Rock and Ice Ultra

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On the Dog Trail

Rob Howard / 22.03.2007

The 5th day of the race took racers along the local dog trail for much of the second half of their 40km route, a fast finish to one of the shorter days of the race ... and as it turned out the final competitive day of racing.

Dave Mackey described the overnight stop as, “probably the second worst night as the heater wasn’t so big�, but added, “we were comfortable enough and had cots to sleep on.� He later said, “I think the camping has been harder then the racing!�

There had been a little overnight snow in the area and two of the race staff trying to get to the camp had some difficulty when their snowmobiles cracked the ice. Race Director Scott Smith said, “They were OK, but it’s a miserable business getting a snowmobile out of the water whoever you are!�

The 5th day got underway a little late, starting at 10.15 instead of 10.00. The early stages were a little hilly with lots of portages, which was particularly tricky for the skier Mike Scherman, but the later stages followed the local dog trail, finally leading to the ice road the racers set out on yesterday, from where they retraced their steps back to the finish.

Dave Mackey was happy to be on the trail and ran all the way in to the finish. As he crossed a road on the outskirts of Yellowknife he was running steadily and shouted; “It’s been fast today, much better.� He was too fast for Mike Scherman who had raced with him the previous couple of days. “I couldn’t keep up with him,� said Scherman, “especially in the early stages. Then for a couple of kilometres there were some ridges which were really tough to get over with the sled. I did see a dog team come towards me which was really neat as I’ve never seen one before.�See All Event Posts