Our First Dog Sled Race

Agimac River Outfitters and Run Silent Dog Sled Trips sponsored their first dog sled race. Joanna worked hard all fall and winter training her dogs for the upcoming winter races. As it turned out, she only was able to run in two races, the Beargrease in Duluth,MN and the Wolf Track Classic in Ely,MN. She had planned to run in the Eaton Rugby race near Dryden and sponsored by our dear friend and vet, Clayton Schneider. It is her most fun race of the season. Unfortunately, she was unable to participate in that race because we were so busy here at camp taking folks on dog sled trips and working with Brian and Patty Whitens of Real Outdoors for the TV taping.

On the way home from the Ely race, she was proposing the idea of maybe doing an easy fun run in the city of Ignace and drawing the mushers in the general area from Dryden to Thunder Bay to Pickle Lake. After spending so much time and effort in training the dogs, she really wanted to experience the thrill of one more race.

We talked about the different possibilities and continued our discussion with John after arriving home. Next, we contacted the local area developer, Doug Pronger, to see what options there might be to involve the Ignace populace.

Because time was short, we decided to have the race at our camp and use a ten mile trail that we use for our dog sled trips. John spent time pushing snow back on the road to prepare a spot for mushers to park their trucks and unload dogs. He cleared snow from around the outhouses and made a spot for a picnic table and to build a fire after the race for lunch. Joanna and I made some signs with arrows to mark the race trail for the contestants. But the weather was NOT cooperating. The temps were hitting the high forties and we wondered if the trails would totally break down.

In our minds we seesawed back and forth, trying to decide if we should continue or call it off. In looking ahead at the weather forecast, it seemed that a few days before the scheduled race on Saturday, March 19th, there was going to be a cool down. The question was--- would it be enough to preserve the trail?

We decided to go ahead with it and ended up with six teams showing up for this grand event. Clayton Schneider brought four teams, Jan Verburg from Pickle Lake came with a team and of course Joanna had a team.

The race got under way at about 11:05. Clayton's team left first, but not before his fired up team took a side turn in the wrong direction. John was able to help him turn around and make his way back to the starting line. He probably would have FINISHED first as well, but thought he was going the wrong way at one point and started to go in a different direction. At any rate, that allowed his nephew Brenden to win the race and Joanna came in a close second.

It was such fun to rehearse the race and laugh about the different challenges along the trail around the campfire. A good time was had by all and there was a general consensus that they would like to see this become an annual event. We'll see.