Poor conditions delay sled dog race

By Nick Sambides Jr.
BDN Staff

GREENVILLE — A lack of snow and too much ice have forced the postponement of the 10th annual Plum Creek Wilderness Sled Dog Race until Saturday, Feb. 27, organizers said.

Race officials who toured portions of the 70-mile course on Feb. 4 — two days before the scheduled date — found more snow thanks to an overnight storm, but far too much ice to allow for the race to run on Feb. 6, as originally planned, said Bethany Young, Greenville’s deputy town clerk and a member of the Wilderness Sled Dog Committee.

Young blamed the rain and warmer temperatures that followed the snowstorm. “It was not safe for our mushers or our dogs,”she said. “A lot of the trail had turned to ice.”

The Plum Creek Wilderness Sled Dog Race is put on by the Wilderness Sled Dog Racing Association and attracts teams from throughout the Northeast and Canada. The race is considered one of the Moosehead region’s premiere winter sporting events and typically draws several hundred spectators, organizers have said.

Organizers said that they doubt that attendance or participation will be affected much by the delay.

The race will start at the Leisure Life Resort and proceed over as many as 70 miles of forested mountain trails in the region. Mushers interested in participating in the race have time to register to compete for the $10,000 70-mile race purse or the $3,000 30-mile race purse. For information, visit www.100MileWildernessRace.org, or call 695-2421.