(1998) IFSS (International Federation of Sleddog Sports) In 1997 the SSF (Sleddog Sports Federation) accepted ABSA's application for organisation membership. The SSF is the affiliated National Federation Member of the IFSS, along with other country National Federation Members, such as USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, etc. Veteran UK musher John Coyne is the current Executive Director of the SSF and paved the way for ABSA's link with the IFSS. Founding Members of the IFSS are the International Sled Dog Racing Assn (ISDRA) and the European Sled Dog Racing Assn (ESDRA). Associate Members of the IFSS are the Alaska Dog Mushers' Assn, International Sled Dog Veterinary Medical Assn ((ISDVMA), Mush with PRIDE and Trail Club of Europe. The IFSS is a coalition of National Federations, Founding and Associate Members formed in 1985. In 1986, the IFSS became a member of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). GAISF is a collection of 88 international sports federations and various other associations and is a Recognised Organisation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and all IOC International Federation Members concerned with Olympic Sports are members of GAISF. The ABSA Group can now hopefully realise one of its original aims, when setting up in 1992, "to promote the Sport alongside other countries." As mushers already know (to their benefit!), ABSA has been innovative in its formative years by greatly improving various aspects of organisation of its own sleddog competitions, constantly striving to improve conditions for both mushers and their dogs. It is a compliment that other sleddog organisations in this country have implemented many of ABSA's ideas into their own structures (introducing improved Competition Rules in line with other countries, the extremely popular 2-3 dog class, separate classes for freight breeds and veteran dogs, race result printouts on-site, mementos for every competitor and his dogs, endorsement of professional marshals, utilization of any profits straight back into event improvement, catering at every event, etc., etc.), which can only serve to benefit the Sport as a whole in the UK. The following two articles are reprinted by kind permission of the IFSS. They appeared in the hard copy of the Third Annual ISDVMA Symposium held 21-22 September 1996. Both articles are by Arleigh J Reynolds, DVM, PhD, of the Department of Clinical Sciences, New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA: "Dr Reynolds is an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, New York. He is an active sprint race musher currently competing in races from New Hampshire, where he won a 6-dog World Championship in 1994, to Alaska, where he placed second in the 8-dog Tok Race of Champions in 1996. He also uses his kennel of 50 racing huskies in his studies on the relationship between diet and performance. Dr Reynolds has served as chief veterinarian on the Saranac Lake, New York sprint race championships and he has authored a number of articles on sled dog nutrition. He is a member of ISDVMA." In the hard copy of the Second Annual ISDVMA Symposium, Dr Reynolds contributed: A PHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO SLED DOG NUTRITION Over the past twenty five years a large proportion of sled dog research has focused on the role diet plays in optimizing performance. From this work we now know that varying the energy constituents of the diet can have significant effects on many of the physiological parameters affecting endurance. Diets containing 32-40% of the energy as protein have been shown to support greater PCV, plasma volume, and VO2 max during a strenuous training program than diets containing 24% or less of their energy as protein. Diets containing 50-60% of their energy as fat promote greater intramuscular stores of triglyceride, a greater lipolytic response during exercise, a decreased rate of glycogen utilization, and a 30-50% increase in VO2 max and the maximal rate of fat oxidation when compared to diets containing 20% or less of their calories as fat. Early studies have demonstrated the sled dog has no dietary carbohydrate requirement, although the inclusion of a small amount of this energy source seemed to decrease the risk of stress diarrhea. Recent work has indicated that a small amount of carbohydrate (2g/kg body weight) administered immediately after exercise may increase the rate of glycogen depletion by four fold during the first four hours of recovery. From these studies it appears that sled dog performance may be optimized by a high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate diet. As the optimal proportions of energy nutrients become better defined, future work will likely focus on vitamin, mineral and water metabolism.