2026 First Episode - 2025 Recap

We're back! Did you miss us?

This episode may, or may not, have been recorded in January. . . better late than never!

Join us as we chat about our favourite and most notable moments from the 2025 season. 

Transcript

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Hi, Jamelia and Rell here, and this is Lie Now, a Dryland Dog Sledding Podcast. We are two Rushes from Perth, Western Australia, and are super passionate about the Dryland Sledding Sports. No matter where you're at in your sled dog sports journey, this is the podcast for you. Our episodes are for those just discovering the sport, right through to those who have many years of experience. Join us as we share stories, chat with representatives from clubs around the country, and interview guests from the sledding community. It's now time for a new episode. Let's get into it. Happy New Year! Happy New Year! What a year. Oh yeah, 2025. Yeah. Um blinked and I missed it. It was quick, right? Yeah, and we had big plans, and I don't feel like they eventually didn't. We had a lot. It was it was a big year. We had a lot last year. We both had new dogs competing. We both had we both had three dog competing households last year. We were both on clubs and national associations. Yes. We both attended every race in WA, which was 11 races, I believe. Something. Something like that. It was massive. It was a big year. Yeah, it was insane. And looking at my quote, big ass calendar that I bought from a Facebook ad. It's gonna be another big year. Exactly. But there's a few changes for both of us this year. A few changes. Which we'll we'll talk about, we'll set some 2026 goals for the season and what we want to do this year because I know neither of us have uh learned how to slow down in the past six months. So you can't be going into 2026 in that attitude. Well, I think the universe had something to say about it for me. That's enough for you. It does sometimes take external uh factors to make us potentially before I've been pondering that myself, but we would talk about that, I'm sure. Next, we'll talk about that next. Let's talk about 2025, the year that was a big, big year for both of us personally. We've got some achievements here to note because I want to record them down for me and you and for us to look back on later and actually because I think the more you look back at sledding, you know, we've both been doing the sport for however many years now. They they all yeah, it keeps going, but they all seem to mould into one and you can't remember what you actually achieved what year, and sometimes it feels like we're working on the same stuff and doing the same thing, so it is nice to stop and recognise actually what we did do this year, and yeah, especially it was a lot, it was an awful lot for both of us. Yeah, well, you and I, along with a few others, were part of a handful of people who attended every race event in WA. It was a very small group of people, yeah. It was like less than five or five. You competed in everyone, yes, and I did not, I did not do the Candy Cross race, but I attended every single race and yeah, it's a lot, it's a big commitment. It is, and especially in WA where our racing season, it although it does seem to be spreading out a little bit, generally, the bulk of it is in the space of three months. Yeah. So when you think of 11 weekends in three months, and at the same time you're keeping those dogs fit, and also the finances to be driving to these races all over the state every weekend, and the time constraints as well of like people don't think about are you taking Friday off work or are you finishing work at five and then booking it down? Oh, I don't have that option because my greater life plans have not come into fruition. But yeah, so I have not had that option, but yeah, it's just interesting talking to people because I have some things that are not dog related, and they're like, Can you do this? No, like literally winter is dog sledding, and I cannot do or be anywhere for you, cannot take on another radio show, cannot do weekends, yeah, I can't, you know. These well, I literally say April to October. Yeah, that's me, like that's sledding while we don't do anything in October. You know, there might be a few things that lag in September, but you know, don't ask anything of me. I'm outside in that time frame. Yeah, yeah. 100% it is it's it's just a hectic time of year, and not to mention we're talking about everything that we're doing on the weekends. That is not taking into account that in the weeks, in order to have dogs fit enough to do what we do, they are early morning weekdays or late nights to train when the temperatures drop. That is driving to training grounds, organizing dogs, it's dark, it's cold, you've just worked eight, nine hours that day, you've then got to come home, quickly do your breakfast or whatever before you've got to get going. Like it's a it's a lot as a sport, and it explains why when we get to you know, coming to the end of September, we're tired. Last year was fun. I