MALCOLM BURROWS
Malette, Victoria Australia
After watching the sled dogs running at Dinner Plain, Malcom was in surprised to find this type of hobby sport existed in Australia. He contacted the Siberian Husky Club of Victoria about the breed and put his name down to rehome one. After a few months of waiting, a Siberian became available, and six months later he got a second rehome.
He trained his first dogs by himself, running around the streets at night on a scooter and taking them to country trails. He was not sure if he knew what he was doing at the start.
Along his journey into sled dog sport, Malcolm had seen Alaskan Huskies run and was impressed by their speed, they reminded him of Australian Kelpies. By chance, it just so happened an experienced musher lived nearby who owned Alaskans – Karen McCarthy.
“I ran the two rehomes for one or two seasons, then I moved to Alaskan Huskies which is my current team. The Alaskan Huskies are a tough breed, [and] low maintenance dog.”
Now owning 26 dogs in total, 18 are still running and 8 are retired. His current lead dog, Clay, has always wanted to lead and please. Malcolm regards him as the best dog he has ever ran, but he is due to retire shortly.
Training takes place on forest trails, starting the dogs slow over short distances before gradually extending them to be longer and faster in speed. They use gear from Alpine, Dog Booties, Non-stop Dogwear, Windchill, and have started making their own equipment the last few years.
One thing Malcolm would like to see in the future are longer distance races.