Race to the Sky
Sled Dog Racing Symposium
Race to the Sky
Sled Dog Racing Symposium
September 12-13, 2009
Red Lion Colonial Inn
Helena, Montana
If You Race Sled Dogs – You
Cannot Afford to Miss this Event!
Whether you are a beginner looking to run your first long distance race, or you are a old hat with dozens of races under your belt – you need to recognize the importance of learning from others. There is no doubt, that most mushers are independent minded souls who dance to their own tune. But when it comes to winning races or even successfully finishing races, it behooves us all to listen to the wisdom of experience.
This year we have put together a lineup of certainly some of the finest mushers in the sled dog racing world. The topics covered will guarantee to give you ideas and tips that you can directly translate into action items with your own kennel and racing plans. If you want to step your sled dog racing program up to the next level – this is one event you will not want to miss!
Saturday’s Lineup
Jason Barron – Lincoln, Montana
Overwhelming Evidence! – YOU are the Key
If what you desire is going to happen – then it is up to you to do
everything in your power to achieve that desire – it is ALL about
Personal Responsibility. The cop-out is to blame circumstances and others.
If it is going to be – it is up to me.
Rick Larsen – Sand Coulee, Montana
Ten Steps to Managing Efficient Checkpoints – Chop Hours
Off Your Race Times!!!
Running a sled dog race is a balance of energy and time – when you can maximize the output of your energies expended – you can reduce the time it takes. Your checkpoint protocol should be as effectively managed as when you are running down the trail.
Hugh Neff – Skagway, Alaska
More Energy – More Power – Effective Sled Dog Training
Every race is won or lost by the training and preparation you and your team does
before you even get to the starting chute – Learn from one of the best in the world what to do and just as importantly what not to do.
Lunch and Trade Show
Race to the Sky
25 Years of Sled Dog Racing
This Years Race Format and Introduction of
Our New Junior Race to the Sky Sled Dog Race
Jason Barron – Lincoln, Montana
Astonishing Training System that Convinces Huskies to Mind!!!
Listen how Jason explains his effective technique of “relationship training”
that is an integral part of his team’s success – When you are in tune
with your dogs – they will work with you and many times exceed what you
even think they are a capable of.
Kathryn Maslanka CBP – Missoula, Montana
Innovative Techniques for Dog Repair
Understanding the power of a body’s ability to heal itself can help
you improve your skills in helping and rehabilitating injured dogs.
Learn specific techniques that can help many common dog injuries.
Hugh Neff – Skagway, Alaska
Amazing Formula for Winning Sled Dog Races
Mushers who win regularly win races or finish in the top spots have
very specific physical and mental techniques to gain a competitive edge – Discover
what you need to do to become one of this elite group of mushers.
Dinner – Slide Show – Presentation
Sunday Featured Speakers
Jack Beckstrom – Olney, Montana
It all Starts with What you Put in the Bowl – Proper Nutrition
Understanding the metabolic needs of racing dogs and the best practices and methods of providing those needs is critical to your dogs health and performance. If any part of this nutritional balance gets out of whack – you need to be able to recognize the symptoms and what you need to do to correct it.
Rick Larsen – Sand Coulee, Montana
How to Feed and Care for 40+ Dogs and
Still Get to Bed Before Midnight – Kennel Management
Jobs – Training – Dog Chores – Maintenance – Family – Sleep???
We can live our lives in a hectic/rushed way – or in a systemized and
more relaxed way – How do you live your life?
Lunch and Trade Show
Jason Barron – Lincoln, Montana
Secrets of Competitive Sled Dog Racing
Having lived his entire life surrounded by the sled dog community, Jason
has been able to glean what puts teams across the finish line first. Understanding
this winning mental attitude and learning to apply it daily in your own life,
can have a major impact on your team’s success.
Panel Discussion
Hugh Neff – Jason Barron – Rick Larsen – Jack Beckstrom – Chris Adkins
We All go Home Winners
We all go home – full of great information and tips that we can implement immediately into our training systems. Better training and healthier dogs can help us all have a greater mushing season. Think Snow!!!
Hugh Neff comes to us from Skagway Alaska where in the past 10 years Hugh and his team have competed in 6 Iditarods and 9 Yukon Quest races. Hugh is one of a handful of mushers that have completed the Yukon Quest and Iditarod in the same year – and he’s done it the last 5 years in a row! This past year Hugh competed in the GinGin 200, the Kusko 300, the Yukon Quest, Iditarod, and the Yukon Flats 300. That’s almost 3,000 miles of racing in 3 months!
This year the team came in 2nd in the Yukon Quest, missing the Champion spot by 4 minutes. The team broke the record by over 3 hours from the previous record holder Lance Mackey and Sabastian Schnell and Hugh have the only finish times under the ten day mark. However we are most proud that our dogs have the fastest Quest running time in history and would have won the race by almost two hours were it not for a 2 hour penalty assessed to Hugh only 40 miles from the finish. They followed up this great finish with a career best 15th place finish in the Iditarod.
Jason Barron of Lincoln, Montana – In 1993, at the age of twenty-one, Jason ran his first Iditarod, claiming Rookie of the Year and cementing his future as a pro dog musher. While handling for his father and younger brother Will at the 1995 Knik 200, Jason happened to meet a lovely young woman named Harmony Kanavle who was running her first professional race. They fell in love, and shortly thereafter, ran the Iditarod together, finishing with a snowy wedding under the burled arch in Nome.
In the spring of 2000, Jason and Harmony moved to the Rocky Mountains of Montana and started their own kennel, KanaBear Enterprises. During the past decade, they have won numerous middle distance races including back to back wins in both Montana’s Race to the Sky, and Minnesota’s John Beargrease Marathon. Jason has also been in the top 15 of the Iditarod three times claiming most improved musher with his 12th place finish in ’04, and breaking the 9 day barrier with his 8th place finish in ’06.
Rick Larsen of Sand Coulee, Montana is a equipment operator by day and dog musher at night. He and his wife, Sandy, operate Ricks Racing Rovers Kennel. He has raced the Iditarod, run the Race to the Sky 3 times since 1999 (finishing 2nd in 2006 and receiving the Best Cared for Team Award). He has won all but one race in the 200 milers of the Lower 48, including the Can-Am Crown, the UP 200, the Seeley Lake Race, and others.
Jack Beckstrom of Olney, Montana – During his racing career, Jack has run the Race to the Sky seven times, the Beargrease six times, along with other long distance races. He has been chairman of Race to the Sky, organizer for the Root Beer Classic, and together with Pam, they operate Adanac Sleds and Equipment., their mail order and .com dog sled and equipment company. Jack is very involved in the sport of sled dog racing and is frequently requested to be the Race Marshall of several long distance races.
Kathryn Maslanka of Missoula, Montana – From the time of her childhood, Kathryn has had a special relationship and bond with animals. Kathryn has a special talent for “seeing” the body and what is out of balance. As a Certified BodyTalk Practitioner, Kathryn daily helps individuals and animals restore their body’s ability to heal itself. BodyTalk is based upon the principle that our state of health is determined by the level of synchronicity of all energetic functions that constitute the bodymind. There are billions of synchronized activities that need to take place every second to keep the body in good health – at biochemical (physiological), emotional and mental levels. The body is a complex ecosystem involving a delicate balance between all of these interactions and everything needs to be synchronized into a cohesive whole. When any of these activities become unsynchronized, primarily through exposure to the physical and emotional stresses of day-to-day life and our environment, we begin to experience distress, disease and illness.