had a lot of fun. I did too. I like I honestly feel like I can't remember it to be honest. There are some incidents I do recall and have video proof to remind me, but um I feel like it was a big blur. And when you were talking about like we're gonna talk about a few things, I was like, God, I can't even remember. It's hard, right? And there's definitely I'm getting more and more like happy that I have the photographic evidence I do because, like you said, like you look back on the year and you can't actually remember what you did, but then when you have photos and videos, you're like, oh, that was really cool. Actually, it just reminded me Mel Robbins. You may know her, she's written the let them book, and she's a she's like a I don't know what she is, like a coach, I guess, mentor, but she Instagram page did a free booklet, and it was literally go through your phone and look at all the things that you did each month because you forget how what you've been doing, but often there's photos or videos that you can look and go, Oh yeah, I did that, or you know, this is what yeah. So I recently did that, so I was like, Oh yeah, I did that. I remember that. Oh yeah, things that I yeah had completely forgotten. I was like, Oh yeah, that happened. Yeah, yeah. That's cool. I started taking more photos last year because I would look back some months and I'd have barely any photos, but I've done a lot. One of the big ones is on Strava, which my watch automatically connects to. I'm a massive Strava snob as well. I love Strava, but I try to post a photo with every single activity I do. So even if it's like an awful blurry photo, every time I take the dog to a run, I take a photo. And it just stuff to look back at. And you're like, oh look, I did train all those times, but I really like it. So yeah, that's a good idea. I like the looking back on photos. Mind you, I have started culling my photos because I had 17 and a half thousand photos on my phone down to nine thousand. So I just want to cull them. That's a lot. It's a lot. That is a lot. I also want a new phone and don't want all those photos to get a new phone. And then they just transfer over and then you end up with no space on the new phone. Yeah, yeah. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yeah. Well, let's start off with having a look back at what we did this year. We will let's focus on things we enjoyed and things we're really, really happy with. I can start off with one of the things that I have been building up to for years and years and years and years is becoming more consistent with my running. There was a couple of speed and time goals that I wanted to hit, but on the whole, I just wanted to commit to it. I like running, which started from canny cross and is mostly still canny cross, but I do actually like running. And it's any kind of cardio sport, any sport really is all about consistency and just getting out there and doing it multiple times a week. And I did that this year. I managed to stick to my stick to my running. I did more bike riding, I hit a couple of goals, I managed to do my first sub 30-minute 5k, and I managed to for the second year in a row, our canny cross races, I ran all of every single one of them. So a couple of years ago, I was still doing like run walk for most of it. So it's still a really big achievement to me to be able to see that. Especially like bearing in mind, which we'll touch on later, but as somebody that's heavily involved in the running of races, the fact that you don't get enough sleep and you get up and if you're racing in multiple classes, you're warming up multiple dogs, you're running back and forth, you've just come out of you've come off the this year. I did women's bike, one dog, scooter, and canny. So I've done a bike run and a scooter run already by this point, and then you've got to hook up a fresh dog and go out for canny. Like it's not just the two and a half, three kilometers that you're actually racing, it's everything else in the picture. Yeah, so that took a lot of energy and that was hard, but I did it. I'm really proud about that. That's good. I'd be proud too. What is one of your what's one of the things that you're proud of of yourself in the sport this year? Look, I I think 23, 2023 was my peak. It's slightly gone downhill from there. But I think I was excited in one race in particular because I almost caught Adam, and Adam and I have competed against each other all 2025 in two-dog bike. Yeah, and of course, he has the faster dogs than I do. But this time he took had the two young dogs, and I had Colt and Skylar. Yeah. English Pointer Siberian Husky. Yeah. Probably it's an interesting mix because there's this bit of a size difference. Yeah. And yeah, I almost caught him and I was excited, and the dogs, I don't think I've ever been that close. Probably was caught up in the moment and then stacked it. I have heard him say to other people, you could have won that race if you hadn't have fallen over and got stuck in the mud, and then you know, literally stuck in the mud. But you know, you