Fun Race #1 Fun Race #2 Fun Race #3 Fun Race #4

Fun Race #1

By Sunnifa Deehr, Race Director

Twenty-six teams turned out for ASPA’s first Fun Race of the season at Creamer’s Field on Sunday, November 29th. The trails were groomed by Pat DeRuyter moments before competitors took to the fields.

The 3.6 mile 2-dog was easily won by Aren Gunderson, followed by Sunnifa Deehr, Mike Ruckhaus, Nina Ruckhaus, and Kailyn Davis. Bruce Miller and Roy won the 1-dog 3.6 mile, Derek Frohbieter was second, followed closely by Shawna Henderson. Jesse Davis sprinted past Pepper McFarland to claim fourth place. Sara Elzey ran two 3-dog teams for easy wins in the 2.8 mile and 1.4 mile classes. Sunnifa Deehr dominated the 2.8 mile 2-dog class. Molly Yazwinski and Kriya Dunlap placed second and third, followed by Drew Harrington, Lisa Beattie, and Scott Jerome. Liz Kane, Pauline Tise, Christine Matson, and Brenna McConnell-Booher were the top four finishers in the 1.4 mile, and Sunnifa Deehr, Pinky Herriges, and Pauline Tise topped the 0.4 mile sprint.

A very big thank you to our volunteers, Pauline Tise, Kathleen Boyle, Sara Tabbert, Chris Burrow, Alice Stickney, and the many new faces helping at the start line. The race would not have happened without them.

Note: Bud Marschner, dog sport photographer extraordinaire, has again made available photos of the event. He writes, “I’ve uploaded low resolution photos to my smug mug site; select the 2015 Creamer’s Skijoring gallerie. If anyone wants prints, they can order thru smug mug which are printed by Bay Photo. However, if you want the highest quality prints, let me know and I’ll upload a hi -resolution photo without a water mark. Or, let me know and I can print locally (I do have a very nice printer) 5×7 is $7, 8.5×11 is $15 and 13×19 is $35.”

Fun Race #2

By Sara Tabbert, Race Director

The big news from Fun Race 2 was the number of racers! We haven’t had this large a field of skijorers in a long time. There were lots of new faces, which is great to see. Temperatures were good for both humans and dogs. It was fun.

Racers covered distances from .5 to 5.7 miles. There were no stories of significant excitement, no moose encounters, and nobody got lost enough to report it. I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves in the results. Leni Stolz represented our junior racers nicely, and Pam Groves skijored with the team with the biggest size differential.

Thanks to race co-organizer Sunnifa Deehr, timers Alice Stickney and Kathleen Boyle, Pauline Tise who helped with registration, Lisa Stuby for “farmhousesitting,” and handlers Brandon McGrath-Bernhard, Drew Warf, and others who came to assist their racer and helped with others. As always many thanks to Pat DeRuyter and the grooming crew for providing us with such nice trails. And last but definitely not least, Bud Marschner for being so generous with his photography time.

Speaking of Bud Marschner, he has once again generously put his photos of today’s Fun Race on his great photography Web site.

Fun Race #3

By Nina Ruckhaus, Race Director

Fun Race #4

By Sunnifa Deehr, Race Director

Wednesday, March 16, 2016
NorthStar Golf Course