21-03-2024 At White Mt John scratched
His team had less than 70 miles to go..but his dogs were very weak and he had less than half his team left.John had gone into this race and made it very clear he was not there to make up the numbers...he was racing for rookie award.His racing mate Tom Thurston scrathed early on the trail due to sickness in his team..soon johns dogs started falling sick causing john to start dropping dogs..at White Mt john + vets called it a day..Alan is now flying back to anchorage to Colin and the other dogs..and the long drive back down to MT. "John never came here to just finish..he made it very clear from the start he was here to race..at this level in mushing its a fine line and a bit of luck when you are racing..he'll be racing in USA again next year..an offer of a team all next winter makes this whole trip worth while.."' Well done to our good friend Newton Marshal..like john he works hard every year as a musher/handler/trainer..learning all the time ..its not a dream to do those events in the usa..they are all just races for the bigger picture ...running some other kennels team is always 2nd best also..but it takes many years and full on commitment to set up your own..that's the next step in this story.
