INUVIK
An Inuvik sledder took first place in the Isaac Simon Memorial dog sled race April 8.
Inuvik dog-sledder Dan Heilbrunn took first place in the Isaac Simon Memorial dogsled race April 8 at the Muskrat Jamboree. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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Winner Dan Heilbrunn, a teacher at East Three, is one of a handful of local mushers.
The race, slated to be a traditional-style toboggan run, was converted to an open-class race April 7 following the cancellation of its sister traditional race, the Mary Firth Memorial.
The Mary Firth race was first postponed and then cancelled Sunday afternoon after only one team showed up. Organizers told the Inuvik Drum they had delayed the race for two hours hoping to round up some toboggans for other interested contestants, but instead it was informally cancelled after the 3 p.m. deadline came and went.
The Isaac Simon race was a straight-ahead 10-mile race over a course that ran straight up the ice road toward Tuktoyaktuk for five miles. The teams then did a racing turn and howled back toward the start line.
Likely more than 100 spectators turned out for the race. Many of them roared off in pickup truck and sport utility vehicles to keep pace with the dogs along the course. Others, like Peggy Jay, waited patiently at the finish line for the teams to return. Jay, an avid photographer, said she tries to get shots of the races every year.
In approximately 30 minutes the dogs trotted into sight, with Heilbrunn crouching on the sled while cheering his dogs to victory.
"It was tough racers and lots of experience in these drivers," Heilbrunn said. "There were some excellent racers and some excellent dogs.
"Our dogs worked the hardest they could and the other mushers did a wonderful job," he added.
Heilbrunn runs a team of predominantly Alaskan huskies rather than the built-for-speed racing dogs of which the other three teams in the race were comprised.
"Most of these dogs are straight Alaskan huskies which are bred for running a thousand miles," he said. "But we sprint with them too. The other dogs have lots of pointer and greyhound bred into them, but only a few of ours do."
Heilbrunn said he does a mixture of recreational running and racing. He's perhaps a bit more of a traditionalist than some of the other drivers at the event.
"We train to race, and we race at the carnivals around the Delta. I have 13 sled dogs, but only eight are racing dogs. The rest are retired and one is a puppy."
He's been running dogs for five years, since being introduced to the sport by fellow Inuvik sledder Mike Baxter.
"I got a street dog named Kodo and she pulled around a toboggan filled with weight," he said. "Mike, who also raced today, gave me my first harness."
