Wendy Davis, of Lander, WY, running a team owned by Lloyd Gilbertson's Caribou Creek Kennels, Chatham, MI. Wendy completed Sunday's 30-mile run three seconds faster than her Saturday run: 2:04:11. Her overall time for the 60 miles of mushing was 4:08:25. The first picture shows Wendy and her team racing by on Sunday morning, with Sharkstooth Peak in the background (she's hunkered down to cut wind resistance). The second shot shows Queen Wendy after she was crowned during Sunday's awards luncheon at the Millwood Junction Restaurant in Mancos, where she also received a $250 check for the day's fastest time.
Clint Hallam, of Lyman, WY, placed second overall, nine minutes behind Wendy with 4:17:44. This was Clint's third time running the Mush, and he's always a top competitor.
Third place went to Ted Schanen, with an overall time of 4:21:44. Tim, who's from Wisconsin, was also running a Caribou Creek team. Gilbertson personally guided his third team to a seventh place finish in 4:58:54.
Sausage-maker Jerry Bath came down from Lander, WY, to run his first Mancos Mush and take fourth place in 4:34:52. Right behind him, time-wise, was Kate St. Onge, with a time of 4:35:55. Kate and her husband Rick, who was eighth (4:59:26) presently live in Millville, UT, but have purchased property less than two miles from the Mush starting point and are planning to move to Mancos shortly. This was Kate's third Mancos Mush; a death in the family caused her to withdraw from the 2007 Mush at the last minute.
The third pictured musher, 14-year-old Krista Halsnes, from Steamboat Springs, CO, was close on the heels of Jerry and Kate, with a total time of 4:36:42; Krista's Sunday run was actually fourth fastest out of 17. With her exuberance, competence and stunning smile, this five-year mushing veteran was quickly the poster child of Mancos Mush IV.
The breakdown for the purse was $2,500 for first place; $1,500 for second; third, $1,000; fourth, $800; fifth, $700; sixth, $600; seventh, $500, and $400 for eighth place.
It was really quite a weekend! The mushers ranged in age from 14 to 68, they numbered about 30 people visiting Mancos for this February weekend and there were numerous visitors during the two days of the race. In fact, the piles of snow pushed up around the starting point were a wonderful winter playground for kids on both sunny days, and many of them got to take short rides on a dog sled, courtesy of Mark and Sandy Schwartz's efforts (also new residents in the Mancos Valley).
Sculptors Veryl Goodnight and Patsy Davis had a "Wolves at Heart" art exhibit at Veryl's Grand Avenue Gallery in Mancos, augmented by a juried "Junior Wolves at Heart" competition that brought in, and displayed about 130 works of art by school children from around Montezuma County. The entries were posted in the community center (Mush Central) and will be shown at the Artisans of Mancos gallery across the street; the winners were honored at the Saturday night banquet.
The banquet, catered at the Mancos Community Center by ARAMARK-Mesa Verde Company (the Mesa Verde National Park concessioner), received many compliments from mushers and other attendees. Only next year we need to find a bigger venue!
Mancos Valley teachers Brad and Karen Finch created kits that were used in classrooms before the Mush and also helped plan and carry out the Junior Wolves art contest, with wonderful results.
The artist's co-op, Artisans of Mancos, sponsored an art auction Friday night to raise money for the new library we hope to build, starting next spring. It added to the activity of the weekend (a couple of mushers participated in the bidding) and was very successful, raising more than $7,500 (more than $6,000 from the auction; the rest from the banquet, etc.).
Silent auction items from the "Animals in Art" photo exhibit at Open Shutter Gallery in Durango were brought to Mancos to finish the bidding (proceeds to the Mush) and that was successful, too.
There was a host of volunteers from Durango and Mancos, without whom the Mush would not have been successful, but the least seen one was perhaps most important of all ... Roger Pennington. Though events seemed to conspire against him (being called out on a rescue, mechanical problems, etc.), he took the sno-cat out and groomed the course till 2 a.m one night, then got up at 3 a.m. and went back at it. That well-groomed trail is something mushers consistently compliment us on, and the reason is Roger!
Enough, except to say that the other thing I hear consistently from mushers about the Mancos Mush, this year and in years past, is how welcome they feel in the community of Mancos, how well-organized the race is and how well the community supports the event. That makes me feel proud that I make my home in the Mancos Valley! TV
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