Evening Star Newspaper, March 2, 1930, Page 89

"The Dog- THE SUNDAY ay Marathon of STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C, M{RCH 2, !93(?: Midwinter A great six-in-line led by the mongrel Toby. St. Godard’s team cuts the snow in a practice run. In Weather Often Way Below Zero, the Best Mushers of the North Run Their 200-Mile, Non-Stop Endurance Derby for $1,000, a Kiss and a Cup That Goes With World Championship. HE picturesque frontier town of The Pas, Manitoba, will this year be the most crucial 200-mile non-stop dog derby the northland has seen in many years. Emil St. Godard, the 23-year-old world’s ehampion musher, will be facing the toughest battle of his spectacular career when the start- er’s gun cracks through the frosty air on the morning of March 5. It will be the “boy won- der’s biggest chance, as another victory will win for him lasting possession of the Grant Rice- Walter Goyne Memorial Trophy, the most coveted silver cup in the world of dog racing. The cream of the country’s drivers will snap their whips in The Pas contest. St. Godard leaped into the spotlight in 1925 when, in his first major race, he beat the North’s crack drivers in a grueling 204-mile dash to Herb Lake and return. He won his second endurance confest a year ago over a blizzard-swept course to the famous Flin Flon mine, giving him two notches on the thousand- dollar piece of silverware. “his year will test the well trained team of the young French-Canadian as it was never tested before. For five years St. Godard has won The Pas Derby, emblematic of the world’s title. This is the thirteenth running of the championship test. Will number “13” prove a jinx to the boy champion, or will his team of cross-bred huskies and hounds romp home to write mushing history which should stand for years to come? Northern Manitoba, which has produced some of the best men who ever grasped the handles of a racing sled, has been the training ground of several teams since early in January. Cash prizes in The Pas Derby total $2,500, of which $1,000 goes to the winner. Three other awards of $700, $500 and $300 are made. There are merchandise gifts—and stage con- tracts for the victor. And lest you forget, the kiss from the Carnival Queen. IT is an old custom in The Pas for the queen of the carnival to bestow the embraces of victory on those who finish in the money in the big race. An amusing incident occurred last year when a handsome young musher went to the stage to receive his cash prize. He ac- cepted the 4noney graciously, but backed away, blushing like a schoolboy, when the lovely queen made a move to give him the traditional kiss. He returned to his seat with the sigh of a per- son who has survived a great peril. In toe earlier days of husky racing, the num- ber of dogs on a team was limited. Of iate years, however, the contestants have been al- lowed to choose the size of the team. For instance, in the 1929 event, St. Godard used a nine-dog hitch. Pranteau, the Indian hope, had 11 white huskies strung in single file. Gilbert MacDonald started out with a nine-dog team. Gabriel Campbell, the Cedar Lake entry, and Bert Stewart, who wore the colors of the Canadian National Railways, each employed seven animals. Six-dog teams were driven by Hector Campbell of the Mandy Mine, Donald Flett, crack driver from Split Lake, and the famed “Shorty” Russick, from Cold Lake. It may be hard for you to understand why the team boasting the greatest number of dogs shouldn’t be the best bet in a contest. But you must remember that one of the strictest rules of dog racing is that every musher must bring all his dogs home with him—whether in har- ness or lying disabled on the sleigh. If he doesn't, he is disqualified. The larger the team, the greater will be the load 1if several dogs develop lameness or other disability on the trail. ‘EAMS of 20 dogs were not uncommon in the earller racing days in Alaska. But many a race has been won by seven-dog teams in com- petition with hitches which boasted a dozen. Take St. Godard’s training program during the past year. All Summer he had about 25 dogs. In the Fall, he centered his efforts on the 14 which showed-+the most pep, and this year it is likely he will use 11 or 12 dogs for the big events, When he traveled East for the New Hamp- shire and the Quebec competitions, he took a hitch of eight dogs along. The Eastern races are 120-mile contests, 40 miles being run each day. They have been quite a problem for St. Godard. The Pas derbles of 1926, 1927 and 1928 were also short lap events. Teams of high-bred Northern huskies which had taken Cross-bred dogs, part malemute and part wolfhound, are now in favor with St. Godard and others. They are believed hardier than the pure Eskimo dogs, shown above, prizes in endurance tests were replaced by speedier hook-ups. A new type of racing animal was raised in Northern Manitoba, usually husky cross-bred with hound. St. Godard’s kennels housed the Russian wolf- hound-husky breed. St. Godard didn’t have time to collect a sturdier team for the 200-mile Pas Derby, re- instituted in 1929. Natives of the Canadian North were training their curly-tailed animals for the long run. It was freely predicted that St. Godard’s leam hounds wouldn't be a match in stamina for the purer bred husky. But his team surprised the fans by romping home to take the coveted first Even at that it was close. Earl Brydges, another son of Manitoba, finished just five min- utes after the victor, whose time for the 200 miles was 37 hours. The most exciting finish was between Gabriel and Hector Campbell, for third and fourth. It was close to midnight and the weather was 25 below when Gabriel crossed the tape. Hardly had he ended the race when Hector’s team swung out of the murk of the Saskatchewan River and came to a halt a mere five