Goderich Signal Star, 2017-02-22, Page 27Wednesday, February 22, 2017 • Signal Star 27
Photo courtesy of Cindy Lottes
Blyth resident Luke Siertsema racing.
The dogs ready to race.
Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn Paquette
Blyth resident attends Sleddog World Championships
Justine Alkema
Postmedia Network
Blyth resident Luke Siert-
sema has a unique interest -
dog sledding. The 26 -year-
old recently had an
opportunity to attend the
2017 Winter Sleddog World
Championships in Hallibur-
ton Forest, Ontario.
The event was put on by
the International Federation
of Sleddog Sport (IFSS). For
Siertsema, after ten years of
training, it's the highest level
of racing he has had the
opportunity to participate in.
The event had representa-
tives from over 20 countries.
"It's kind of like the Stan-
ley Cup of dog sledding,"
said Siertsema.
Siertsema attended a
number of qualifying events
last year. He had to go
through an intense screen-
ing process to see how many
points he had gained and if
he had the quality of charac-
ter to represent Canada.
He participated in three
races at the event -a four -
dog 7 km sprint, a six -dog 14
km sprint and a four -dog 10
km sprint.
Siertsema said he was
aiming to achieve top ten in
at least one of the three
classes, and he was able to
pull that off. In the four -dog
7 km sprint, he achieved 9th
place out of 25 teams. In that
race, he was the first Cana-
dian team out of nine teams
and the second North Amer-
ican team out of 16 teams.
In the six -dog 14 km
sprint, he achieved 11th out
of 20.
Contributed photo
Siertsema and one of his Alaskan Huskies.
Siertsema and his dad,
who is also an avid dog sled -
der, have 18 Alaskan Husk-
ies. They train the dogs
themselves beginning at
around six months old. Dogs
can race until anywhere
between 7-12 years old, but
Siertsema said their prime is
when they're around 2-6.
The dogs are bred to race.
They are a mix of Pointer,
Greyhound, Saluki, African
Hound and of course, Husky.
"Pointers are used for heat
tolerance, Saluki and Grey-
hound for speed and Husky
for drive, pull, good feet and
a good head."
The dogs live in a large
outdoor kennel, each with
their own doghouse. They
also have a large run inside
for when it is too hot or cold,
but they prefer to stay
outdoors.
The dogs love what they do.
"They live for it," said Siert-
sema. "You can tell the sec-
ond your bring out their har-
nesses; they all just go wild,
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jumping around and wag-
ging tails. But the second
they take off, they go totally
quiet and focus on running."
As for the future, Siertsma
will continue racing; he said
he competes most weekend
in the winter and would love
to go to the World Champi-
onships again, which he will
have to requalify for.
"I'm addicted, he said.
"Because with every
visit we are making
precious memories:"
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