INUVIK
Dan Heilbrunn continues to be top dog in the masters open dog sled race at the Muskrat Jamboree.

Inuvik musher Dan Heilbrunn took the top spot in the masters open dog sled race at the Muskrat Jamboree April 6. It was his second straight win in the annual race. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photos

The Inuvik high school teacher took his second straight title at the race April 6 by a comfortable, if contested, margin. He is one of a handful of local mushers.

The master is considered a sprint race of 10 miles, compared to the multi-day classics such as the Yukon Quest or Iditarod.

The course ran five miles north on the Mackenzie River along the ice highway, then ran straight back after the racers performed a high-speed turn.

Heilbrunn said he found the race and the conditions,a bit difficult. That included losing his brake on the return leg, making for an entertaining sight as he tried to stop the sled at the finish line by throwing himself into the snow while maintaining a grip on his sled.

"It was tough," he said afterwards. "It was just a tough race. My leader was trotting most of the way back, lines were getting fouled and I lost the brake. It just wasn't a good day."

Nevertheless, he was pleased to win against multiple teams, including one fielded by Yukon Quest musher Brian Wilmshurst.

"There are some fast teams here," said Wilmshurst, a good friend of Heilbrunn's. "I knew Dan was fast, but so were all the teams. Except maybe mine."

Wilmshurst, the picture of a musher with his old-fashioned and prodigious facial hair, said he's not a specialist in the short sprint races such as the open-class. He's more of a long-distance racer, but he enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

"This was great," he said.

He recently finished ninth in the Yukon Quest.

Heilbrunn was also pleased with the turnout, particularly a year after one of the three jamboree races were cancelled when mushers and organizers wrangled over the format of the contests.

Open races, such as the masters, are run with modern sleds and equipment. Traditional races require a toboggan of a style racers no longer use. Last year, the competitors flat out refused to participate in the traditional-style races, saying they were dangerous for their teams.

One of the races was cancelled as a result, while the third was converted to an open class.

This year, the events ran smoothly after all were converted to open class.

At least one of the teams, Heilbrunn said, was regularly used on the trap line, as well as for racing, making them true working dogs.

Heilbrunn has typically run a team of predominantly Alaskan huskies, but many members of his team in the race were built-for-speed racing dogs.

"I've never bred a sled dog in my life," he said. "I just go with the best team."

Heilbrunn is a fixture on the trails around Inuvik. He's a musher first and foremost, combining recreational running and racing. Mike Baxter, another Inuvik musher, introduced him to the sport.

Heilbrunn placed second in the Isaac Simon Memorial Race April 7 as the jamboree concluded, but said he was pleased with his race.

"We ran way better on this second place run than we did on the first place run," he said.