Mush! Mush! Mush!

By TAMMY ADDINGTON

Special to the News-Press

It was a great season for 7-year-old Harleigh Dutton (AKA Hurricane Harleigh) and her sled dogs. The Pinehurst wonder musher and her team competed in four races throughout this snowy winter.

The first of the season was the Dogtown Winter Derby, where she competed in the novice sled class with three dogs taking first place. After initial setback on the first day when she missed a turn, she caught the next trail and came into the finish line.

Harleigh’s mother, Tammy Addington, and the rest of her team were standing at the finish and could hear her talking to her dogs, but couldn’t see her until she came out on the opposite side of the tree line.

“She did great keeping her cool and hitting the next trail in,” Addington said.

On day two, she nailed all the correct turns and shaved minutes off her time from day one.

Harleigh’s second race of the season was the oldest American dog sled race in Ashton, Idaho — The American Dog Derby.

It was tough competition with four other junior racers hitting the five-mile course. Addington explained that it was a fun and snowy race for Hurricane and she was lucky enough to borrow a dog from a good friend to have a four-dog team.

“She competed against all boys and on the second day she started second to last in the lineup,” she said, “but managed to pass the two teams that started ahead of her on her way out before reaching the turnaround loop.”

The juniors worked hard with a lot of passing and even some head-on passing throughout the race. Harleigh would eventually take second place, finishing roughly two minutes behind the leader. She also earned the honorary Rosie’s “Middle of the Pack Award.” Rosie was a musher from the Ashton area, who helped mentor all the juniors. Addington said that she and Harleigh sadly never got to meet him, “but you could tell the huge impact that he had left on the mushers and the race itself.” It was Rosie’s final race, as they spread his ashes along the beautiful trail.

The racing team had quite the adventure on the way back from Ashton. It took them three days to make the trip home due to whiteout conditions and icy roadways throughout Montana.

There were times that Addington could not see past the nose of the pickup and a few times they were going down the freeway sideways due to strong winds on the icy roads.

“Not fun for her dad and I, but we made it,” she added.

Harleigh’s next race, The Flathead Classic in Olney, Mont., was perhaps her most memorable because she raced against her own mother. Both mother and daughter borrowed dogs from a good friend and fellow musher, Josi Thyr.

“So, I bet you are wondering who won,” Addington joked. “Well, I’m not ashamed to admit that I got my behind kicked by a 7-year-old.”

The race committee agreed to put Harleigh in with the four-dog adult racers and let her start just ahead of Addington.

“We all had so much fun,” Addington said. “As Harleigh and I were lined up in the starting chute, she turned back and said ‘catch me if you can mama!’ She had the spectators just rolling by the time she took off.”

It was a difficult 5.5-mile course that climbed up and over what seemed like a mountain to the two. Then what goes up must come down, sending them through some very narrow and tight switchbacks.

Addington recalled that she never even caught a glimpse of The Hurricane once she left the start, “but as I would pass race volunteers along the trail, I would ask if the kid made it by there and how she was looking; the common answer I got was ‘yes, she was looking great and flying.’”

Harleigh was waiting at the finish line with some wisecracks about how she had been in for at least an hour waiting.

Day two was tougher due to heavy snowfall and some signage getting knocked down. Harleigh got turned around a bit when she reached a very confusing portion of the trail with many turns in it.

“I came to a ‘Y’ in the trail and noticed that someone had ran over the snow fencing and the little arrow sign that we were to follow,” Addington explained, “but I remembered to make a ‘haw’ (left hand) turn from the day before and as soon as I made the turn, something just did not feel right. I kept looking down at the trail trying to pick up Harleigh’s fresh tracks, but they all seemed too snowed in. I kept going for a bit and finally it just hit me and I knew she didn’t make the correct turn.”

Addington stopped her team and turned around to make her way back down to the fork in the road. Following the tracks of her daughter on the trail, she came out into an opening and there was Harleigh stopped — trying to get her team turned around, but all the new snow was making it difficult to get her snowhook set. (A snowhook is kind of like a musher’s parking brake, you stomp it in the snow and it holds your sled and team of dogs from taking off without you while you are off the sled.)

Both mother and daughter worked to get their hooks set so they could get turned around. Addington was finally able to get hers to catch and then she helped Harleigh do the same.

“Once we got going, I just had her follow me back to the correct trail and as we got closer to the finish line, I asked if she wanted to finish ahead of me — dumb question!”

The two came to a wider portion of the trail where Harleigh went ahead and crossed the finish line.

Even with the detour, Harleigh still ended up first in the four-dog junior class and beat her mother’s time. Even mixed in with the adults, she had the second fastest time of day one.

With first place in hand, she earned her favorite prize, a growler of root beer and the 2018 Iron Paws World Stage Race.

This is a stage race that spans nine weeks in length and draws competitors from all over the world. Competitors earn points each week by collecting miles ran during training or racing, running with a friend or group get-togethers.

Harleigh and her dogs put on some miles this past season. From fall to spring, she will have put on just under 200 miles.

“Pretty impressive if you consider the fact that she is just 7 years old and attends school five days a week,” Addington added.

Harleigh came out in first place in the four-dog sled class out of four competitors and 11th overall out of 147 teams competing this year.

Much of the success that Harleigh and her team have had is due to the tutelage of Josi Thyr from Cataldo.

“We are truly blessed to have a great wealth of knowledge and mentor so close to home,” Addington said. “She has been kind enough to take Harleigh under her runners and the two are having so much fun running together and Harleigh is learning a lot… It’s so nice to have someone who loves and is interested in our daughter with the willing patience to teach such a young kid, and her dad and I don’t have to worry when she takes off following Josi’s team.”

When she gets older, Harleigh plans to participate in distance mushing, but this shouldn’t be a problem with the help of Thyr; who is currently training for next year’s Iditarod in Alaska.

Addington would like to thank everyone who has supported Harleigh throughout her season and helped make it happen.

You can follow Hurricane Harleigh’s adventures through her Facebook page — Yukon Denali Sled Dog Team, Home of Hurricane Harleigh.