The Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain Aviemore Sled Dog Rally
This weekend sees the very last Sled Dog Rally in Aviemore.
“We just want to end of a high,” said committee spokesman Pete Jones.
“It has been in our minds now to move on for some time, but we wanted the timing to be right and since this year marks our 40th anniversary it seemed appropriate"
Watch as The Scotsman visited the rally last year.
Every year since 1984, mushers from the UK have gathered in the forests around Aviemore for the biggest event in the British sled dog racing calendar, The Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain Aviemore Sled Dog Rally January 27th-28th will be the 40th anniversary rally and also the last ever SHCGB Aviemore Rally.
Organised by the Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain in conjunction with Forestry and Land Scotland and sponsored by CSJ specialist canine feeds, Leucillin, and Photizo Light Therapy .The race is run on forest trails around the beautiful Loch Morlich, in the shadows of the Cairngorm mountains.
From an original of only 12 teams, the race is now one of the most prestigious sled dog races in the UK . The race features teams of between two and eight dogs pulling their musher on a sled around a four to seven mile trail. If there’s no snow at ground level for the event, the races still go on with mushers using a three-wheeled or four wheeled rigs. There are eight adult classes and two children’s classes and mushers range from just 8 years old to over 60. Along with the Siberian Huskies, race dogs include Alaskan Malamutes, Samoyeds, Greenland Dogs and Canadian Eskimo Dogs – the pedigree breeds of dogs first bred to pull sleds in Arctic conditions hundreds of years ago
The trail is a designated cross-country ski course and is clearly defined. The Start lies just over the wooden bridge from the car park and runs parallel to the ski road for a short distance before entering the forest. The first part of the trail is quite demanding, but then runs along the loch side to the Finish without great problem.
There will be available viewing areas for public viewing but please be aware of any covid restrictions that may be in force during that time.
This weekend sees the very last Sled Dog Rally in Aviemore.
“We just want to end of a high,” said committee spokesman Pete Jones.
“It has been in our minds now to move on for some time, but we wanted the timing to be right and since this year marks our 40th anniversary it seemed appropriate"
Watch as The Scotsman visited the rally last year.
Every year since 1984, mushers from the UK have gathered in the forests around Aviemore for the biggest event in the British sled dog racing calendar, The Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain Aviemore Sled Dog Rally January 27th-28th will be the 40th anniversary rally and also the last ever SHCGB Aviemore Rally.
Organised by the Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain in conjunction with Forestry and Land Scotland and sponsored by CSJ specialist canine feeds, Leucillin, and Photizo Light Therapy .The race is run on forest trails around the beautiful Loch Morlich, in the shadows of the Cairngorm mountains.
From an original of only 12 teams, the race is now one of the most prestigious sled dog races in the UK . The race features teams of between two and eight dogs pulling their musher on a sled around a four to seven mile trail. If there’s no snow at ground level for the event, the races still go on with mushers using a three-wheeled or four wheeled rigs. There are eight adult classes and two children’s classes and mushers range from just 8 years old to over 60. Along with the Siberian Huskies, race dogs include Alaskan Malamutes, Samoyeds, Greenland Dogs and Canadian Eskimo Dogs – the pedigree breeds of dogs first bred to pull sleds in Arctic conditions hundreds of years ago
The trail is a designated cross-country ski course and is clearly defined. The Start lies just over the wooden bridge from the car park and runs parallel to the ski road for a short distance before entering the forest. The first part of the trail is quite demanding, but then runs along the loch side to the Finish without great problem.
There will be available viewing areas for public viewing but please be aware of any covid restrictions that may be in force during that time.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:06 [Sound of a car driving by]
00:15 Such karma!
00:19 [Dog barks]
00:20 [Dogs barking]
00:24 [Dogs barking]
00:26 [Dogs barking]
00:29 [Sound of a car driving by]
00:32 My name's Lisa Murray and we've travelled up to Aviemore for the Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain Aviemore Rally for the 23rd year.
00:41 We've been coming for 23 years.
00:43 My husband Stuart is the one that competes and I'm the one that gets the dogs ready and makes sure that he's on the start line on time.
00:49 So Aviemore, where does it sit in the calendar?
00:52 So it's always normally the last weekend in January, so it's sort of halfway through our calendar.
00:56 We normally start racing at the end of October through to March time, weather depending.
01:01 We also go abroad, so we've raced in Germany, Belgium, France, at the European and World Championship level as well.
01:08 Not a lot of people realise just how popular the sport is.
01:11 So that on most weekends there can be anything from 100 teams running in a forest somewhere in the country on most weekends through the winter months.
01:20 There's mostly Siberian Huskies, there's also some Alaskan Malamutes and Canadian Eskimo dogs and Greenland dogs.
01:26 You might see the odd one, odd dog that somebody has as a normal dog shall I say, so maybe a German Shorthaired Pointer or some people have some Eurohounds as well.
01:37 But this weekend is just about pure bread racing.
01:39 What's up for grabs is normally if we're lucky maybe a bag of dog food and a plastic trophy.
01:44 There isn't any money in it, we don't earn anything out of it.
01:47 It's for fun really and for what the dogs enjoy, the dogs love to have their harness on and to run.
01:53 There's quite a few people here that have competed in the World Championships.
01:56 We've got junior mushers that are coming through the ranks as well.
01:59 So they started at maybe 10 or 11, 12, 13 and are now into the adult classes.
02:05 So progressing through which is good because it really keeps the sport going along.
02:08 My name's Alan, so we've travelled up to Inverness, we're staying in Inverness until Monday.
02:13 We came for this event, the last time we came was in 2019.
02:18 It's good, it's a very sort of social event, you know, everybody's really friendly.
02:24 But I mean the place, you know, I mean what better place to come to than this.
02:29 Pete Jones, I'm the organiser of the Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain Sled Dog Rally.
02:35 And tell me, who competes and who visits the competition?
02:38 The people who compete are all, it's any type of sled dog, which is Siberian Husky, Eskimo dogs, Greenland dogs and Alaskan Malamutes.
02:48 And people travel from all over the UK and further to enjoy the racing.
02:54 And do they make a weekend of it?
02:56 More than that, it becomes a holiday. Most people over here for a week or a fortnight.
03:01 It's a lot of money to come up here just for a weekend.
03:04 That's a kind of boost for Aviemore and surrounding area.
03:06 Absolutely, I mean we all use the restaurants, we all use the pubs definitely.
03:11 And we all have accommodations, so we're all booking houses or the lodges or whatever, you know, whatever you're using.
03:18 It's all bringing money to the economy.
03:20 Some people have just got pet dogs to train and they're only doing it for fun.
03:24 Other people, like myself, I mean I've raced for Great Britain twice and we enjoy doing it up to a very competitive level.
03:32 I think most people who say I'm not competitive, generally they are inside.
03:36 It's absolutely free to visit. I mean today has been phenomenal, the amount of visitors that have come today.
03:42 I think it's just something that's... people even travel here, just book a hotel just to come and watch the event.
03:49 And to think they've been doing that year after year is phenomenal.
03:53 When it started, before my time in 1984, it was a very small event, very few people.
04:00 At its peak it went up to 250 teams and at the minute we're down to about 70 teams.
04:07 Probably due to economy, you know, costs, it's a lot for people to get up here.
04:13 I'm Alison Hall and I'm from Berwick-upon-Tweed. We've come for this event.
04:17 I mean I've heard people saying, you know, they've come from Milton Keynes and down the south, Nottingham, different places.
04:23 What are you having for your tea?
04:24 Haggis.
04:25 [Laughter]
04:27 [Music]
04:33 [MUSIC]