Elitekjører fra Alaska kjører FL-2013

For aller første gang i Finnmarksløpets historie er en elitekjører fra Alaska påmeldt. Hugh Neff har kjørt hele 21 store løp ”over there” og kronet verket med seier i prestisjefylte Yukon Quest i vinter. 

Neff har ikke mulighet til å ta med hele spannet over til Skandinavia. Planen er å ta med 6-8 hunder, blant dem er selvsagt de beste lederhundene. Resten av hundene vil være godt trente hunder fra Mats Petterssons kennel i Kiruna. Neff er like mye en eventyrer som en konkurransekjører, han livnærer seg blant annet av å være motivator og har talegavene i behold. Vi ba han skrive noen linjer om denne, etter vår mening, geniale bestemmelsen om å delta i Finnmarksløpet.

- Playing and racing with dogs is a beautiful way to see the world. I have competed in 21- 1,000 mile races in Alaska and the Yukon since 2000. We have run in many smaller events as well all over North America. My funnest memories are competing with Native Alaskan friends from the villages. Last year we did well winning the Yukon Quest by just 26 seconds. More important than winning is being the musher who spends more time running dogs and travelling by sled than any other human on the earth. My heroes are adventurers- John Muir, Roald Admundsen, Schackleton and others. To have an oppotunity to see Norway and Finland by dogteam is a dream come true. I promised Per and Hannah who volunteered as veternarians during last year's Quest race that I would be coming to play against their country's best mushers so here we go! I hope to meet many new friends along the trail as well as learn from some of the greatest outdoorsman in the world. Thanks to my friends Mats Pettersson and Yuho Yleppsia for all of their help. I might not have lots of $ but for some dog mushers this life is about having a wealth of experience. Not doing too bad so far for a simple city kid from Chicago...

DELTAKER I FL-2013: Hugh Neff, foto: privat

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