Ruts on trail nearly cancels Copper Haul Twister league race

Photo by AP

The trail was the only low point for this past weekend’s Yukon Brewing Copper Haul Twister sled dog race.

As a result of a vehicle driving on a portion of the Copper Haul Twister Trail Friday, the race was nearly cancelled due to massive rutting near the start line.

However, thanks to hard work from organizers, Sunday’s race went ahead.

Organizers ended up having to re-route the course for the first time all season, but the race went off without a hitch. 

Vehicles driving on the trail has been a problem this year for the league races, which has resulted in race founder Jonathan Lucas joining a petition to install winter gates near the entrance of the trail.

“Basically what we are trying to people to say is enough is enough,” he said. “It’s a winter used trail for skiers, skijorers, dog mushers, skidoos and that’s just really dangerous. People just messing about, so we are trying to get the city to put winter gates in there, which would prevent wheel vehicles from going down there.”

Lucas said he hopes the gates will be installed sometime this summer, so that next year’s season won’t be affected by the ruts.

The Klondike Snowmachine Association is leading the petition, which members of the Copper Haul sled dog league have rallied behind.

Lucas said the city has recently employed a new bylaw officer that will patrol the Copper Haul shortly.

“Everyone uses this trail for winter sports, it’s very popular,” he said. “At some point, one person’s half an hour of fun is going to ruin hundreds of peoples’ winter of fun. There’s plenty of other places to take your car and get it stuck in the snow,” Lucas added chuckling.

The ruts on Sunday caused mushers to run the dogs down the side of the trail, which was about three feet wide.

Lucas said this would have been the ideal situation; however, the dogs are used to running down the centre, where the snow is usually firm and compact.

He said this resulted in a few wipeouts on the adult side, but other than a few bruises there were no injuries.

Besides the trail, race conditions were perfect on Sunday and featured an ideal temperature of around -15 C as well as 26 teams spread out over three different categories.

The skis dominated the adult 12 mile twister race, which included four skijorers placing in the top six.

However, the winner was Lee Kirkpatrick, who used four dogs and a sled.

Kirkpatrick’s time of 54:31 was 13 seconds faster than Lucas.

The victory earned Kirkpatrick, who is the league’s two time defending champion, 10 points, placing her third overall, behind Lucas and Kyla Boivin.

Lucas is in first place with 30 points and Boivin trails only by four.

In addition to having his or her name written on the trophy, the winner of this year’s league will be given $250.

The Copper Haul Twister League has one race remaining on its season.

The race is scheduled for March 22.

Other 12 mile Twister finishers on Sunday included four place finisher Cynthia Corriveau, who completed the course at 59:54, while Aileena Rueckenbach came in at 1:00:03.

Darryl Sheepway rounded out the top five with his time of 1:01:50 and Adrian Laydevant came in sixth at 1:02:32.

For the first time all season, Rottweiler Asha lost in the 5-km pet dog race.

Asha, who is run by Lucas, has already clinched first place in the pet dog category.

On Sunday, however, Rachel Wider along with Tundra finished first with a time of 14:52.

Asha placed second at 15:29 and Claudia Wickert, along with dog Hydro, came in third.

Jeff Diment has locked down first place in the kid’s category and is $125 richer as a result.

On Sunday, Diment once again finished in first place, coming in at 9:17 on Sunday.

His time was more than three minutes faster than Erin Spicer, who is currently battling it out for second place with Larissa Rueckenbach.

Thea Carey came in third with a time of 11:59.

The main sponsor of Sunday’s race was the Chocolate Claim, while prizes were donated from Aurora Booties, Icy Waters Ltd, Midnight Sun Alpacas, First Mate Pet Food, Dazhaw Du Chiropractic Clinic and C&D Feeds.