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This Brilliant Creatures Challenge involves a team of animals, a sled and a race against time.
And it’s not Santa and his reindeer… |
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…the sled is actually called a rig.
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And the animals are siberian huskies!
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And the challenge is to train as a musher (that’s a sled dog racer).
Gail and Stephen were given just two hours to learn as much as they could about the sport, before taking part in a race alongside 80 of the best teams in the country.
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This is Barbara Stenning.
She owns 17 huskies and has been racing for 18 years!
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She explained it was important for Gail and Stephen to get the feel of the rig first!
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Then she gave them a few commands – including the direction commands for the dogs – “G” for right, and “R” for left, and “Steady, Stop” to come to a halt.
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She also that if you start to go downhill, you can catch up with the dogs and they can get caught up in the lines and you can go over the handlebars…
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…which is why wearing a safety helmet is essential!
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So - Gail was first to try…
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…much to Stephen’s amusement!
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And before long it was Stephen’s turn!
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…much to Gail’s amusement!
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After the practice runs, Barbara said she thought they’d do quite well – but you’ll have to wait and see what happened… |
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