The 2007 Siskiyou 135 was a great race and a true success for us.  Click here for official race results and additional information..

Here are a few pictures of us getting ready to start the Siskiyou 135. In the photo above, you can see me showing my mandatory gear to one of the checkers. We drew number one at the musher's meeting Friday night. So we got a real good parking spot on Saturday morning. You can see the starting line in the background.  We started at nine am and we were there starting to set up at 7:15. We had a good race. My plan with my young dogs was to race for 24 hours. This includes my rest times too. We finished just over 24 hours and 20 minutes. I just wanted to have a good run and bring as many puppies to the finish line as possible.
 

Picture to the left shows Colt Seavers in lead with his dad, Vancouver, and Otto just to keep them both in line. Out of his litter Colt is doing a great job this year. He likes leading and just behind the swing dogs. He is quick too!

The Siskiyou 135 turned out to be a great training run and a huge learning experience for me and my team. We ran the race in two big legs. The first was 75 miles. I kept the team at a slower pace for the first 25 miles. Really holding them back and not minding when other teams went flying past. My main goal for the race was to have a great time, and bring all the young dogs the total distance. It was eight of the dogs first race. So holding back is hard for them. They really burned up a lot of energy in the beginning. About 27 miles out I stopped for a short break. About 20 minutes. The team had some snacks and I checked over their feet to see if anyone needed a replacement bootie. A few did so I changed some and we were off. By this time the three fastest teams had already passed us. Rick Cook was just passing me so I decided to travel with him for awhile. For the next 30 miles Rick and I kept passing each other. He would stop and snack his dogs, then I would stop and snack my dogs. We did this until the medicine lake loop. Medicine Lake was a 15 mile loop we ran right before the end of the first stage. I believe it was the first three teams that made it through Medicine Lake before a big snow cat ran through there and really churned up the trail. The cat with its big tracks made the trail real soft and slow. It also erased any sign of the three teams in front of us. For a while I could only see Rick's tracks in front of me. I kept wondering where are the trail markers and the other three teams tracks. Then I saw Rick running his team towards me. He says "Are you sure this is the trail Doug?" I knew it was. So I helped him turn his team around and we kept on going. We passed him shortly after and didn't seem him again until the checkpoint. Medicine lake really slowed us down. We only averaged about 5 miles an hour on that loop. We pulled into the checkpoint about three hours after the leader. Mostly because of that loop being so slow. At the check point my dogs didn't eat too well at first, they also had a hard time resting. Some of the young ones were sleeping standing up. The mandatory rest was four hours. We stayed six. I had finally got all the dogs to lay down and rest. They had two good meals of Eagle Pack and fish stew in them and it was time to go. There were now five teams on the trail ahead of me and sixty miles to go. I thought there may be a chance we could catch at least one team. Our dogs are quick and we have been resting longer than anyone else. The first 35 miles was mostly down hill. We were going at a good pace. It was about 5 degrees maybe 10 and the trail was rock hard. Wingnut didn't like the speed. We left her at a checkpoint staffed with a vet and helpers. She had a sore wrist and couldn't make the final twenty five miles. I knew she would be in good hands so after a short rest we took off for the finish. It was about five am now. The final 25 miles had some decent hill climbs with one big one near the end. I was having a had time staying awake. I was dozing off a little bit. We caught up to Laura Crooker about 15 miles from the finish. Both our teams played leap frog for a few miles then I finally lost her on a big climb. She just had eight dogs left and I had ten so we climbed a little better than they did. About nine am I was getting close to the end. The sun was betting down on us already and we had some big climbs left. As I got closer to the finish line I though the eight dog race may be starting soon and we could see some fresh teams on the trail. I could hear the National Anthem just ending. We came pulling up to the finish just as the first 8 dog team was getting ready to start. With a little help I got around that team and finished at 9:15 am. Just 15 minutes past my desired run time. We had a great time. I had two exceptional handlers helping me. Thanks John and Elizabeth. One big thing my team needs learn is how to camp a little better. They had minimal opportunity to do this before the race. But with practice they will rest and camp just as good as they run. We hope we can make it to this race again next year. All the volunteers and spectators were great people. Thank you all!