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Twenty-two year old rookie Kyla Durham from Lake County finished 11th in the 2011 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race last month.
She covered the 1,000 miles between Whitehorse, Yukon to Fairbanks, Alaska in 13 days 1 hour and 53 minutes, crossing the finish line on Friday, Feb. 18, at 1:05 p.m.
She and her nine-dog team from Wild and Free Mushing were all in fine spirits.
Thirteen days earlier and back in Whitehorse, Clyde, one of Durham’s lead dogs, couldn’t wait to get
started, chewed his tug line, and took off on his own seconds before Durham’s start. Durham had him back in harness and pulling with the team 300 yards down the trail.
She started with 14 dogs, many of them under two years, but left five dogs with her handler at check points along the way.
Dogs that sprain a wrist, catch a virus or turn out just not to have it in them get a ride to the end of the race.
Although dogs can be dropped from the race team, no dogs can be added during the race.
This was an unusual year and 12 of the 25 mushers did not finish the race, including several of those thought to have a good chance of winning.
The weather was a big factor, but Durham and others at the back of the pack missed the worst of the storm that hit the front runners.
When asked if she was nervous about heading out into the storm that had caused several mushers to scratch from the race, Durham responded that she preferred “delusional happiness” to worrying.
Durham was running a team of young dogs, training them up for Brent Sass, fellow musher, and owner of Wild and Free Mushing.
Sass was there when Durham arrived at the finish line as was her mother, visiting from Northern California to see her daughter living her dream and finishing her first Yukon Quest.
To see Kyla Durham in action, visit the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/TheYukonQuest#p/u/3/r7P7Aoz4Oz8 .
http://www.facebook.com/YukonQuest#!/video/video.php?v=726275222375&oid=49609734489&comments .
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