KEARNEY – Teams of 12 dogs strung together with mushers in tow running a 120-mile unassisted overnight sled race is the newest addition to the Kearney Dogsled Races.
More than 60 dog sled teams are expected to descend on the Town of Kearney for the 16th Annual Kearney Dogsled Races this weekend and will feature mushers from Ontario, Quebec, the United States and a return performance of Jamaican Dog Sled Team member Damion Robb.
Dog sled committee chair Lisa Houliston is looking forward to the moment she’s surrounded by dogs.
“It’s the moment when you go into the dog yard and all the dogs are barking. It’s just an adrenaline rush,” she said.
Houliston, and a large team of volunteers, are ready.
“The trails are in awesome condition,” she said. “The weather is set to be perfect. Mild, no rain this year. Nothing above zero and a chance of snow on Sunday.”
Rain during last year’s races caused problems with some areas of the track.
“This year it’s going to be perfect,” she said, adding that she would like one more foot of snow for added assurance.
The quality of the trails bodes well for the committee’s first attempt at a 120-mile unassisted overnight race. For the excursion mushers will use 12-dog teams that will offer a lot of power.
So much power, in fact, the race will begin with two ATVs, one in front and one behind the teams at the starting line to keep the dogs, excited with anticipation for their run, in control.
“That’s 44 feet of dog and sled,” said Houliston. “They can get up to 20 miles an hour.”
Houliston says the teams will set off for their journey at 5 p.m. and set off on the first 60-mile leg before returning to take a four-hour rest at the ball diamond at the legion.
She says the races won’t be going full-out during the first 60 miles because they don’t want the dogs to tire.
“They’ll take a break and bed them down,” she said, adding that there will be a veterinarian on site at all times. “Then they run the same 60 (miles) but they do it in reverse.”
The teams are expected back around 7 a.m. Sunday.
Additional volunteers are needed for this year’s event because they are needed for checkpoints all along the route, tracking the musher’s progress, with the exception of one area.
“There is 20 miles of the 120 known as no man’s land,” she said. “There will be a checkpoint before an after but nothing in no man’s land.”
Because this is a night race, there are safety precautions the mushers have to take.
“The have to have blinking red lights on the lead dog and (the musher’s) have to have a light on their heads,” said Houliston.
She says the route is known to be heavy with moose and the mushers have to be constantly on the look out for not only the animals themselves but for their tracks that can go very deep and have to be avoided by the dogs.
Houliston is impressed by the sheer strength of the dogs learning more about these teams of dogs than she had ever imagined.
“I was told that those dogs could pull … hook a tractor-trailer up, put it in neutral and they could pull it,” she said.
The addition of the 120-mile race means that the Kearney Dogsled Races now has the longest distance race in the province. It is a qualifying race for longer runs such as the Bear Grease Marathon Run in Minnesota and the Can-Am Crown 250-Mile Race in Maine.
“Those races are run to qualify for the Iditarod. They have to prove they can run a longer race,” said Houliston.
Two mushers who competed in last year’s 40-mile race approached the dogsled committee asking if they could add the 120-mile to their roster of races.
“We found it a very big compliment that they asked us to do this,” said Houliston. “We took the challenge. We’re only taking 12 teams for our first year.”
They have six teams signed up and ready but registration is open until noon Saturday.
The success of this year’s race could determine whether to continue the 120-mile race or even increase the length in years to come.
“For now we’re sticking with the 120,” she said, adding that it would be impossible to take on such a challenge without the help of all of the volunteers involved in the races.
But, for Houliston, each race is equally as important as the next.
“They’re all unique in their own way,” she said.
The weekend will also feature four and six-mile sprints, a 40-mile race and one and two dog four-mile skijoring, an event that was added for last year’s races.
Opening ceremonies will begin Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. Races start at 10 a.m.