Flathead sled dog race kicks off in Olney

OLNEY — The Flathead Sled Dog Race got started on Saturday morning at Dog Creek Lodge and Nordic Center with over 60 teams competing in eight categories.

Teams came from Washington, Canada (Alberta and BC), Oregon, Montana, Colorado and Idaho to compete in the six-dog, four-dog, two-dog skijor, one-dog skijor, two-dog bikejor/fat bike, one-dog bikejor/fat bike, junior four-dog, and a new class this year, the peewee.

Eleven teams competed in the 18-mile course six-dog class, with Matt Johnson of Belt finishing in first place at the end of the first day. Next in line was Linda Pierce, with Eric Marsden following close behind.

All the teams will run the same leg tomorrow and see who has the fastest times combined to take the prizes.

The first through 11th places for the 5.5 mile four-dog class for the first day went to: Mikki Douglass, Robert Lee, Mary Wellborn, Brandi Williamson,

Kevin Turcotte, Steve Riggs, Rebecca Knight, Jenny Howard, Judge Sullivan, Evva Durkee and Renee Lirette.

With one four-dog junior racer, Harleigh Dutton, also known as ‘Hurricane Harleigh,’ was the only finisher.

The two-dog skijor event was 2.5 miles and top finisher Katherine Spencer of Vernon, BC, ran the course in 18:22:39. Teresa Petterson was in second place, Jamie Johnson in third, Dan Hanks fourth, Jessica Pulliam fifth, Rebecca

Knight sixth, Robert Ramsay seventh, Tim Tinker eighth, Ruthann Lee ninth, Travis Cummings 10th, Lauren Peterson 11th, and Jim Omdahl in 12th. First place hails from Vernon, BC.

The one-dog skijor event competitors finished within 13 minutes of each other.

Two-dog bikejor finished with Charlotte Sause of Troutdale, OR coming in first place,

Jenny Roddewig of Bozeman was second, Richard Burns of Carnation, WA, fourth, and Timothy Puczkowskyj of Hamilton and Teresa Petterson of Victor finished in fifth place.

One-dog bikejor finished with Puczkowskyj in first and Petterson in second.

A new class, the peewee division, attracted five peewees ages 4-8 years old using one or two dogs to pull them on a dogsled. First in was Landon Johnson of Belt.

followed closely by his brother, Hayden Johnson, third was Shade Snail of Brightwood, OR, Fae Sause of Troutdale, OR and Rohn Williamson of Corvallis.

To see the overall finish list for each competition, go to competitivetiming.com. For more photos of the event, see page A3 of the Sunday Inter Lake.