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Pleasant weather and the addition of a fourth race made this year’s CopperDog 150 the busiest in the event’s 14-year history.
While no official crowd counts are made, officials said that the turnout at the start of the event Friday evening in downtown Calumet may have been the largest ever. Spectators lined the snow road all along Fifth Street, cheering and high-fiving mushers as they hit the trail.
Sun drenched the follow-up proceedings in Copper Harbor and Eagle Harbor Saturday and yesterday, and temperatures pushed to nearly 40 degrees.
While the weather was enjoyable for spectators and volunteers, it was a challenge for the animals. Sled dogs are bred to run in sub-zero temperatures, so mushers had to monitor them carefully for heat exhaustion and dehydration. Icy and mushy trails take a toll on dogs’ paws, and several mushers started the three-stage 150 yesterday with less-than-full teams. A section of yesterday’s course that would have taken the competitors up and down Brockway Mountain was abandoned because of treacherous trail conditions, and an alternate route was substituted.
Because of the conditions, race times were a bit slower than usual. Despite the challenges, though, only one team was forced to drop out.
In the three-stage CopperDog 150, Ryan Anderson earned his first victory. The perennial UP 200 champion took the lead after the opening stage Friday, and held off strong challenges from runner-up Michael Bestgen, who finished 6:03 off the pace, and defending champion J.R. Anderson, who was 18:20 off the lead in third place.
Veteran Lynne Witte earned an impressive victory in the two-stage CopperDog 80 Saturday. Witte dominated both stages, lapped the entire field Saturday, and finished 24 minutes ahead of Joann Fortier.
In the CopperDog 15 sprint at Copper Harbor Saturday, Sherry Johnson took the title, finishing 5:32 ahead of runner-up Matt Monke.
In the CopperDog 30 Friday night, Martha Schouweiler finished nearly 11 minutes ahead of Steve Goedken to take the crown. It was Schouweiler’s fifth victory in a CopperDog race – she has more titles than any other competitor.
Among local mushers:
• In the 150, Tom Bauer used a strong run Sunday to move up to sixth place. Sarah Tarlton finished eighth, and Maddie Longpre-Harrer 16th.
• In the 80, Alyssa Sarlund finished eighth, and Wade Canavan ninth. Both are members of the Mushing Club at Michigan Tech.
• In the 30, Jerry Trudell placed fourth, Susan Serafini eighth, Suz Harris ninth, Chad Grentz 10th, Becky Bean 11th, and Haley Marchese 17th.
• In the 15, Jerry Trudell finished third. Mara Grentz placed ninth.
With the addition of a fourth race this year, a total of 69 mushers took part.
See full results here.
