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Top Competitors Set for Can-Am Sled Dog Race

February 20, 2008 - FORT KENT - Three former winners, several past contenders, four former mushers in the famed Iditarod Sled Dog Race and six newcomers are among 25 mushers that will take to the 250-mile trail of the 16th annual Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race March 1.

The 25-team lineup has been full since two days after registration was opened on Aug. 15. The 25-team lineup is also full for the weekend's 30- and 60 mile races. Other mushers are on waiting lists for all three races.

Thousands of people line the Main Street starting gate annually no matter what the weather is. The classic has gained momentum and importance every year since the start of the race. Former winners include Millinocket's Don Hibbs and Martin Massicotte of St. Zenon, Quebec, both three-time winners, and New Hampshire's Matt Carstens, who won in 200G. Last year's winner, Rick Larson of Sand Coulee, Mont., is not on the list this year. Rita Wehseler of Tofte, Minn., who came in second in 2007, is in the running. Steve Rasmussen of Melrose, Mont., Terry Adkins of Sand Coulee, Mont., Aaron Peck of Grafton, Ontario, and Frank Teasly of Jackson Hole, Wyo., have all competed in the annual running of the 1,100mile Iditarod Race in Alaska. The Alaska race starts the same weekend as Fort Kent's Can-Am Crown.

Mushers are vying for their share of the three races' $40,000 purse. The winner of the 250-mile race takes home $4,500. The next 11 pushers in that race divide the remainder of the $20,000 purse for that race. The race also has stage cash prizes and a $4,000 finishing touch purse divided among all the finishers.

Rita Cannan, a semi-retired businesswoman, is overseeing her 10th of the 15 races held since February 1993.

"There are entries on the waiting lists," Cannan said Friday "The race is getting a lot of recognition and it's exciting." "We have plenty of snow, the trails should be good, and I think it will be a big year for Can-Am," said Cannan, president of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race Committee. "We have quite a number of high-caliber mushers in the competition."

Cannan is in her 10th year at the head of the committee. Irving Woodlands is still sponsoring the $20,000 purse for the 250-mile classic. They have signed up to sponsor the race through 2010. The 60-mile Willard Jalbert Memorial Race has a total purse of $7,000. The winner gets $2,000 and the remainder is divided among the next 11 finishers. The 30-mile Pepsi-Budweiser Race has a purse of $4,000 with the winner getting $1,200. The rest is divided among the next 11 finishers.

The competitors in the 60mile race are the first out of the gate March 1 starting at 8 a.m. Mushers leave at two minute intervals from the gate located at the intersection of Main Street and Meadow Lane. They run a loop that goes to the Allagash-St. Francis town line and back to Fort Kent.

The mushers in the 30-mile race leave starting at 9 a.m. from the same location. Their loop goes from Fort Kent to St, John Plantation, east to Wallagrass and back to Fort Kent. The shorter races are usually done by 5 p.m. the same day. The Irving 250 starts at 10 a.m. The mushers run to Portage Lake, then west through the woods to a Rocky Brook lumber camp for checkpoint two. Then it's through the woods to Maibec's Lumber Camp near the Quebec border and on to Allagash for the fourth checkpoint. Finally, it's the last leg back to Fort Kent. AU races finish at the Lonesome Pine Trails Lodge in Fort Kent.

The 250-mile classic has brought in mushers from the states of Montana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Massachusetts plus Quebec and Ontario provinces in Canada. This year the committee is producing a video recording of the race to be used as a tourism tool. The money for the venture comes from a state tourism grant acquired last year.

The race can also be followed on the race's Web site. David Hartt and Stan Flagg keep up the site at can-am.sjv.net. The site is sponsored by St, John Valley Communications. Mushers can be followed along the race trail.

"We have one of the best sled dog race Web sites of all of them, including Iditarod and the Yukon Quest," Cannan said.

She said the race has all kinds of volunteers, but they are still taking applications. They also have 13 veterinarians signed up and eight vet techs. They check dogs before the races and are at every checkpoint to take care of the dogs.

Gov. John Baldacci and Sen. Susan Collins will be at Fort Kent for the March 1 race start.

SOURCE: BANGOR DAILY NEWS

DATE: 02-03-2008


Lakes:
Regions: Presque Isle, Allagash


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