Posted: 11/20/02

Musher taking part in FL food drive

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Anyone intrigued with the guts and grit of a musher and the dogs they run will have a chance to meet a musher and her animals on Saturday, Nov. 30 in Forest Lake.

Robyn Smith, a musher from Columbus Township, will be at Kodiak Coffee on Nov. 30 to answer questions about mushing and let the public meet her dogs up close. Visitors an enjoy a cup of complimentary coffee during their stop.

It is the culminating event in a week-long food drive that Smith and Kodiak Coffee owner Ann Tousignant are working on to help raise holiday food stuffs for the Community Helping Hand food shelf.

Kodiak Coffee will be a collection site for the food drive from Saturday, Nov. 23 through Saturday, Nov. 30. Non-perishable food, personal hygiene products and household items can be dropped throughout the week.

People stopping by to visit Smith on Saturday are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to assist the Helping Hand food shelf program.

The Nov. 30 event will be a chance for the public to see a musherís equipment, meet the dogs and talk dogsledding with Smith, an up-and-coming musher who hopes to have a good year in 2003.

ìI try to do something for each of my sponsors during the year,î Smith said.

In addition to Kodiak Coffee, the musher is sponsored locally by Ottomeyer Clinic and Old Log Cabin in Forest Lake, and Hometown Auto in Hugo.

Smith owns Northbound Kennels in Columbus Township and is racing Alaskan huskies. She is entering her sixth season of racing dogs.

Race schedule

This winter will be a busy season on the trails for Smith and her dogs. Her schedule will include a 12-dog race this winter as she attempts to improve and expand the capabilities on her racing team.

If the season goes as hoped, Smith says she wants to be in a position to enter the 12-dog Wyoming Stage Races in Jackson, WY, in 2004.

For this season, however, Smith will still be busy. Her schedule to date is as follows:

ïDec. 28, a 30-mile race at Elton, WI.

ïJan. 4-5, Empire Race, Solon Springs, WI, a two-day 70 mile race.

ïJan. 24-25, Michigan Stage Race, 12-dog, three-day, 170-mile race.

ïFeb. 1, Mid-Minnesota Race, Aitkin, 80-mile race.

ïFeb. 14, Midnight Run, Escanaba, MI, 70-mile, six-dog race.

ïFeb. 22-23, Apostle Islands, Bayfield, WI, two-day, 70 mile race.

ïMarch 2, John Beargrease 8-dog race event, Duluth.

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