Local mushers prepare for Olney races

by Matt Baldwin / Whitefish Pilot
| January 5, 2011 11:44 AM

Conditions are prime for the fourth

annual Flathead Sled Dog Days in Olney next weekend. With nearly

two feet of snow at the trailhead and much more in the mountains,

sled teams should have ideal trails for racing.

“Conditions are looking pretty good,”

race committee member Brooke Bohannon said. “It should be a nice

and fresh trail that’s really fast.”

Bohannon said perfect conditions for

racing are temperatures somewhere between zero and 20 degrees, a

little fresh snow “and blue sky, of course.” She noted that since

the Flathead Snowmobile Association grooms the trails, there will

be nice corduroy on the 40-mile course.

The route starts at the Olney trailhead

and takes mushers across state and private land in the Whitefish

Range.

“It’s been great working with

Stillwater State Forest and Plum Creek,” Bohannon said. “We have

great community support, and every year it’s a little less

stressful putting this race together.”

About 30 teams are expected to enter,

including veteran Iditarod mushers Laura Daugereau, Robert Loveman

and Rick Larson.

Locally, Wendy Arrotta, of Olney, hopes

to build on her fourth-place finish in the 12-dog class last year.

She operates Snowbound Kennel with Steve Riggs, also of Olney. This

year, the two will race against each other in the 12-dog class.

Sara and Butch Parr, of Whitefish, look

to continue with the successful results they’ve had on their home

course. Sara placed first in the eight-dog class last year and

third in the six-dog class in 2009.

Including the Parrs, three sets of

married couples will be racing at Sled Dog Days. Linda and Lachian

Clarke operate Collegiate Peaks Kennel, in Buena Vista, Colo., and

will compete in the 12-dog class with their Alaskan Huskies. Dena

and Rick Wannamaker, of Alberta, are veteran racers who have both

competed in each of the past three Sled Dog Days events.

Father and daughter Rob and Jenny

Greger, of Bozeman, will go head-to-head in the eight-dog class.

Fifteen-year-old Jenny took 10th in the six-dog class last year,

while Rob is a two-time Iditarod and 11-time Race to the Sky

finisher.

Two other junior racers join Jenny in

Olney, including 13-year-old Aiyana Ferraro, of Victor, and

15-year-old Jenny Greger, of Bozeman. Both are aspiring to compete

in the Junior Iditarod and Yukon Quest in the coming years and will

race in the eight-dog class in Olney.

Racers will check in for a vet check at

Grouse Mountain Lodge on Friday, Jan. 7. The races will start at

the Olney trailhead at 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, Jan.

8-9. Teams will leave in two-minute intervals, with the 12-dog

teams going first followed by the eight-dog and then the four-dog

teams.

Spectators are encouraged to bring skis

and snowshoes to walk along the trails or rent snowmobiles to get

further back along the course. There will be concessions and a

bonfire at the trailhead.

For more information, visit online at