Mushing in Maine

The Can Am

In September I signed up for the 30 mile Can Am International Sled Dog Race in Fort Kent Maine. The Can Am is a great event put on by the town of Fort Kent on the Canadian border. People from miles around line up along Main Street as mushers take off in each of the 3 races. There is a 30 mile race, a 60 miler and a 250 miler. The 250 is a qualifier for the Iditarod, the 1000 mile race run in Alaska on the same first weekend in March and it is also a qualifier for the Yukon Quest which is another 1000 mile race run between Whitehorse in Canada and Fairbanks in Alaska. Those races are run by serious mushers!

Running with the Big Dogs

Serious mushers with a serious number of dogs train for the 250 and beyond. This recreational musher with 4 dogs must borrow 2 dogs to run the Can Am 30 since a 6 dog team is required to run the race. While it would be fun to compete for the purse, I enter to complete the race and enjoy the experience with my dogs.
And what an experience it is. Race officials allow recreational mushers like myself the opportunity to take part in the race as long as we don’t stay out on the trail for an extended period of time and we don’t interfere with the mushers eager to come in the top 12. So the bottom line is we need to train and be well prepared. This will be the second time I run the Can Am . In 2011 I ran as a rookie and completed the course during a driving snowstorm. It was an amazing adventure for me and my team. And we didn’t come in last! =)
So this year I am entering in the hopes of improving on my time. Even though my dogs and I are older, if Mother Nature is kind we could achieve that goal.

Conditioning for the Cold and the Snow

Training on dirt on the eastern shore of Md won’t cut it though. We have to train on snow. The more we can do that the better. So at the end of January my husband Kevin and I and the dogs made our way north. First stop was in Brownville Maine where musher friend Joan Chapman lives with her husband Gary and their 14 dogs. Joan is signed up for the Can Am 30 this year and will have bragging rights at having completed the race at the age of 70! She is a great role model and mentor. Joan and Gary are great supporters of mushing in Maine. They are an important part of The Maine Highlands Sled Dog Club and their goal is to educate people about dog care and the sport. They have hosted numerous Mushing Boot Camps at their home and have conducted the Sled Dog Basics weekends in the fall that I’ve attended. Gary and Joan have offered to lend me 2 of the dogs they’ve trained that Joan won’t be needing on her team. So our first run on snow this year will be from Joan and Gary’s and I’ll have 2 of their pups running with mine to see how they do together.

Training on snow is important for many reasons one of which is conditioning the dogs for the weather. When we arrived at the Chapman’s the temperature was 14F. A bit cooler than what we’d been seeing in Md. In addition, winter weather brings about a variety of trail conditions. Sometimes snowy and hard packed, sometimes icy. And sometimes when you are out on the trail and it starts to snow you have to deal with deepening snow as the dogs break trail. All that is something a musher and her team should experience to know how the dogs will react.

Coal and Kit Kat

Here are Coal and Kit Kat who joined us for our first run on snow. As luck would have it they fit right in with The Powers Pack and Kat and I quickly became fast friends.

Our first run on snow was a nice 10 mile run and canines and musher ended the run eager to get back out on the trail.

Home on the Trail

Joan and Gary have the perfect set-up for mushing. While I have to drive long distances to get to a trail, Joan and Gary live on a trail! Their house backs onto an old rail bed which snowmobilers groom in the winter. So they built their kennel behind their house and now they run right out of the dog yard and onto the trail. It doesn’t get much better than that. Here is Joan returning with her team and then heading right into the dog yard while Gary holds the gate open for them. Once unhooked they will be able to freely run around the yard a bit before they are placed in their kennels. What a life!

Next up experiencing different trail conditions further north in New Brunswick Canada.