April 23rd, 2003

In January, the AttaBoy 300 Dogsled Race came to town, and I ventured up to the Newberry Crater (10 minutes from my house) to take some shots of the teams and dogs.

Having just moved into the area, I was pleasantly surprised to find a world-class dogsled race happening virtually in my backyard. I'd never experienced one before, and had only limited knowledge through reading about the famous Iditarod in Alaska and seeing various dogsled-related documentaries and movies.

I found the dogs to be astonishingly small, lean, and of curiously exotic breeds. Not the bulky, strong huskys we see as the classic sled dog. Asking one of the mushers (the people who live and breathe dogsledding) about it, he answered deadpan, "We breed the dogs we like. I like 'em to be upbeat and energetic. That guy over there - he likes black dogs", as he pointed casually to his neighbor's stable of blue-eyed, raven-haired dogs.

A team of dogs, turning the last corner before the finish line of the Newberry Crater leg of the race. Four more days of racing laid ahead of them, bringing the total of racing days to eight.

An exhausted sleddog takes a rest in his travelling kennel. Their fates are balanced between the exhiliration of being able to do what they love - run - and frequent injuries, sometimes even death, on the track.