Everything went wrong
Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Apr 06/01) - It wasn't quite the outcome they'd hoped for, but considering the difficulties they had en route, it's a miracle that Denis Ouellet and Catherine Pinard got their dog team to the start line.
Pinard did not finish this year's Percy DeWolfe Memorial Mail Race in Dawson. Their first foray into the world of long distance dog sledding was a veritable Murphy's Law of mushing.
Still, the pair takes their misfortune in stride. "It was a good experience for us," said Ouellet.
"A good expensive experience for us," added Pinard.
Sitting in their Inuvik living room, with 36 giant-sized bags of kibble stacked around them, Pinard and Ouellet offered "the short version or the long version" of the adventure.
After months of training, they bundled the team into their Chevy Blazer. The plan was to arrive 10 days before the tournament. The Blazer had other plans.
Out on the Dempster highway, near the community of 40 Mile, "first the engine light came on, then the battery light came on," says Pinard.
A few minutes of stop and go on the Dempster, followed by what Ouellet calls a "glowing" engine convinced the pair that their vehicle was in dire straits.
A passing trucker took them and their dogs into 40 Mile to cool their heels and wait for a new alternator.
The mishaps accumulated.The wrong replacement part was ordered. Twice. Bad weather closed the Dempster.
Pinard and Ouellet arrived in Dawson with just days to spare. Their dogs hadn't been run, the weather was much warmer, and some of the dogs became ill. One had injured a leg, and couldn't be run.
"The training had been cut up too much," said Ouellet.
Pinard camped early to try and rest the dogs, but two were vomiting, others suffered from bloody diarrhea, or showed signs of leg injury. She turned them back.
When Pinard limped back into Dawson, race marshals told her that the dog left in their care had escaped and "run off on three legs."
Despite their misfortunes, the experience was still a positive one, they said.
"I learned lots about dog care," said Pinard.
What's more, Ouellet said, "you could fill a whole page up," of people who helped them through their difficulties.