seconds afterward. It had been a neck- and-neck affair. PREMIER mushers of the North pay special attention to their leaders—because success depends on the dog in the key position. Good leaders are scarce. They can makc or break a good musher. They can instill.in their fellow ,\ . with Kingeak, a noted Eskimo driver. huskies the spirit that wins big races, or they can teach them to loaf—not much, perhaps, but enough to loose a contest. Drivers often find that leaders become too wise after a few years. They grow overbear- ing and overconfident. The leader of a first- class racing team is one of the wiliest animals in the world. Ask any musher. One well known racer had a leader who was in the habit of running on three legs now and then, pretending that he was hurt, whereas all he wanted was a ride on the sled. The driver cured him by putting him among the lesser lights in the harness. The leader’s pride wouldn’t stand for that, and after he was again allowed to run in front he showed no more signs of cunning. Toby, the five-year-old black mongrel leader of St. Godard’s famous team, will probably be in his accustomed place when the whips crack for the first race this year. Toby has taken part in 11 of the 13 events in which his master has run, and he is still good. The calculating Emil had the notion this Summer that Toby was growing too old. And he had been showing signs of superiority com- plex as well. But Toby displayed so much dis- tress when he was demoted during trial runs that the owner gave him back his old job. To see Toby in harness while his master is preparing for trial runs is a treat in itself. While the dogs are being placed in their hitches, the :sleigh is tied to a post so the animals will not run off, so eager are they to swing into the trail. The hitching up takes several minutes, and Toby is so anxious to get away that he strains at the harness and often leaps high in the air in his enthusiasm. . IT is interesting to note that St. Godard has been in the money in 12 of 13 races. He won the Pas Derby five years running, and in Quebec has flashed across the line first on three occasions Year-round training for racing dogs calls for considerable ingenuity. Dogs must have as careful attention as race horses. Diet is important, and constant exer- cise is necessary. During the past few Sum- mers St. Godard used the chassis of a light car to give his hounds pulling exercise. Emil hitched his team to a light truck. Keeping the engine in high gear, he would start out at 18 miles an hour until the dogs limbered up, then he would slow down to 15 miles. At that speed he found that the dogs were pulling in their harness in a manner that was the closest approach to Winter racing. And the cross- bred hounds got a big kick out of the truck. Their howls of delight registered distinct ap- proval. . The Alaskan sleigh and hitch is generally used in dog racing today, though some of the old-timers, especially the Indians, still believe that the single-file team is the most efficient. Walter Goyne, famous Alaskan musher, intro- duced the Alaskan style of tandem harness. Before that, dogs had been hitched in single file, and a type of toboggan used as a vehicle. Goyne brought with him the Alaskan sled with high handles. The superiority of the Alaskan method was well displayed in the 1920 race at the Pas, which was run over a 100-mile course. Goyne won handily, covering the distance in the record time of 13 hours and 14 minutes. But the next - year, in the 200-mile grind to Flin Flon and return, Goyne was defeated by Manitoba mush- ers who had adopted his Alaskan harness. WALTER GOYNE was one of the most popu- lar mushers that ever called the North- west his stamping ground. He came to a tragic end in 1922. It was in the Autumn that Goyne started north on one of his sorties, He was driving a team of nine animals, with 11 more trailing along behind. The beloved Alaskan, who had showed such courage and such skill in mushing, despite a crippled foot, disappeared in the mysterious hinterland. In vain search parties sought the missing racer. The malamutes he had left in his ken- nels at the Pas whined for their master, but he never came. Then, one Winter day, a trapper was ate iracted by the sight of nine hungry dogs wan- dering about on an isolated northern lake. He tried to approach them, but couldn’t. Curiosity aroused, the trapper reconnoitered a little. Below the frozen surface of crystal- like clearness he was startled to see a full oom- plement of dog team, sleigh and driver, al} frozen like silent statues several feet below td surface. The dogs were upright, as if in action. The driver was sitting on the sled with eiderdown wrapped around him. Two other animals were lying beside him. Walter Goyne and his championship team had gone through the ice some weeks previously, and the water had been so cold that it had tme mediately numbed him and his faithful mala- mutes. Death was probably a matter of min- utes, but Northern Manitoba mourned for a long time over the loss of the best sportsman that ever mushed out of Alaska. Weather has always been one of the fickle factors in a dog derby. One racing authority claims that results of contests depend one-third on the driver, one-third on the team, and one- third on chance—and there is a lot of weather mixed up in that last third. (Copyright, 1930.) Battle With Insects. WITH the approach of Spring weather, # will be a matter of but a short time before the aphids and other garden pests are holding forth and the annual battle will be under way. Prompt and effective spraying is the gardener's one safeguard against the ravage of the insests. Leaf-eating insects are best fought with asse- ,hate of lead solutions to which soap suds has been added. ; The suds aid in.keeping the solu- nHon.on glossy or, Waxy, leaves. > b