Gin Gin 200, Dec. 28th 2009

Hello Gin Gin 200 fans!

It's that time of year again!

The 5th running of the Gin Gin sled dog race will begin tomorrow with the women's division setting off in a mass start at 11am-sharp. The men will mass start just one hour later. We're here now at Wolverine Lodge - it's 11:15pm and mushers are still arriving. Mackey's are all checked in, Abbie West was cheerful and Mike Ellis seems to be looking forward to the trail.

There's been thick fog on the Lake Louise for the past 2 days making visibility quite poor. John went down the trail by snow machine to mark the trail and turns as needed. His report; Very Foggy for 16 miles. There's hope it might clear off by tomorrow afternoon. It's warm tonight (19F) and cloudy. We arrived this afternoon & stayed busy checking rabies cert on dog teams arriving, checking the outbound trail and ....preparing our own team for tomorrows 200 mile race.

We are always excited to put on a quality race with safe and well marked trails. Good Luck to all the Gin Gin 200 dogs and mushers!

Fast facts:

There's a women's and men's division

The top three places in each division will be paid and given a special Gin Gin 200 medal- gold, silver and bronze.

The entire trail is pretty much flat running on a river system: Lake Louise to the Tyone to the Su to the Maclaren.

One way: Wolverine to Maclaren: 109 miles

There's a mandatory 8 hr layover at Maclaren Lodge.

10 dogs per team

The Gin Gin 200 is an Iditarod and Yukon Quest qualifier.

The Gin Gin sled dog race was named after a special dog I fell for after having fallen for my husband:) His dog, Gin Gin. She was old and dying of cancer the year I had put this thing together. She was on some of John's best and most memorable dog races...the most worthy to note; his winning Quest team in 96. Gin Gin was kind, independent, a tough ol thing with perseverance and determination. She never felt sorry for herself even as she grew weak and more fragile. She took care of the yard. Dogs had respect for her. I admired her. She would now be the great grandmother (and grandmother) to some of my more talented racing dogs. Gin Gin lives on.....

*special note- she would be grandmother to Storey who is on the team and great-grandmother to Fender. Fender is just over a year old and this will be her first race.

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John will do his best to write updates on this journal. Bare with us-John is our race marshal this year and our dropped dog driver for the race running between Paxson and Wolverine.

Thanks for your support! Happy Trails!

Zoya

Winner Brent Sass of the mens division

a few snaps the night before the race

Theresa Daily and Peter Kamper

Musher Yuka Honda giving us the thumbs up.

Watch for Yuka in the 2009 Yukon Quest!

Zoya & Jona Checking mushers in

Gin Gin 200 race volunteers

say "cheese"

Trail boss John Schandelmeoer holds meeting with the Army on how they plan to help during the Gin Gin 200 sled dog race. Zoya and baby Jona listen closely.

Musher Finish Times

Womens Division

1: Jodi Bailey (12-28-08) 23:55
2: Colleen Robertia (12-29-08) 01:28
3: Michelle Phillips 07:26
4: Aliy Zirkle 07:34
5: Abbie West 10:40
6: Yuka Honda 13:41
7: Bridget Watkins 13:46
8: Ava Lindner 13:55
9: Judy Currier 13:57
10: Marie Claude 14:40
11: Jen Seavey 16:34
12: Deb Moderow 16:40
13: Tamara Rose 17:42
14: Jen Brown 17:50
15: Simi Morrison 18:57
16. Jillian Rogers Tuesday 4:35pm

Scratches;
Maclaren outbound: Cristina Roaloff, Iris Sutton


Mens Division

1: Brent Sass 01:58
2: Ken Anderson 04:27
3: Ed Hopkins 07:42
4: Lance Mackey 10:44
5: Harry Alexie 10:48
6: Braxton Peterson 10:50
7: Sebastion Schnuelle 10:58
8: Hugh Neff 11:08
9. Tom Lesatz 11:52
10: Darrin Lee 12:23
11: Rick Casillo 12:32
12: Mark Sleighthome 13:13
13: Allen Moore 13:40
14: Chris Boyer 13:41
15: Sonny Lindner 13:55
16: Chad Lindner 13:55
17: Louis Bissonette 14:29
18: Mitch Seavey 14:30
19: Dallas Seavey 14:33
20: Jake Lysyhyn 14:34
21: Yuho Ylipiesse 19:04

Scratches;
Maclaren outbound: Bill McKee, Colin Morrison, Mike Ellis
Maclaren inbound; Jason Reppart, Jeff King


Overall

1. Jodi Bailey; 36 hours 55 mins.
2. Brent Sass; 37 hours 58 mins.
3. Colleen Robertia; 38 hours 28 mins.
4. Ken Anderson; 40 hours 27 mins.
5. Ed Hopkins; 43 hours 42 mins.
6. Michelle Phillips 44 hours 26 mins.
7. Aliy Zirkle 44 hours 34 mins.

The Final Leg

The mushers award banquet is starting now at the Paxson Lodge with a room full of red faced happy- to- be finished mushers. Teams are still coming in as far as I know. We had to push back the award time from 2 to 5 with trail boss John Schandelmeier barley making it in time himself as he ran back from Maclaren with the last group of dropped dogs, 42 miles in with wind and cooling temps. It's sitting at -32 on Paxson Lake.

As race organizer and director this year working from the Paxson end with minimal information coming in throughout the race, I did my best to keep concerned mothers, fathers, husbands. wives, friends and fans informed as you called in on the phone. It was Very cold out there for the mushers this year and with some brutal conditions. Theresa Daily posted some great photo's from the Maclaren checkpoint.

Congrats Jodi Bailey! 2 time Champion of the 2008 Gin Gin 200! Her team was smoking hot when they arrived the finish line, still pulling hard and ready to go. I was there anxiously awaiting to check her in ---- with this bad bug I caught over the weekend, I didn't dare give her the hug I wanted to give.

CONGRATS TO ALL THE MUSHERS OF THE 2008 GIN GIN 200.


zd

Today there are no frogs

Too cold for frogs. Minus 44 on the Maclaren. This place is emptying quickly as teams head for balmy, 20 below, Paxson. Still blowing on 13 mile, though not as hard. A load of dropped dogs just arrived in Paxson. 7 teams are in--- with another 25 or so on the trail. Jodi Bailey was the fastest overall for the 2nd year in a row---Brent Sass is the fastest guy and 2nd overall. Colleen Robertia; 3rd overall. Congratulations to these 3 teams in particular for staying focused and moving steadily in extremely adverse conditions.
john

Only three teams are out as of 11:00 pm. Quite a few teams are preparing to leave within the next hour. Teams are not all leaving at their designated times----mostly due to weather issues. There are winds in the 30mph. range in the Tangle Lakes area and over 13 mile hill. The current Maclaren temperature is 39 below at 11:00 pm. There are still 5 teams out on the 110 mile loop; one is reported several miles out.
john Schandelmeier