Guest Article
By Mary Sheldon, N1RKO
NCS for The 2011 Sandwich Sled Dog Race - 19 February 2011
The Sandwich Sled Dog race took place this year on Saturday, February 19th. With temperatures in the 50’s, for 2 days prior to the event, followed by plummeting temperatures the night before, icy trails could have been a huge issue for the mushers and their dogs. Fortunately, with excellent trail grooming and the 2” of freshly fallen powder in the early morning hours, trail conditions were safe to run the race.
This race entails a course using snowmobile trails in the White Mountain National Forest in Sandwich, North Sandwich, Wonalancet and Tamworth, much of which is in very remote areas and involving winding tight trails, narrow bridges over brooks, steep hills and open fields. For this reason, amateur radio communications is extremely important to the safety of the race. There were 13 6-8 dog teams running along a 45 mile course, 20 6-dog teams running along a 20 mile course, and 3 Skijors with 1-2 dogs running 20 miles. It was a cold and windy day.
The teams left the Start line at 2 minute intervals starting at 9:00 am. The first team to leave covered the 45-mile course in approximately 3.5 hours. Thanks to a wonderful family, net control was located in their private home for the second year. This family graciously first volunteered their home in 2009 when the Sandwich Sled Dog Race was reinstated after a several year hiatus. (Due to lack of snow, this race could not be held in 2010.)
Cliff, N1RCQ, Lee, KB1GNI and Mary, N1RKO, manned 2 radios, worked 3 frequencies and recorded times radioed in from 13 Locations. The Locations included the Start/Finish Line, a mandatory Checkpoint and all road crossings. Due to the remoteness of the course, it was important to keep track of the time each team went through each Location. At net control we recorded these times on a master log sheet. In the event a team was late to arrive at a Location, we could then quickly determine where it was seen last. To further ensure the safety of the teams, there were 3 hams on snowmobiles; one stayed behind the last team, helping us to keep track of the end of the race, while the other two roamed the course. Net control also maintained contact with the race officials answering questions and providing status reports. In total there were 24 hams working this event, coming from Rhode Island, the Seacoast, Hollis and various towns in CNHARC.
It was extremely busy at the net control station. Each of us spent several hours at a time on the radio and several hours at a time recording times. (I wore out a pencil, proving that mechanical pencils are a plus. A good eraser also comes in handy.). Cliff spent lots of time working logistics; moving hams around as their locations closed, working with the snowmobiles with trail/musher issues, and speaking with race officials. Traffic pile ups were common as Locations tried to radio in their times. It was extremely important for the hams to speak slowly and clearly so we could accurately record the information on the log sheet. In the morning, transmissions were garbled by the wind whipping across the mics, requiring the ham to adjust his/her position. After a time, we realized that our two antennas were too close and whenever the secondary radio was in use, the primary one had to stop transmitting. (Next year we will correct that problem.)
The race was worked on three simplex frequencies. One was the primary and used to communicate with all Locations, the Checkpoint, and the snowmobiles. The second frequency was a back up and when the primary got busy; it was used to communicate with the snowmobiles. The third was used for the snowmobiles to communicate with each other.
Net control kept in constant contact with the 3 snowmobiles, sending them off to check on issues as they arose. This year we had a sled and team arriving at a location without it’s driver. Ham on snowmobile quickly located the driver and reunited her with her team. Next, a driver was reported to have broken an ankle, but wished to continue on. Hams at each location monitored his progress and cheers went up when he completed the 45-mile race with a duct taped foot waving in the air. And towards the end of the 20-mile race, a broken sled was reported, but it too, crossed the Finish Line. Mushers are a hardy group.
Once all the 20-mile and Skijor teams had crossed the Finish Line, activity slowed down at NCS. We were located very close to the trail, but could only see a tiny bit of a musher and dogs as they came through. Late in the event, I went down to join the family and their friends, who were gathered just off the trail around a roaring bonfire, roasting hot dogs and hamburgers, eagerly cheering and watching teams as they struggled up a hill and wound through an open field. No one seemed to mind the cold and windy day. One recorded times for us. She took recording on a log sheet literally. Lacking the official log sheet, she improvised with a small board destined for the bonfire. Now, that’s what I call a true “log” sheet. What a fun weekend they had! I managed a photo of the last team, then headed back up to the house and readied to close down the net for another successful event.
updated March 19, 2011