Finally, finally, finally number 1. Congratulation to Katy Meier as the winner of FL-500 2012.
Skrevet av: Karoline Leistad-Jonas/transl. Elisabeth Simonsen
Dato: 12.03.2012 15:30
Finally, finally, finally number 1. Congratulation to Katy Meier as the winner of FL-500 2012. We also congratulate her amazing young leader dogs Tchmil, Fränk, Didi, Sean and Jaja. She has participated several times, last time in 2008 and she has three 2nd places to look back at. But this time she got first place and victory!
Experienced musher
Katy Meier, originally from Germany, now residing in Sweden, started out as nr. 27, and already at Jotka she had caught up with several other dog teams. Katy has held a high speed the entire race. Katy has been in the lead from Karasjok to the finish line.
In 2008 she announced her retirement. That year she had taken her third 2nd place in Finnmarksløpet. Now she was done with dog races, and this was her last race. The abstinences for dogs and competitions did however get too strong. Katy and her boyfriend started up again in 2009. They bought a number of puppies at all the same age and worked determinedly with them. Without experienced leader dogs Katy and boyfriend Jörg has raised this winner team. In 2011 they have participated in a few races to give the dogs experience, but the ultimate goal has been FL-500 in 2012.
This year was luckily not the same as in 2008, when Jan Vidar Dahle caught up with her between Jotka and Alta. He stopped, gave Katy a hug, and apologized for have more speed in his team than her. She was beaten by seven minutes. This year she had a good grip at the victory from Jergul, but already at Levajok she understood that her dogs had the highest speed. She has been first in the tracks, which means her dogs have had hard trails to run on. All eight dogs have run the entire race, and from the checkpoints they have reported of lively dogs with waging tales, good appetite and good speed in the team.
It was a proud musher that received a garland of victory from Mayor Laila Davidsen and Finnmarksløpet. – Now I’m not the eternal number two! she cheered. She was very pleased with the completion of the race. The breaks at the checkpoint were longer than originally planned, but she estimated that with the high speed the dogs had in the track, the extra race would do them good. About her and Jörg’s formula for success, she says: - We don’t train a lot, but we know how to train dogs!
This year’s Finnmarksløp was her comeback, and what a comeback! – It’s far from the last time we participate in Finnmarksløpet, Katy smiles. Finnmarksløpet congratulates.
Photo:Jørn Losvar
Photo: Geir Stian Altamann Larsen
Photo: Mina Sveen
Photo: Geir Stian Altamann Larsen