Girdwood musher finishes fourth in Northern Lights 300
Julie St. Louis/Turnagain Times
Girdwood musher Nicolas Petit speaks to a TV camera crew at KTUU for a segment to air prior to the Iditarod. Petit was the highest placing rookie in last year’s race.
Photo courtesy of Emily Krol
Girdwood musher Nicolas Petit runs his dog team in the Knik 200 on Jan. 7.
By Julie St. Louis
Turnagain Times Correspondent
Girdwood musher, Nicolas Petit, garnered a fourth place finish in this past weekend’s Northern Lights 300. The 300-mile sled dog race began on Friday, Jan. 27, and ended for Petit on Sunday, Jan. 29.
“I’m really happy with my finish in this race,” said Petit. He added that the race was a good one to help prepare for the Iditarod, since it followed the actual trail and passed through three of the official checkpoints.
Petit ran his first Iditarod last year and finished as the highest placing rookie, earning him the Jerry Austin Memorial Rookie of the Year award. This year he is training a new team provided to him by Raymie Redington, son of the founder of the Iditarod, Joe Redington, Sr., as well as grandsons Ray, Jr. and Ryan.
“I feel very privileged to run a team from the Redington family,” said Petit.
This has already been quite a season for Team Petit. The Northern Lights 300 was Petit’s fourth race of the mushing season. In December, he finished 21st in the Sheep Mountain 150, and 11th in the Knik 200 held earlier in January. A third race, the Copper Basin 300, was canceled after 80 miles due to extremely poor trail conditions.
The day after the Northern Lights 300, Petit met with Channel 2 Sports reporter Charlie Sokaitis for an interview. He will be one of four Iditarod mushers to be featured on the station just prior to the start of the Iditarod March 3. For the interview, Petit hopped on the sled again for a short run to show off a few of his dogs, plus the team’s inspirational leader, and a favorite canine known around Girdwood as Ugly Petit.
Last year Petit’s focus was on running races to qualify to run the Iditarod. He ran a seasoned team from 14-time Iditarod veteran Jim Lanier of Chugiak. This year he is taking an unproven team, but from a kennel with decades of experience and strong bloodlines.
“The races I’ve done have helped to train and test my team to see which ones work best with each other,” he said, “and in what order to fill out the 16 dog spots.”
Now that Petit is training with the Iditarod in his crosshairs, he has a new website: www.teampetit.com and is promoting himself as Team Petit – Ugly Dog Mushing.
“My goal for this year’s Iditarod is to improve on my finish last year,” said Petit.
Last year, Petit finished 28th out of 62 teams that started the Iditarod. This year 69 teams are signed up.
Petit said that without his fans and sponsors all of this would not be possible, and he still needs help to get to the starting line in March. To follow Petit or to contribute to his Iditarod fund as a sponsor go to: www.teampetit.com or www.facebook.com/girdwood2nome.
Local sponsor GRRdwood Pets is hosting a dog food drive to provide all the needed food for Petit’s team. Stop by the store at 148 Holmgren place in downtown Girdwood to buy a bag of Red Paw brand food to support Team Petit.