never know what's gonna happen in the end. You know, it was exciting to get that close. Yeah, yeah. That's really good. That's a really good one. And that was coming from like his out first, yeah. And so we've had to chase them down. Yeah, yeah. So that was that was fun. That was really, really nice. Uh you can see my stack on TikTok. It was a good, it was a good one. I think also on that talk, we have a lot of good stories from this year. Lots of things happened, and also it was very rainy. One of the rainiest seasons I've seen. Yeah, my first year was very wet, but I don't really recall much rain since then. No. And this year, like well, 2025, yeah. I I've been talking to a couple of novices that got in last year, and they're gearing out a lot of camping setups for really, really heavy rain, which is good and never a bad thing to be prepared for. But I've been telling them it's not normally like this. It's normally quite dry because it's not that we don't train in the rain, but the rain normally brings the temperature up. So we're not avoiding the rain, but we don't normally run in it for that reason. So, yeah, it has been hopefully 2026 is drier because I don't love running in the mud, and I'm still in a situation where I have my dogs sleeping in the swag with me. Oh, like it's wet. Yeah, normal coating dogs are hard to dry. Yeah, yeah. But but we managed, it was a good, it was a good season. This season was massive for me, just being able to compete three dogs in three separate classes and be Wasser president and ASA vice presidents. It was a big year, and that's obviously constant things to do for the club and the association and meetings all the time, and running training sessions, and I'm excited. So at the end of 2025, I stepped down as both positions, so WASA president and ASA vice president, and that is the first time in six years that I oh, I was on the committee WASA committee six years running. Yeah, wow. So yeah, I think that was two years when I first started the sport before I joined the committee. So I'm very excited for what that looks like for me this year. I'm still still talking to the committee because I I can't I can't let go. But I'm very, very excited for what the club's doing this year, and I can't wait to be a supportive member on the outside and attend training sessions and actually kind of get that member feel for things. Yeah, yeah. The Lingo thing is hard, it's harder than it looks. Yeah, well, I don't know. Because I too stepped down from running west after eight years as secretary, and for most of the time it's just been Nat and I. So there were things in place, like I as a teacher, it was kind of like writing relief notes, so that anybody can just walk in and everything's there. But yeah, I was just it's a big change, right? And look, it's early in the year. Like, I'm happy, you know, obviously happy to advise and whatnot. But at the moment, like in my head, I was like, Oh, I would be doing this by now, but you know, that those thoughts have not crossed my mind. Oh that that I probably have been able to relax a bit, relax a bit. Yeah, it's just an extra pressure. Like I remember all of especially the last well, the last four years, two as sorry, three, one as VP, two as president. Um it's just that constant in the back, there's always something you're never done. There's always something you can be doing. You could be promoting a bit more, you could be signing up to more events, you could be getting more information out to your beginners or your experienced members, there's always something to do. So having that rolling in the back of your head all the time, that is a massive mental load off. You know, I can just as things become available, I can step up and I'm hopefully going to race marshal again for WASA in 2026. So I'm looking forward to that. So I can still be a part of the club in small ways, but as a contributing member without the pressure of making sure everybody turns up and all the equipment's there and everything. Yeah, I hear that. Yeah, so yeah, no, but I'm I'm very excited to see what 2026 is like. Yeah. So focusing on the clubs for a second, because I do want to talk about how that looked for us as well. Do you have any successes that you are proud of from a AFSS or running west angle? I think it was good that like our first race we had to postpone due to weather, which didn't really eventuate, but you know, there were severe weather warnings, so we chose to uh postpone it. And sometimes when you postpone races, you can't get an opportunity. The season just doesn't allow it. Yeah, too time or weather, and but we were able to, and it was the last I think it was the last long weekend in WA for the year. It was it was late in the late, it was September, October, that crossover period. We were able to put on our race being the long weekend, it was a three-day event in which like we start the year generally with a three-day, so it was good to be able to do that. Yeah, and I think the highlight was definitely the relay. Yeah, I brought that to the table a few years