Sled dog racer from Virden, Carl Knudsen has placed third at the Northern Manitoba Trappers' Festival, Feb 15 -19, at The Pas in the 3-Day World and Manitoba Championship Sled Dog Race.
He says, “I entered the race with a game plan based on my dogs, and stuck to it.”
Just two weeks earlier the Knudsen team earned second place in the Klondike Dog Derby near Minneapolis, Minnesota where they ran nearly 40 miles in a one-day race.
If there’s any luck involved, it wouldn’t be enough. Knudsen had decisions to make. He says, “I picked my dogs well for every day, and had three clean, strong runs.”
Over this three-day race, they cover 35 miles per day. “The toughest parts are choosing your dogs for each day, because ‘the race is won by the dogs you leave at home’.”
Each musher is allowed a 12-dog pool and can hitch and run a 10-dog team each day. Knudsen says, “I had 10 dogs the first day, nine the second day, and eight on the third day. If you bring a dog that you think will tire out and not make it, then you will have to carry it in the sled and you will lose lots of time.”
He says finding the right pace for the team is also key. “It can be very easy for an inexperienced musher to get excited and go too fast off the start.”
The dogs love to run and he reports the “dogs were full of energy and waging their tails after every day of the race!”
From a young age this was his dream race. He says, “I watched this race as a kid in awe. And now it feels surreal to finish top three!”
Strike Welding is a sponsor for Knudsen's sled racing and is among those he credits for helping him “when I needed it.”
