The sun was trying to poke out from around the clouds and the thermometer read -20 C. It was great mushing conditions as people harnessed up their teams to compete in the Yukon Dog Musher Associations preliminary race at the Ibex Valley tracks.

Armin Johnson said before heading out on the tracks that it wasn’t a competitive day, even though times were kept. It was a good opportunity for mushers and their teams to get out and running and to clock a time.

Also competing were some of the Arctic Winter Games dog sledding hopefuls.

The trials will be held on Feb. 13 at the Ibex Valley tracks.

Six races were run of varying distances and number of dogs.

The eight-mile, six dog race saw Mandy Johnson put up the fastest time of 25 minutes, eight seconds. Armin Johnson was second in 26:42.

Positions three to five were only separated by three minutes. Deb Knight took up the third spot in 31 minutes even.

There were two skijor races both using two dogs. The eight-mile race was won by Virginia Sarrazin in a speedy 27:39.

Amil Dupuis-Rossi came second in 32:10.

The five-mile skijor was taken by Jonathan Lucas in 19:38. Nadele Flynn posted a time of 21:17.

The top four of the 10 dog, 15-mile race were tightly packed. Armin Johnson was the winner in 48:19 but Hans Gatt was close behind finishing in 49:10. Susie Rogan came third in 50:49 and Mandy Johnson finished just outside the top three in 51:05.

There were some quick times posted in the four dog, five-mile race. Alex Rochat spent 16:37 on the track to come in first. Laura Vinnedge came second in 18:29 and Eva Nielsen third in 19:24.

Competing in the kid’s sled race with one dog, were Heidi Johnson, Landen Nielsen, and Elan and Bode Johnson.

Although the races were preliminary they were a good opportunity for the mushers to get a feel of the trails because on Feb. 15-16, the Firstmate Babe Southwick Memorial Race will be run.