Venus; Speckles; Harry the Boy Who Lived; brothers Bradley and Cooper; Pearl and Captain the big, red Siberian husky: The dogs are clipped one by one into a tether, which itself is attached to a heavy sled with a standing driver. The dogs jump, howl and scream, and their hot breath leaves steam hanging in the winter air. It’s race day, and they're eager to get out on the snow carpeting the forest trails near Cle Elum.
Their driver, meanwhile, has never even been on snow. In Mexico, mushers race bikes through low brush on rocky, red dirt trails. But Marcos Cardenas and his companions, Marcos Padilla and Pepe Flores, are here competing in the Dogtown Winter Derby to learn how to mush on snow. Now there’s no more time for practice: After a countdown, they jolt off toward a distant tree line.
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