2011 Summer Update

It seems a looong time since the World Championship in February! I can’t actually remember much about the race, apart from being sick a lot and a one point wondering why the trees were growing from the sky, my fever reached 104oF, so I now know what its like trying to race with the real flu! Nigel stepped in and raced my team at the NSHK 2x 50km. A really great fun event, perfect snow conditions, great company & a wonderful banquet.

TV DOCUMENTARY - "EXTRAORDINARY DOGS, episode 9" broadcast on Channel 5, Animal Planet & the Documentary Channel. The program focuses on working dogs from all sorts of environments and the science behind what makes the dogs so "extraordinary" at the job they perform. Episode 9, featured the whole team at LGO, with an interview of Mel and fellow musher Radek Havrda, loads of shots of the dogs, race and scenery. The whole team had an awesome time with lots of laughter working with such wonderful people as Nina & Dominic, so to see the fruits of their labour on TV was brilliant!

SPRING TRAINING: From March to mid-May, the race team focused on camp trips and long exploratory outings. Its my favourite time of year; the snow firms up enough to support a dog sled, not just on the trails but all over and with the very short nights you can drive the dogs anywhere, without needing to cut trail, perfect ingredients for exploring the mountains and wilderness. With the skiing season coming to a close, I made use of the downhill ski slopes, not quite the black run I experienced “off dog-piste” at LGO, but the blues & reds made for some excellent white knuckle mushing. The dogs fitness & strength really showed as they charged downhill leaning into their harnesses with so much force. The power is quite alarming, but it’s really important that the dogs lean into & trust their harness as it aids their balance and reduces the risk of stumbling & injuring a shoulder, so I am really please with how much the dogs confidence has improved driving down such steep slopes.

I had to bounce back & forth from the UK-Norway in April, May & June for work, but although stressful & exhausting, it was wonderful to catch up with family and friends and I am so thankful I had the chance to see my granddad just before he passed away, he was a real inspiration to me and I will miss him so much, a heartbreaking time only months after my nan died, but after more than 60 years together, they are reunited.

Several other trips in Norway and Sweden have been great fun, visiting and catching up with musher friends and buying some dogs to add to the race team. The 8 new dogs; many with lead experience at Finnmarkslopet, settled in quickly with the pack and within a couple of weeks were all free running together happily.

While the dogs have some RnR, I’ve been enjoying some other activities, fjell running, mountain hiking, kayaking, lake swimming and downhill mountain biking. Combining these sports with scouting out new routes and clearing trails ready for winter.

Happy trails

Mel

World Championship (Femundlopet)

The World Championship is upon us! The dogs are in high spirits and looking really good, they had their last pre-race run today, just a short 10km leg stretch.

Choosing 8 dogs from the 15 racers has been really hard. Last week I narrowed the WCh team down to 12 dogs: Sven, Ward, Rocket, Dash, Phoenix, Wiyot, Lira, Susi, Loki, Orbit, Inca & Minto. Benching any of the dogs has had to resort to the smallest of things as all the dogs have been working hard and eating well. Xeva

had a minor shoulder injury before LGO, it appears to be fully recovered and I know she will be disappointed to sit out the race, but with all the

others it would be a risk to the team. Charge has just come into season and Tagish is pregnant so they will sit out too.

At the moment the final 8 are:

TeamGT (WCh): Lira, Susi, Orbit, Inca, Loki, Phoenix, Ward & Dash.

In reserve are: Minto, Sven, Rocket and Wiyot.

The truck is all packed up, hopefully I've remembered everything. The team will get on the road in the early hours of Thursday. Mushers meeting is at 1600 in Roros! My start time will be around 1300 (GMT+1)!

Mel

UPDATE

I still haven't got over the horrid Influenza virus I picked up while in France, with a temperature of 104oC the Doctor has advised me not to race, but hey this is the World Championships! So long as I can control the sled & care for the dogs, I'll race.

Mel

UPDATE

Final 8: Orbit, Loki, Lira, Susi, Inca, Ward, Phoenix, Dash

Final Start time: 1306 (GMT+1) 4th February 2011

LGO Hot Hot Hot

LGO is considered the most technically demanding race in the world and the toughest on the fitness of mushers. Each day for 10 days a musher has to run a marathon, through punchy snow, while climbing up and down Ben Nevis twice, if that wasn't enough, add pushing, hauling & lifting a 50kg sled and trying to keep up with the dogs.

Because of its location in the Alps, La Grande Odyssee is a race that balances on a knife edge and the weather controls which side it falls. This year nature threw a curve ball, with temperatures of 12-15oC (ABOVE ZERO!) melting the little snow there was and causing many stages to be reorganised and needing mushers to be so careful not to overheat their dogs. Nature showed just how powerful it is and produced a race that has according to the world's most experienced technical mushers; been the toughest yet, frightening and relentless. Dealing with; minimal snow, glare ice and exposed rocks down steep slopes with 180 degree bends, in fog, rain and a snow blizzard, crossing trails with open water holes and raging black torrents below has tested everyone from the rookies to the most experienced mushers.

Organisers, mushers, dogs and all the support crews have had one hell of a tough race and although it would have been more fun in a year with snowy trails and sub zero temperatures, I think to race in these conditions has taught me more than a nice trail would have. So I am happy to have had gained all the experience such a tough race has offered, I know I could run races for the next 20 years and never come across such technical adrenaline pumping trails again, so I can take away some seriously high quality sledding experience as well as the knowledge that with good snow LGO will be just a little bit easier.

La Grande Odyssee

Team: Sven, Ward, Rocket, Dash, Phoenix, Wiyot, Lira, Susi, Xeva, Loki, Charge, Orbit, Inca, Tagish & Minto

Enroute to La Grande Odyssee

After a tough 72 hours packing, the sleds are strapped to the roof and dogs loaded into the truck. We set off Wednesday afternoon....into a blizzard! We collected handler; Chelsey Maidment from Oslo airport in the early hours of Thursday morning. The dogs have been very good travelling and at stops and are as usual excited by what adventure their headed for.

Mel

Archive August - December 2010

ARCHIVES

August-December 2010

Christmas Update

Halloween training pictures

More autumn training

Autumn training photos

Mel Andrews will race teamGT at World Championship

Mel Andrews will represent Great Britain at the 2011 World Championships. The Femundlopet will be hosting the first long distance element of the event in February 2011, with a 600km open class and 400km 8-dog class with mushers from countries around the world.

teamGT selection

teamGT 2010/11: Sven, Ward, Dash, Rocket, Phoenix, Wiyot, Lira, Susi, Xeva, Loki, Charge, Orbit, Inca, Tagish, Minto.