FL-1200 musher Ola Brennodden Sunde was ill on arrival to cp Levajok. The TD permitted his team to maintain animal welfare for his team. Ola Brennodden Sunde was ill when arriving at cp Levajok. He managed to feed and care for his dogs before entering the checkpoint facilities. Brennodden Sunde chose to take his mandatory 16-hour rest at this checkpoint.
– When the next round of dog care was due, he was unable to do this himself. The TD permitted his handlers to provide dog care then. This decision was made due to animal welfare concerns until we could clarify the then-unclear medical situation of the musher, says Nils Finsrud, Chief TD and Chairman of the Jury.
Finsrud stresses that animal welfare comes before everything else and this was the cause for the dispensation given.
– No further dispensation for assistance in providing dog care on this checkpoint will be granted for this musher, which in reality means that he has to feed and care for his dogs himself. He also has to demonstrate that he is medically capable of taking care of himself and his dogs before he eventually may leave the checkpoint, says Finsrud.
– The jury will not approve that a musher who is under the weather continues on the next leg of the race. The regulations clearly state that the musher must be able to take care of him- or herself and the dogs, he says.