OFF THEY GO – Maria Metzen mushes her team out of the start chute during the Yukon Dog Musher Association’s first preliminary race on Saturday at the Ibex Valley trails. Photo by Vince Fedoroff - Ibex Valley Trails 
YDMA hosts first preliminary race
The Yukon Dog Mushers Association (YDMA) hosted its first preliminary race Saturday on their Ibex Valley trails. The races are a tune-up for the YDMA’s main event of the season, the Firstmate Babe Southwick Memorial Race.
It was the first of two preliminary races, the second is planned for January 9. They give the mushers a chance to run the same trails as will be used during the Babe Southwick.
“Back in the days,” says the YDMA website, the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous dog races were quite the event. In 1965, they were held in the Kluane Lake area.
Babe Southwick drew number eight as her starting position. Her team finished in the top five of the 15-mile race, then that night, she died of a heart attack. The next day, 10 mushers lined the starting gate, each wearing a black armband.
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