Dogsled Racer Saves Fellow Competitor Getting Dragged Along

A heroic dogsled racer came to the aid of a desperate fellow competitor, who had crashed and been dragged hundreds of meters by her dogs. The stunning rescue took place at the Norway Trail, Sleddog Mid-Distance Stage Race, on March 6. Markéta Bednar, 48, from Switzerland, said she had been ready to take on the trail, which was hard-packed and fast, when she saw a musher ahead of her turn right and fall down. Another musher signaled for Marketa to stop, and so she slowed her dogs and took in how tough the turn was. But as Marketa set off again, another musher in front of her, Venke Gulli, from Norway, also went down, but Marketa was focused on making the turn. As she came out of it, she noticed up ahead that Venke was still being dragged along by her dogs, and having first slowed her dogs down as not to startle Venke's team, after 300 meters nothing had changed. Marketa said Venke was pleading for help, and so she sped up and tried to catch up with the dogs at the front of her team. When that didn't work, Marketa made a swift decision: she jumped from her sled onto Venke's sled to stop her competitor’s team. The quick thinking worked, and Venke's dogs then came to a halt, in a stunning moment that Marketa was able to capture through her 360-degree helmet camera. Fortunately, neither Venke nor any of the dogs were injured, and they were able to continue on the trail.

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