ago, but I've never run it myself, competed. So uh last year was like, you know what? I organise it, I'm gonna do it. So yeah, I yeah, I I did the scooter leg, which is you know, I've been doing I did a bit of bike and scooter this well 2025, and yeah, I was like, everybody wants to do bike, right? So I was like, look, I'll do scooter and not doing canny cross. Um, so yeah, it was fun. And my team of Marcus and Kathleen Sprigg, um, yeah, we came second, so I'm very happy. It's a very, very good team. Yeah, that was awesome. I love the relay lane, favorite event of the year every single time. It's just such a good vibe, everyone's having fun. It is still it's that perfect mix of competitive and social. Yeah, and it was just so good because every single person who was at the event was hap helping or in the race, or yeah, helping or in the race. Yeah, um, there was not one person back at camp who was all hands on deck. Um, you know, the crossovers were great, and I just I just remember just you know watching everybody and just you know, seeing teams come in and then the handover and the you know the dogs being taken and the equipment being taken and the next person going, like I was just like, yeah, like it was it was good. That's so good, yeah. It's a yeah, very, very, very special event. And also saying that because I was in it, I wasn't doing the timing, which was you know something that I've been doing, and it was also great to have other people be able to do that for us, yeah. So yeah, again, it was really fun, and it was a really good way to end the year, I think. Yes, yeah, it actually worked out really, really well, and we got really good temperatures to save the surface. Yes, absolutely. Was also had a very big season last year. We had three two heat races and three single heat races, as well as all of our beginners' days and everything. And most importantly, we had a massive turnout of novices last year, which surprised us because we did slightly less than the normal amount of advertising, and we didn't do anything special or new, and we ended up with classes of 14, 15 very regularly, which is huge, yeah. And uh a lot of them uh finished out the whole season, and a lot of them are looking like they're gonna attend uh this coming season as well, which is brilliant to boost the club. Yeah, new members, new dogs, fresh blood. Yeah, uh, but it was brilliant, and it takes it really does take a whole club to pull that together because for people to become a part of the sport and the club, they need to feel the kind of community and the spirit of what we do, and you can't do that without your members playing active roles. So that was a massive, massive highlight for me last year. And then jumping on to the dog front as well, which is obviously the reason we do what we do. Yeah, dog successes this year. I was super proud. This was Solace's first year competing. Um, I put a lot of work into that little dog, and he did really, really, really well. My main focus was in one dog with him, training and everything. I like to work on my dogs solo a lot in their first few years in the sport, and then give them other experiences where I can. And Solace has had the best first year of any dog I've ever owned. We did lots of one dog stuff, but he also had quite a few two-dog runs, quite a few two-dog races, ran with a variety of different dogs, had a couple of runs with other people, not too many, and uh had his first three-dog and four-dog run in the same year. Um, but that was good. He's still very much a wheel dog. We've not yet branched into lead dog territory. You know, maybe we never will. But uh, I was super proud of him. I worked, I worked really, really hard with that dog, and he's always been very motivated to run, and his corners are good. But I worked very, very, very hard on our line out because he was a spinner at the beginning of the year, and I absolutely will not have that. Yeah, because when you're running two dogs and teams, it gets very, very messy very quickly. And also, if you have to stop out on track for any reason, if you have a dog that's gonna turn and face you, that's gonna be a really big problem if they're in a two-dog or anything like that. And I worked hard every single training session. We didn't move until, even if it was only two seconds, until we were lined out at the end and we were holding it. And I would also often he naturally turns to look at me, but I wouldn't release to go forward until he was looking forward. And then I had some very, very good handlers at racers helping me. Yeah, we managed to successfully race with I think we maybe had one or two spins on a start line this year, but by the end of the season, I he now doesn't do it at all. I don't worry about it too much, yeah. Which, yeah, that was that worked so hard for that. Um, so that was I think I do recall that it's watching you and yeah, just waiting, and then yeah, he didn't spin. Yeah, yeah. It's like it's dealing with the with him, um the over arousal is very high and we get there very quickly. But I think also