CALUMET, MI-- Canines and mushers are crowding into downtown Calumet this weekend for the 4th annual CopperDog 150 sled dog race.
The long race takes mushers from Calumet to Eagle Harbor, Copper Harbor and back, while the CopperDog 40 winds through Eagle Harbor and ends in Eagle River.
CopperDog Executive and Race Director Todd Brassard says registration opened September 18 and within 3.5 hours the race was filled. He says mushers are coming from as far away as Wyoming, Minnesota and Alaska.
Brassard notes recent storms and heavy snowfall have not created any problems for the trail.
“Fortunately, we run our race on the snowmobile trail system up here, and that is a very immaculately groomed trail system,” he says. “There’s 280 miles of trail that’s pretty much groomed 24/7 by five groomers, which each have a team of four or five people that are in constant rotation.”
On the heels of a car accident that killed one dog and injured two others during the UP200 two weeks ago, Brassard says CopperDog officials are making sure the race is as safe as it can possibly be.
“I’ve been asked several times if what happened in Marquette has made us change or revise or improve our safety procedures, and, interestingly enough, I don’t know that it has,” he says. “Because we already have what I would consider some of the best safety training, some of the best safety policy and procedures, some of the best volunteer staffing, probably of any race out there.”
Brassard says 400 volunteers and every fire department in the Keweenaw will be out at road crossings and blind corners to make sure the race runs smoothly.
A race pre-show begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. The race itself starts at 7 p.m., followed by fireworks at 8:45.
For more information, go to www.copperdog150.com.
