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2010 GOLD RUSH TRAIL DOG SLED MAIL RUN - PRESS RELEASE
Windup - January 27, 2010
It took a lot of nerve to bring the 2010 Mail Run to a successful conclusion….but the nerve was there and we have now put in the hook on a very positive Mail Run weekend.
For organizers, it took nerve to give the go-ahead in the face of two weeks of above-normal temperatures and even rain leading up to the event. As the snow pack was shrinking, it was necessary to gauge if there would be enough left for a safe trail…after carefully checking, the decision was made to go ahead with the Mail Run as planned. For the participants it took nerve to start out on the hard-packed and in some places skimpy and even icy trail that was the norm on the first stage of the Mail Run. Mushers made adjustments, in many cases running smaller teams and every musher made the run in one piece, with only a few scrapes and bruises. Fortunately stages two, three and four were run with increasingly forgiving trail conditions and the “nerves” were replaced by excited anticipation.
There were 29 participants registered for the Mail Run, with three more signing on for the Barkerville Dash….a total of 32 registered participants. Dog mushers and skijorers came from Washington, Yellowknife, Fort St. James, Hudson’s Hope, Prince George, Quesnel, 100 Mile House, Whistler, Lac la Hache, and a few other places in between….it was a great turnout! In addition to the dog teams and mushers, participants included skijorers, skiers and for the first time a marathon runner and two participants on Scandinavian kick sleds.
The Mail Run is not a race, so everyone was a winner. Another thing that makes the Mail Run unique is that there is really no distinction made between participants and volunteers, everyone works together to make the Mail Run happen. There were some special awards for participation, so it was both participants and volunteers who voted for the winners of these special awards.
The Holger Bauer award honours Mail Run participants aged 16 and under and this year Sam Palfrey, Alex Verge, Lee Verge, Kane Marien, Shawn Houghton, Jake Watson and Ricky Warren were recipients, a record number of young up-and-comers. Each will have their name engraved on the Holger Bauer plaque. The Spirit of the Mail Run Award which goes to the person who personifies everything that is positive about the event was awarded to Mona Penner. The Volunteer Award went to Jeff Dinsdale, who was really just one of the almost 100 volunteers who worked to make the Mail Run a success. The Snowmobiler’s Award went to Richard Daviault whose efforts personified the incredible contribution that snowmobilers make to the Mail Run. Without their tireless assistance there would be no trail, certainly no packed and marked trail and without these men and women, safety for everyone would be major concern. The Best Conditioned Dog Team Award went to Warren Palfrey, a reflection of the great care and attention given to these dogs by Warren, his wife Kate and their three sons.
This year over 2700 individual pieces of mail were packaged into 22 mail bags and carried in the dog sleds over the Gold Rush Trail. One was also carried by iron man skijorer Mark Johnson who once again completed the whole trail behind his two little dogs. Being sworn in as a Canada Post mail carrier is an exciting part of the whole Mail Run experience and mushers took their mail carrying responsibilities very seriously, it was also the fact that everyone was experiencing a part of living history that made the experience more special. More than once someone would reflect on just “what it must have been like” for the original dog team mail carriers. Once the mail was turned over to Postal Superintendent (and Mail Run volunteer) Ron Potter in Wells, it entered the regular mail system for dispersal throughout the world. This year a special “Carried By Dogteam” envelope was sent from the City of Quesnel and a large number of Grade IV students and will be delivered to every member of Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic teams.
A sincere effort is made throughout the Mail Run to keep dog mushing traditions alive, sometimes with tongue in cheek. On Friday night, the Best Musher’s Hat contest was held and the eventual winner was Mona Penner with a very creative and quite functional fur-trimmed number. On Saturday, the traditional Mushers’ Sports contest saw five teams competing, demonstrating their prowess in setting a trap, calling a moose, snowshoeing, splitting wood, lighting a fire, melting snow, making tea and (edible) bannock. This event is always hilarious, but it is reassuring to know that these essential bush skills are not dying out. The eventual winners were a team of six fellows comprised of members of the Palfrey family, three mushers representing Whistler Dogsledding and an import “ringer” from the Northwest Territories, Marcel Marien. Other teams represented the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Verge family and a motley group calling themselves the Mavericks.
The Sunday stages from Stanley to Barkerville and then from Barkerville to Wells were run in glorious conditions with a clear blue sky and freezing temperatures. The trail was in perfect condition, the entrance down Barkerville’s main street was a thrill for everyone. Large numbers of spectators came out to view this incredibly popular and unique event. Many went home with some fine photographs. The Dash from Barkerville to Wells was a truly spectacular and possibly one-of-a-kind event. The site of over 30 dog teams, skijorers and skiers starting en masse, jockeying for position and having nothing but fun is quite special. This represents the only part of the Mail Run that is, in fact a race and the winner was Sally Swan, followed very closely by a whole host of other teams. Everyone contributes a prize and so in the end everyone is a winner.
