Park City » Zachary Davis once tried to hook his Irish setter and golden retriever, Maggie and Daisy, to a sled because he wanted to emulate his idols in the dog sled racing world. It didn't work quite the way he wanted.
"They just laid down," the 10-year-old from Herriman said.
The dogs Davis stood behind Saturday during the final day of the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race could show Maggie and Daisy a thing or two about pulling a sled and pulling it fast.
Minutes after finishing the final 9-mile stage of the 290-mile, eight-day race, the 16 professional mushers hooked up their dogs again and took junior mushers on a 3-mile spin from the Quinn's
"It was fun, probably the funnest thing I've ever done," Davis said after he and veteran musher Bruce Magnusson of Machester, Mich., crossed the finish line.
"He was trying to knock me off the sled. He wanted it all to himself," Magnusson joked. "We have ourselves a future stage stop winner right here."
Those words meant a lot to Davis, who has been infatuated with the sport for the last two years. He saw his first dog sled race last year at the same event, and has even had some of the mushers sign his ear-flap hat.
"These guys are so cool," he said.
The coolest, at least this year, is Blayne Streeper from Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.
Finishing second was Lina Gladh of Sweden, who just happens to be engaged to Streeper.
"It has been a long week. Well, actually more like 10 months. We started focusing on this race in April and started training for it in August," said Streeper, who is the only musher to have won what those involved in the sport call the five majors: Laconia (New Hampshire), The Pas (Manitoba, Canada), Anchorage (Alaska), Fairbanks (Alaska) and Yellowknife (Northwest Territories, Canada).
Streeper is known as more of a sprint racer in two-day events of 15 to 20 miles. He and Gladh picked the International Pedigree Stage Stop "because it is a demanding race and a great challenge."
Kate and Rick St. Onge. of Millville, were competing in their fourth Pedigree Stage Stop race. They are the only Utahns to have raced in the event. Kate St. Onge finished 11th overall.
Many of the teams said only Alaska's famous Iditarod race is bigger than the event that ended Saturday in Park City. The purse was more than $57,000, with Streeper earning $10,000 for first place. With daily awards and extra incentives from Pedigree, other racers said Streeper would probably head into his next race with more than $30,000 in winnings.
But prize money had nothing to do with the smile on Zachary Davis' face when Magnusson pulled up the snow brake at the starting line and the dogs were finally able to run.
Davis' parents were excited to finally see their son's dream of standing behind a team of sled dogs come true. While he was running the course, they started to wonder what their neighbors would think of a few more, like maybe six or so, dogs in the neighborhood.
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