Catherine Pinard (left) accepts the trophy from Karen Jenkins of the Eldorado Hotel, which is the race’s lead sponsor. Photo by Dan Davidson.

Iron Women Sweep this Year’s DeWolfe Races

by Dan Davidson

Percy DeWolfe may have been called the Iron Man of the north, but it was iron women who captured all the top prizes at this year’s running of the three races that honour his legacy.

No other records were broken in the 210 mile Memorial Mail race to Eagle, AK, and back this year, but Catherine Pinard captured the $4400 first prize, the keeper plaque and got her name on the main trophy, making her the first woman to win the race in 28 years. Her time was 21 hours and 23 minutes.

Pinard was just fifteen minutes ahead of Haines Junction’s Michael Salvisberg, who took home $3300.

Race veterans Hans Gatt and Ed Hopkins placed third and fourth, winning $2200 and $1100 respectively.

The Percy paid out down to eighth place this year. The remaining cash winners were Deb Bicknell ($850), Anne Ledwidge ($750), Daniel Vetsch ($650) and Gerry Willimitzer ($550).

Catherine Pinard also won the Vet’s Choice Award, for the care of her dogs.

Daniel Vetsch was the Rookie of the Year as well as the Humane Society Award, and Ed Hopkins was the mushers choice as the Sportsman of the Year.

The Red Lantern was awarded in absentia to Robin Harvey, one of the three mushers who had not made it back to Dawson City by the time of the Saturday Night Banquet catered by the Eldorado Hotel and held in the Oddfellows’ Hall.

The Percy Junior, a 110 mile overnight race to Fortymile and back, was won by Whitehorse musher Kiara Adams, running in one day, two hours and two minutes, a good hour and a half ahead of number two racer, Julie Favgeron of Maine. They took home $500 and $400.

Of the remaining 11 teams in the race, cash prizes were won by Jerry Joinson (Dawson, $300), Wayne Hall (Eagle, AK, $200) and Sebastian Schneulle (Whitehorse, $100).

Percy and Yukon Quest veteran Peter Ledwidge added to his collection of red lanterns in this race, much to his chagrin, when the team that was behind him dropped out.

The remaining race was the 10 mile sprint called the Klondyke Challenge, held on Saturday afternoon and taken, once again, by a young woman, Sophie Daniels. She took home $500, just a bit more than her mother, who captured $400 in second place. Michelle Phillips won $300 and Marieke Heinsch $200. David Wilson was last in the money with $100.

While the race started out well enough in sunny Dawson at 10 a.m., the weather turned sour after Fortymile. Julie Favgeron gave the crowd her reaction when she said, “I think it was the general consensus of every running the 100 (the Percy Junior): ‘Thank God we’re not going to Eagle.’”

The wind that whipped up wiped out the trail and made sighting the markers very difficult for several hours past that point. Anne Ledwidge recalled just hunkering down behind her sled out of the wind, while other mushers talked about having to lead their dogs in the flying, icy snow.

Dawson’s Kyler Mather, a snowmobiler, was credited at the banquet for having used his snow machine to make a recognizable trail again. The trip back was much better, with a wind at the mushers’ backs.

Percy Winner Bitten by Mushing Bug Early

by Dan Davidson

Catherine Pinard didn’t think it was that odd to have all the races in this year’s Percy DeWolfe events won by women.

“It’s a dog race, eh?” she said just after the awards banquet. “It’s more about the dogs than if you’re a woman or a man. That’s what I think.”

On the other hand the four year veteran of the mushing trails was surprised at her own finish. Her first entry in the Percy was three years ago and she described it as being an utter disaster which ended in a scratch at Fortymile and having to be flown out with her dogs. At that point she lived in Inuvik and her tale of the drive to Dawson alone is enough to curl your hair.

She ran the Percy again in 2002 after moving to Whitehorse, and finished with dogs belonging to her partner, William Kleedehn.

This year she also ran the Yukon Quest, finishing in thirteenth place.

Still, winning the Percy was a surprise for the 29 year old musher.

“I didn’t know until about an hour from the finish if I was gonna win. I passed Mike (Salvisberg) about 12 miles from the finish and Hans (Gatt) about 30 some miles out, so for a long time I was third.

“I couldn’t even see those guys for a while, but then I finally caught up. It was really exciting because I didn’t even know. I didn’t think I was going to win.”

Pinard grew up in Montreal, which is where mushing nipped her attention.

“When I was ten years old I saw a film. There was a guy who came to our classroom and showed us a film about his expeditions in northern Quebec and Labrador by dog team.

“I thought, from that day, ‘Well this is what I want to do later.’ It took me maybe fifteen years to finally get my own team.”

The race this year was tough between Fortymile and Eagle on day one.

“With the wind, the trail was gone, basically, We could still see some markers, but no trail at all, so we had to grab our leaders and walk ahead for a bit.

“It got better pretty soon, but there were a few more really rough sections, especially before we got on the road to Eagle. For a few miles we couldn’t see markers, or the trail - nothing.”

It was hard on the dogs, too. Pinard had to load one of hers that just “freaked out” from the wind and the ice blowing in its face.

“He was not used to that and I had to load him for maybe just a kilometre, then he was fine again.”

It was hard on the eyes, too.

“I wear contact lenses, and by the time I got there, with the wind and those ice crystals, I could barely see with my left eye and sort of all right with the right one. I was checking the dog’s feed and I could hardly see a thing.”

The trip back was much better. The wind was behind them and a young man from Dawson, Kyler Mather, broke trail with his skidoo.

Pinard was happy for herself and for her dogs. Her obvious care for the animals was so evident that she also won the Vet’s Choice Award.