Taveau wins Montana Creek Dog Mushers point races

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The last point race of the Montana Creek Dog Mushers Association took place last Saturday, December 26, crowning a new and old champion in the open class with Knik’s Christian Taveau. Taveau managed to catch up to Daryl Hollingsworth’s lead during the first two point races and bested Hollingsworth in the Saturday’s race. Placing third in Saturday’s race as well as in the overall point race standing is Willow’s Greg Sellentin.

Conditions were less than ideal during the fourth and last point races as temperatures soared above the freezing point and at one point, it even started to rain. Despite the warmth, the trail was in good condition, and allowed for fast times posted by mushers and skijorers racing in the earlier, cooler part of the day.

Despite the warm temperatures, there was a strong showing of mushers and skijorers to duke it out on the race track. In  skijoring, Rebecca Knight took home the win of the fourth point race and with that, she also won the overall point race champion title. The same held true for Kim Wells, winning the four-dog class and cementing her first place ranking in the overall all ranking. Former Talkeetna resident Debra Castro, now of Willow, placed third in the four-dog class but took home second place in the overall standings. Castro is mushing a purebred Siberian Husky team. Anchorage’s Bev Stevens upset Kris Rasey’s winning streak in the six-dog class, but Rasey still remained the overall point champion.

In the eight dog class, Christian Taveau narrowly defeated Brenda Burge by only seven seconds to win the fourth point race, which put him in the number one spot in the overall ranking. Willow’s Egil Ellis placed third but accumulated enough points for placing second in the overall point standings.

Last Saturday’s race concludes MCDMA’s preliminary races. On January 9 -10, 2010 mushers and skijorers are invited to the Montana Creek Championships – a two-day race with a purse of $3,000. On January 23-24, 2010, the Su Valley Championships with a purse of $7,000 conclude MCDMA’s race season at the track.