AMCUK Grizedale rally

Gary attended the AMCUK Rally at the weekend, this club are now offering Open classes, which is new and great, so I am sensing more people will be enjoying them soon. Gary wrote a great write up so i am basically copying this below :)  Sounds as always as if the conection between gary and his team is second to none. Well done :) #proudnatbs

​Just back from the AMCUK Grizedale rally. Well that was certainly an eventful weekend! The event itself was great, trails were challenging (4.5 miles of fast downhills, some with tight turns, and harsh up hills) but nice and wide and clearly marked. Organisers and everyone who entered were lovely.
A fair few mushers didn't fare so well on the trail, especially in the fast turns with a couple of broken rigs and one or two mushers going over the handlebars!
Saturday in 4 dog open Loki, Kaala, Khaleesi and Sasha had a pretty good run that found us in 3rd place. Khaleesi also proved she has mastered the "Alaskan Poo" 😃. 2 dog open however was a terrible run, made worse by the fact Tia struggled to finish but Ludo was such a good boy and listened to his slow command so I could basically walk Tia in. Later in the day when she'd had a rest, she had developed a limp so I scratched 2 dog on day two.
Day two of four dog, I went out feeling really positive and hoping for a faster time. Then disaster struck, very early in the race Loki stopped and refused to run (during a downhill of all places!). Loki would never refuse to run unless something was wrong. I somehow managed to get to the marshal point where I decided to pull out of the race. However, after discussing the safest ways to get the team back in, I chose to drop Loki off with the Marshal and finish with 3 dogs. Kaala got her team home safely but the second she crossed the finish line, she stopped dead which was when I realised she'd led the team home with a cut paw.
Horrible weekend for results but so proud of our dogs. Loki was a good boy with the marshal and in the truck when it collected the marshals. Kaala was awesome taking the team home out in front on her own, and with a minor injury herself. Ludo was such a good boy getting Tia back safely by listening and responding to their least favourite command!
Nice end to the weekend though when the organisers did something pretty much unheard of at rallies. 2 dog open class only had 3 entries but as I didn't race the second day, you wouldn't normally get the 3rd place prize but in this instance, they awarded it to me. Def going to race AMCUK again, unfortunately I can't make their Greystoke rally 😩