just he just needs more time and harness. Like getting well, yeah. But getting used to the sport, it's a lot of like the running's easy, the running's always easy, but the figuring out the rules around the game that we play and how to you know, you only get to the running part if you're good at this, and you only get to pass dogs if you're good at passing, and all of those that kind of structure to what we do, yeah, that just takes time to get there, and often he can get really, really overroused because he just wants to run and he can't figure out what is holding him back. Yeah, that was that's hard work, but it was really, really good. Yeah, cool. What about you? What are your dog successes? Well, I guess we had first and seconds overall. Lots of good results this year. Yeah. And it was good like when Adam wasn't racing, we were able to give the dogs to other people and I would also swap what I was running, like pair pairing up of dogs. So All dog so Evie and Skylar did not run together, but all the other dogs ran together. Yeah. So um and then also been able to give Riley two dogs for a running west uh race uh that you and I and Riley were in. Yeah. So yeah, just been able to change them up and yeah, just see how they went. You know, running young dogs for the first time I think it was a running west race, and we've only run a particular track once and they were let's go that way. Yeah, but that is not a success. However, they did stay when I crashed. So for two young dogs, yeah, happy that they were I was on the ground a while. To be able to get two dogs started again is not to be underestimated. Yeah, that's not when they're when they're young dogs, yeah. When facing the wrong way, when their team dogs are passing around a corner and they're wanting to go and just you know, just wait, just wait. I think what we're both aiming for though in the long run is well-rounded dogs and dogs that can run in with different people in different positions in different disciplines and can be reliable and consistent all the time. Yeah, but you can't get to that without putting in the man hours, and unfortunately it takes stacks and going the wrong way and getting to sometimes you have passes in, you know, with obviously with dogs you know, or however you're training, but you have um passes in muddy areas or on tight tracks, or you're passing multiple teams at once, or the kangaroos, emus, whatever. Like that's what this sport is all about. You don't know what is you know, and also that is why I'm really, really big on training everything well because fast dogs are great and fast dogs and fast, but it is the best dog on the day always. Yeah, and there are many of steadier but more consistent teams that have uh placed higher on individual races or placed higher over a year because they have that training behind them and the dogs are reliable all the time, yeah. And I think that's what we're all aiming for. Yeah. Um, yeah, I think I had well, I was trying to recall. I have had one stack in a race before on a rig, and the rig landed on me. Oh yeah up a hill. So that was just all of that just doesn't make sense. But um, yeah, this season or 2025, three three races, three sacks. Not ideal. Not ideal. But yeah, no injuries out of any of those. Yeah, that was good. Maybe your um took and rolls gear much better. Yeah, well, clearly not in the backyard. Only off of mounted devices. Yeah, flat surfaces, nah. Deadly. I don't think I don't think I had any stacks in races this year. I had plenty at training. Oh. Uh not play not plenty, but I did come off. I can't remember now. I definitely tend to come off at least a few times. I do have touch wood. I do actually have quite a good tuck and roll though. Yeah. I I definitely fell in canny at some point this year. Um but it was overall pretty injury-free. I managed to keep my shin splints away for the entire year, so that's that's a big one. Go me. Yeah, well done. Lots of big plans for next year. We're going to do a do an episode on our bingo board, um, which we did quite well at. I think we did over half. Yeah, I think so. Um I think potentially we were quite optimistic last year with how much time we had, particularly the ones about doing race vlogs and what else did we do? Try a recommended camping meal. The bakeries, the five bakeries. That that's asked. What did we do? Two? Maybe. We did that one we did together, and then didn't we do 2J bakeries separately? You might have, yeah. I did good. 2J Bakery is a favourite, we'll do that next year. I think because we don't have the the there's not a lot of stops on the way to a race to get those bakery opportunities. Yeah. That's alright. But we'll try it again this year. Maybe we'll keep the one that we've done, so we'll just aim for four bakeries. But we did we didn't knock out a heap of them, trained at plenty of new locations, we spoke to a lot of clubs, we did race each other multiple times. We ran teams, both of us ran teams. You submitted your asset titles, and I travelled interstate. But yeah, we did a lot. Yeah, it was a very, very