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Photo by Eric Engman

Photo by Eric Engman

Who ever heard of giving a sled dog a sponge bath? Well, mushers on the first day of the Gene’s Chrysler Limited North American Championship were trying just about anything to keep their dogs cool in the record-breaking 46-degree temperatures Friday at the Jeff Studdert Racegrounds.

Some even resorted to dousing their dogs with cold water before their races.

It worked for Jennifer Probert of Fairbanks. She won the four- and six-dog classes. Probert finished the 4.5-mile, four-dog race in 14 minutes, 19.6 seconds, the 5.9-mile, six-dog course in 17:57.1.

“We’re from here and so we’re used to cold all the time,” Probert said after winning the six-dog event. “Today was tough. We literally watered them down with sponges and that seemed to work.

“I’ve got a shaggy guy in the four-dog class and we gave him a trim before the race and that worked too,” she added.

Probert has never had to do anything like that before a race, but “that’s what you do when it’s almost 50 degrees out,” she laughed.

In the six-dog race, Probert was followed closely by Anchorage veteran Bev Stevens. In last year’s LNAC, Stevens came in second to Probert by just .01 seconds and is hoping to snatch the win this time around, but Friday Stevens took second in the class, finishing in 18:46.7.

“The dogs are really hot. Even though we came from Anchorage where it’s usually warmer than Fairbanks, they still got overheated,” Stevens said after her run.

The warm weather made the trail a little soft but it was in good shape, she added.

Stevens also soaked her dogs with cool water before the race and made sure they were well hydrated.

At the starting line, it took six handlers to hold back Stevens’ six-dog team. But, she said, at home they’re different dogs all together. So much so that Stevens wrote a popular children’s book entitled “This Dog Team Lives in the House,” which depicts life at Stevens’ home with competitive racing hounds that double as spoiled couch potatoes.

But, spoiled or not, Stevens’ dogs delivered Friday and with two more days of racing to go, she’s hoping to catch Probert.

High temperatures posed another concern for the skijorers. Not only did they have to contend with hot dogs, they had to overcome wax issues on their skis.

Laura Carlson came up for the LNAC from Homer and finished third in the one-dog skijor. She trains in the Caribou Hills and her season focuses on this race and this race only.

“I waxed my skis in Homer before I came after looking at the forecast. I got a wax for 0 to 20 degrees, but now it’s 45 degrees out so it’s not working,” Carlson said.

For many mushers, the LNAC is the climax of the season with all races leading to Fairbanks. Local Amanda Byrd has had a good racing season thus far, but has all her eggs in the LNAC basket.

“All my training, all my feeding and vet care is pointed toward this race,” Byrd said, adding that this is her first year racing in the eight-dog class. “This is our home turf, so I think that’s an advantage but really, I’ve trained and fed the best I can and I can’t do anything else now but run the dogs.”

Byrd finished eighth out of 17 mushers in the eight-dog class in 37:47.0.

In all, 62 teams competed in four classes, which included the four-dog, six-dog, eight-dog and skijoring groups, said race marshal Mike McCowan.

Teams traveled from all over the state, Canada and the Lower 48 to compete in the three-day event, he added.

The Frank family traveled from Lodi, Ohio, with dad Gary and son Doug, 16, competing in the four-dog class and daughter Courtney, 17, taking on the six-dog event.

The kids competed in the Junior North American and the family competed in the North Pole Championships as well.

“Everybody’s got their chores and know what needs to be done to be able to do things like this,” said Gary, of being a mushing family.

“It helps us stay in touch because, you know, we’re together so much,” said mom, Lisa.

Another family team that traveled a distance to get to Fairbanks was the Christiansens from Dawson City, Yukon. Though the musher, Charmaine, is a student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and therefore didn’t have to travel, her dogs and her father Art, made the 900-mile trek so Charmaine could race.

“Come on, Cindy! Come on, Ginger! Come on home now!” Art yelled at his daughter’s team as they rounded the final bend to the finish.

Art trained the dogs in Dawson, not necessarily known for its sprint mushing, and then drove here in time for the race. Charmaine finished 15th out of 17 mushers in the six-dog class in 23:18.5.

“I’ve run dogs for 11 years, but have only been competing for three or four,” Charmaine, 19, said.

“It was a nice smooth run today, but I hope it cools down for the weekend.”

The second heat of the LNAC is scheduled to get under way at 11 a.m. today at the Studdert Racegrounds.