Mushing

… is now actually a history that passed away however it’s hard to prejudge if forever.

Because there is nothing more magical than running headlong through a forlorn forest with the beloved dogs, intrusting the safety in their paws.

The wind lashing my face, the speed boosting the adrenaline and the excitement resulting from the feeling of freedom are something I dream of feeling again one day.

My first ride on a sled was an experiment performed in 1994. Together with my father, we used to harness older dogs that were available at that time and which we later used to call "a recreative team". At the beginning the speeds we achieved were not that impressive however were more than enough to give us a good dose of emotions.

Two years later we owned two regular teams already. My father competed in B1 class and me - in C1.

The complement of my team was pretty regular if not taking into account seasonal dogs’ exchanges caused by some reasons. Nevertheless, Bursztyn, slightly swashbuckling but always reliable, being my regular wheel-dog was a stable element of my team. At the very beginning the rest of my team was composed by Bursztyn’s siblings - Bystra, Bajka, Bohun and Bjorn, which were later replaced by younger dogs  such as Trojka, Wesola, Wanilia, Harnas (all of them z Coyoacan) and Cowboy (Poor Lonesome Cowboy of Baker Lake).

Although we always treated mushing like a hobby, in years 1996-1997 our teams were leaders in Poland, pretty often jumping on the podium - sometimes even as race winners.

On January 1^st of 1998, the dream was over. Two of our leading dogs, Trojka and Czorcik, were killed in an accident during training.

Since then nothing was like before….

I resigned from mushing for good in 2002 when I left my family home. It’s hard training with one single dog, especially without being a good runner.

Nevertheless I hope one day, I will be able to feel again what a musher feels when stepping on the sled runners….