good year. I think a very good year. Got some exciting plans for line out this year. Exciting plans for both us in our sledding and personal life. Yeah. 2026 will be another good year. Well, let's hope. I ended 2025, like literally 29th of December. Yeah. I fell over in the backyard. I blame my slippery socks in my new shoes. It's a bold. Yeah. I've never heard of anybody blaming socks before. Oh, yeah. Well, I I had a thought when I put them on. I was like, oh, these are slippery. And in that, I should have had that, you know, gone. This is your brain telling you something's gonna happen. Are your shoes much too big? I how much could you feed? So I got new shoes, right? And then I was like, well, maybe my socks are a little bit um too thick for the shoe. So I was like, let me get some thinner ones. I've got the thinner ones, but they're very slippery. And slippery sock, feel like I will I'll get you the you can feel it. No, it's I yeah, and I just I just felt a bit of a slide and then you know game over. Game over. So you've followed, yes, starts off the year in a moon boot. The end is not quite in sight. No, no. Uh but we have time, yeah. We have time. Yeah, so I think the boot comes off in about two weeks, but then I don't see a surgeon until the end of March. So what happens in the six weeks in between? I'm not sure. Yeah, yep. All up in the air. If yeah, got a full tear and possible partial tear. MR res MRI results pending. Well, actually, it's supposed to be in today, Australia Day. Your MRI results for the land. Yeah, in my on the app today. Do MRI technicians work on public holidays? No, well it's it I've got a notification saying you'll be in the app on the 26th. Oh. I think about six o'clock. Oh, so it must be in. Oh, how excited. I don't even know how to read it. Like, do they give you Do they actually give it to you or does it go to your never seen anything? Do you know what made me angry? I've had a few x-rays. Oh yeah. I've had a few x-rays and they never actually give them to me. I would like them. Why can't I? Yeah, that's right. Smart. So yeah, my health record. It's on the my gov app. It was a step-by-step tutorial. So let's see, gotta just change the dates. So here is MRI left ankle. Can I can I see it? I think I have food crumbs in my eye. Okay, so everyone can see it. So, or everyone who needs to see it can see it. Oh, here it is. Is that it? Snarelle, you are in the world. It doesn't actually, it is it doesn't actually send it to like me. This is to the surgeon. It's in surgeons speak. Yeah. Yeah, and the words are so big I don't actually I see lots of normals, which is good. It doesn't say not good anywhere. Very bad. Yeah, the ATL. ATFL, which is torn. There is scarring. Lots of normal. That's good. So maybe I don't have the partial tear, yeah. Yeah, see, I don't know these parts of the body, so yeah. That that's why you go to a surgeon and doctor. Not yeah, this is why they don't come to you because people will do people will do silly things on their own advice because they'll Google how bad is a torn Achilles. Yeah, well, I definitely knew that I didn't have a torn Achilles because Can you see your Achilles? Is that that not? Yeah. Can you see it? If it took like if it's you would not be able to wait there. Okay. Yeah. Does it like if it was to snap, you'd feel it? Would it snap and then like spring up your leg because it's under tension, right? Why don't you ask Sammy? Oh yeah. Yeah. Well there was a definite snap on mine, and then I I four dogs thought I was playing a game and thought it would be fun to jump on top of me. I think one actually stood on my foot, but then the whole getting up was a problem. But I could wait to bear, so I figured no Achilles and probably no break, but it was very painful. Like I was shouting out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not a good way to finish the year. And or start the year. No, no. But hopefully it's all up from here. Yeah. I have faith in the two of us. It's gonna be maybe maybe we have a very, very good year every three. Because 2023 was a good year. Oh, was it actually? No, I 2023 was a good year for me. Yeah. So I I see I see us on the up. Okay. I've got big plans for us this year. Okay. Put that on your positive thinking board. Okay. Manifestation board. Somebody told me to make one of them the other day. And I was like, I don't have enough time. Yeah, well, I'm seeing your schedule. As long as I as long as 4 30. My day is hourly planned from 4 30 in the morning till eight o'clock at night, every single day. And as long as I don't have any, uh I don't have to stay at work late and I've just started a new job, so that's not likely. I don't have any long phone calls, no car issues, and no misplanned events, then everything will be fine for the entire year. As long as everything runs for the book. Yeah, yeah. Alrighty. Well, I think we're gonna call it there, aren't we? Yeah. Be back. Shout about 2026. Absolutely. All right. Thank you all for joining us. We will chat to you very, very soon. See you soon. See you soon.