NL300: Race Roster and Update

As alluded to in our earlier post, Chris has a very young team with him for the Northern Lights 300, along with a few of the older guard. He will decide on the actual line up on Friday morning but for your info, here is who he has with him:

Woody, Schmoe, Willie, Waylon and Scout will show the ropes to nine yearlings: Sanka, Bean, Creamer, Bruno, QT, McCaw, Barista, Perky and Decaf. Click here for more information about each athlete.


Creamer and Sanka make the team

He has four great leaders, plus excellent team dog Willie, and will be able to rotate some of the youngsters up front during the race. They will learn a great deal over the weekend and really come-of-age.

Steve Parker, Chris' dad, will be handling for the team and hopefully will be able to send us through some details - depending on cell coverage.

Yesterday everyone passed their vet check then Chris and Steve dropped off the checkpoint drop bags for delivery to the checkpoints. Today (Thursday) is for final preparation and rest before the race starts at 11am on Friday.

They are staying at Matt Failor's kennel in Big Lake and he was kind enough to clear some space for a temporary home for our athletes. Thanks so much Matt, we appreciate it!


Temporary lodgings in Big Lake

Note: It was a difficult task to narrow down the yearlings to take as Chris needed to take some experience with him leaving only so many slots for the youngsters. Those left behind are Dancer, Chevie and Jefe. These three were some of the most advanced yearlings earlier in the season and they went on a number of longer runs and trained well. This, combined with the cold temperatures last week, unfortunately took a little weight off them as can tend to happen with youngsters, and we felt they needed more time to get back into condition before embarking on a 300 mile adventure. They will continue to train while their siblings are away.