Huskies strain at leash for rally

Three huskies limber up for the competition

Hundreds of huskies are straining at the leash to take part in the 22nd Aviemore Sled Dog Rally.

About 200 teams of dogs, including Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes, Samoyeds, Greenland Dogs and Canadian Eskimo dogs, will race to the finish.

Organisers of the weekend's event in the Cairngorms are hoping for snow during the competition.

The event, in which sled mushers are pulled by a team of dogs, has been organised by the Siberian Husky Club.

The first competition took place in 1984 with only 12 teams battling it out around a four-mile track at Loch Morlich.

Penny Evans, of the Siberian Husky Club, said in the event of no snow the races would still go ahead, with the sled mushers using a three-wheeled rig.

She said about 1,000 dogs, who run at speeds of up to 20mph, were expected to take part in the rally.

The event is one of the biggest gatherings of its kind in the UK for dogs which were first bred to pull sleds in Arctic conditions hundreds of years ago.

Sled dogs are pulling up from as far afield as the Isle of Wight and Devon for one of the most challenging and prestigious of the British Siberian Husky Club's series of rallies.