I am motivated to keep going in my sport because I always want to do better. I enjoy racing the dogs, and I enjoy it even more when we win against the adults and other hot shot mushers!
My advice to new mushers is that the hardest thing is keeping a good attitude in a race, because as soon as the musher gets a negative attitude, it rubs off on the whole team and then they all slow down. Once the dogs get down on themselves it’s very hard to get them back into it mentally. A race is won with good dogs and a positive, happy attitude in the musher. It is also a lot of work owning a dog team; you can't just put your equipment in the closet and take a break. It's every day all year for years and years to become competitive and win big races.
My goals for the next racing season is to run the Quest 250, the Percy de Wolf and possibly the Copper Basin, as well as the various local races like the Rendezvous Freight Race and the Silver Sled. My goal for the 2005/2006 season is to run and finish the 1000 mile Yukon Quest. After that I couldn't tell you what my plans are. I have dreamt of being the only women to do the Yukon Quest and the Alaskan Iditarod 1000 miles races in the same year. Also, a Canadian woman has never completed the Iditarod race, or even entered it!