The World Championship off Snow Sled Dogs took place from November 9 to 12, 2023, in Abertamy. The event was organized by the Federation Internationale Sportive de Traineau et de Chiens (FISTC) and featured various disciplines such as canicross, bikejöring, scooterjöring, and mushing. The championship attracted participants and was a significant event for mushing enthusiasts.
9.-12.11.2023 The town of Abertamy in the Czech Republic hosted a prestigious dog sled race. Our members also participated in these races: Jan Ďásek – Sprint Scooter 1 dog - 2nd place and Dušan Bílek – Sprint C2 – 3rd place
Very demanding 3 days full of surprises and joys. During these 3 days it rained, snowed, the sun shone, the wind blew and tons of mud tested all the competitors on the race track.
We started in the C2 category in competition with 7 other teams. On Friday we lined up at the start with Ariel, Brady, Aramis and Coral. Unfortunately, Coral stepped on the wrong foot during the Friday round and pulled a tendon in her front paw. So we stumbled to the finish line in fifth place and we had to manage the Saturday and Sunday rounds on a difficult track in three.
The initial joy of Saturday's snowfall was thwarted by the realization that our youngsters paid more attention to the snow on the track than to the racing itself. I no longer shared that enthusiasm with them, which took its toll on my vocal cords and legs. Even so, we fought our way to third place with a minimal lead over the next in line.
On Sunday we had only one goal and that was to keep third place. At the start I was satisfied that there was no trace of snow and immediately after the start I felt that we were really going to do well. We held on until we arrived at places where the sun did not shine most of the day and snow appeared on the ground again, which our dogs welcomed with enthusiasm and had to taste every pile. Even so, we reached the finish line in a relatively decent time and kept our third place.
We are really satisfied with the performance of our three youngsters, even though we know there is more in them, but we haven't been able to explain to them yet that they can't stop at every puddle and lump of snow. All 3 are running for their 1st season and we can't expect everything from them right away. Even with such a young team, we managed to fight our way to an amazing 3rd place!
We are also very happy about the participation of other Samoyeds and the great atmosphere that their owners are able to create at the races. We thank all our friends for the good days and we are already looking forward to Friday in Běleč.
We also thank Akin CZ for her support and everyone who kept their fingers crossed for us from afar.
Dušan Bílek
