Some families go to exotic resorts together,  the Campeaus do the Canadian Challenge.

One favorite story that he likes to share about a past Challenge experience was when he was doing a presentation at an elementary school in La Ronge.  He had brought his sled and two of his lead dogs in with him.    The teachers mentioned afterward about how well the children were listening, they were very attentive.  However if there was any seriousness to the talk it was broken when one of his dogs took quite a shine to a woman who came as a representative for the sponsor, Cameco .  The dog ended up marking her in front of the entire school.

I'm sure at the time Jason felt a little embarrassed, but it is a fun story to share now.

Jason was quick to add that coming into the finish line with his family waiting was also a special moment of the Challenge.

 

 Jason moved here with his family from Ontario and after his first visit into the Rocky Mountains he knew that he needed dogs.   Five years ago he ran his first race, Race to the Sky the 100 miler, and he was hooked.  

He knew there would be no in between so he jumped in with both feet running both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod in 2015.

Since then he has sold many of those first dogs, keeping a few that he called amazing dogs

Spider, his main leader is from the famous 'Insect litter', he is one of the most recognizable and best sled dogs in the sport.  Spiders sister, Skeeter, runs lead with Jeff King and Beatle the brother is with Dallas Seavey.

Spider was in lead when he crossed the finish lines at both the Quest and Iditarod in 2015

Another dog Jason mentioned was an up and coming superstar by the name of Senator, he ran 200 miles at this past Yukon Quest in lead, and he is only 1 years old.

The Atka kennel is a young one with 35 puppies, out of 45 dogs, in training this year.

Jason is very proud of the dogs they are raising and is keeping their breedings very selective.

It's looking very much like a Campeau dog may be in many of the future distance mushers teams.

With two large puppy teams running this years Challenge the plan is that many of these dogs will be with both Jason and Jennifer as they hope to run the Quest together next year. 

Jason, seeing that he loves to do both the big races back to back will also be at the Iditarod.

At the 2014 Canadian Challenge

Photo Credit: Ottawa Citizen

Canadian Challenge; Jennifer Campeau

Jennifer Campeau from Atka Kennel out of Rocky Mountain House.

If any part of that sentence sounds familiar,  it could be because Jennifers' husband, Jason, has run the Challenge coming in 3rd place in 2014.  Or it could be the fact he ran the Iditarod twice and as I write this is running his second Yukon Quest...BUT.... It shouldn't be the reason that the name sounds familiar.  

It should be because Jennifer won the open class at the Canadian Challenge in 2014 and it should be because she won the 2014 Eagle Cap Extreme Pot race   It should also be because she qualified in two races last year at the Eagle Cap Extreme and Race to the Sky.  

OR How about that this year she will be using this race to Qualify in order to run either the Iditarod or the Yukon Quest with her husband next year.

6 years ago Jennifer and her family moved from Ontario to Alberta making the decision to live on an acreage.  It had been Jason's boyhood dream to own and run sled dogs and now that they lived in a location to allow this he bought a few dogs for the family to enjoy.    This however (and maybe it was his plan all along) hooked the entire family and they ended up with enough dogs for both Jason and Jennifer to each run their own team.

Jennifer is back using the Challenge as her final qualifier as she really enjoyed her last experience here saying it was a really well run race and the hospitality was great at all the check points.

10 of her 12 dogs are between 1 and 2 years old.  All Rookies to the Canadian Challenge and in fact running their second race in their first year of racing.   It is all about learning and growing for the pups as Jennifer shared with me the experience of the first check stop in which all the dogs stood the entire time, tails wagging with a wondering look at 'Mom' as if to say, "what's going on, what are you up to?"

By the time they hit the second check stop they quickly figured things out and settled down to rest.  Jennifer is quite excited about this young team, especially her new young leader Easton.  At 2 years of age he is fast and knows all of his commands.

Jennifer will not be alone in this race as her twin daughters will be coming along, the perfect cheering squad.   Knowing family is waiting at each check stop (even if it can only be to share a smile when you are qualifying) makes each run have a sweet purpose.

Photo Credit; Jennifers Facebook Profile