As the teams streamed into Anglin Lake, dogs were checked over before being tucked into their kennels and arrival times were recorded. Then the majority of participants headed for the lodge for chili and a warm up.
Most mushers have full access to their trucks, their handlers and their kennels at each checkpoint, where they can grab new socks or enjoy a hot lodge-meal and house their dogs comfortably.
However, a couple of mushers had to suffice by laying a bed of straw on the snow for their pooches and heating water in a pot in the snow.
Two of the 15 teams are using this race as a qualifier for longer races.
Those two mushers are Karen Routley and Lisa Joinson.
Using this race as a qualifier means the rules are different.
As a qualifier a musher receives no assistance during the race and must carry everything they could possibly need for themselves and their dogs.
The only exception is drop bags which are equivalent to what they would have had access to in the old days of sledding when caches were put in strategic spots along the trail for pickup.
Race marshal, Dave Young reminded everyone of the rules for qualifying during the musher’s meeting on Monday.
“Qualifiers must run everything on their own,” he said.
Routley has no problem with the rules as they are in place to ensure that she gets the experience she needs to tackle longer more dangerous treks, where a quick change of socks is not an option.
“I’ve done a couple of other qualifiers,” Routley said.
Those include the Race To The Sky, and the Yukon Quest 300. She is building up her experience to enter a long-distance race such as the full-length Yukon Quest or the Iditarod, both of which require rookies of the event to have previous experience in qualifying races like the Canadian Challenge.
“Qualifiers must run everything on their own,” - race marshal Dave Young.
For Routley it is also about gaining enough confidence so that she knows she can take on a 1000-mile-race on her own.
On Monday she said her goal was to be finished the route by Friday and so far she is on track.
She slid into the first checkpoint at Anglin Lake on Tuesday at 4:15, an hour early.
After resting for a few hours she and her dogs left at about 9 p.m. to cover the next leg of the journey across the lake, past Elk Ridge Resort -- where the junior and open events finished around midnight on Tuesday -- and up to MacLennan.
If all goes to plan she will ride through the night and arrive at the next checkpoint at about 4 a.m. on Wednesday.
