Arne and his Family

Parken Gård Husky is a Alaskan Husky long distance dog-kennel, situated in Langfjordbotn, Arctic Norway 800 km north of the Arctic Circle!

Arne and Marianne have been running the kennel for nearly 20 years, and Arne is one of the veterans of Europe’s longest sleddog race, the Finnmarksløpet 1000km! Arne has three 3rd places, and he has been in the top 10 or the last 17 years, with an average position of 5th!

Marianne has done several long distance races as well, but that is “only” from 300km to 500km! Pasvik Trail 300km and Femundløpet 400km with good results- 2,3,and 4th place.

We now have 31 adult dogs in training, and out of them 17 that are more than 3 years old and in at least their 2nd training year and ready for Finnmarksløpet this season. We also have 10 puppies-teenagers…born last summer and soon ready to have their first run in harnesses!

We have two children Isak, 12, and Mina 9. Mina will be 10 on 13th March, the day Arne starts out on his twentieth Finnmarksløp! She was born in 2000 when Arne was on his mandatory rest stop. Marianne with him as a handler, and they had to leave the race and go to the hospital! A proper Finnmarksløpet princess that never gets to have her parents home for her birthdays!!

Running a kennel like we do is a big commitment and a lifestyle/way of living that is fulfilling – on time..takes all our time…on money…takes all our money…but it is a privileged way of life and we love our dogs a lot!

This weekend was the first race this year and this season in Alta, “alta 2-days” which is a race 2 x 50 km- 50 km Saturday and the same on Sunday. There are two classes-12 dogs and 8 dogs both classes have the same distance. Arne was in the 12 dog class, and our handler Kerstin was in the 8 class, and Marianne was in the race-organisation committee! Arne came 2nd out of 13 teams only 15 seconds behind the winner using 2h 05 min each day and Kerstin with the young team of rookies, came 3rd out of 27 teams in 2h 24 min/2h 21 min! Arne was leading after the first day, so he was a bit disappointed to loose that first position on the second day, but overall we are happy about the dogs and the race and looking forward to next race 2 weeks away!