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'Banquet leaves one musher out in the cold' Genesee Keevil, Yukon News - February 26, 2007 [Story excerpt - Alaskan musher Richie Beattie 'betrayed' by his dog team which causes him to lose $4,000 in prize money] Beattie loses trust in his team. To get to the finish line Richie Beattie's team had to run right by their home trail. And after 1,550 kilometres, they didn't. "It was more than my young dogs could handle," said Beattie, at the banquet. "It was a big bummer." All year, the North Pole musher practised running past the trail in preparation for the race. And when he got there on Thursday, he stopped a couple of kilometres before the turn-off and pulled his team past. At first, this seemed to work. The dogs slowed down but kept on running, and when they saw the North Pole dog drop, just 45 kilometres from Fairbanks, they perked up. But it turns out the dogs thought it was a checkpoint, and expected a break. When Beattie tried to run straight through North Pole, his leaders sat down and the rest of the team followed suit. "I spent three to four hours trying to find different combinations of leaders," he said. "I was soaked in sweat and frustrated to the point of tears." When musher Brent Sass came through North Pole five hours later, Beattie was still there. The pair had travelled together for much of the race and Sass spent a few hours trying to help Beattie. He even towed Beattie's team for a few kilometres, but the dogs just wouldn't go. "There were moments I just wanted to turn around and go home," said Beattie. Instead, he returned to North Pole and decided to treat it like a checkpoint, using the extra food Sass gave him for the dogs. "It was so hard to be only 30 miles from the finish on this flat river after all those mountains and cold," he said. "And I knew there was nothing wrong with the dogs - it was just a head game for them." Beattie spent the night in North Pole, and dropped three places, out of the money spots, he said. The next morning he walked in front of his team for several kilometres, and then they got going. "By then I was prepared to walk them the whole 30 miles into town," he said. If the team hadn't quit, Beattie would have made $5,000, instead of the $1,000 he got for placing 16th. But money wasn't what was eating Beattie. "It's more of a bummer to have my trust in my team broken," he said. "I feel let down." Beattie's team also struggled on Eagle Summit. "I had to disconnect them from the sled and haul them up there, then empty the sled and haul it up. Then I made three more trips with my gear," he said. Beattie's going to take a break from the dogs, and sort out his emotions. When a musher's out there 400 kilometres from anywhere in frigid temperatures, they need to trust their team, he said. "And I still love my dogs," said Beattie. "But the trust is gone." |