22nd Annual Apostle Islands Sled Dog Race This Weekend

The 22nd Annual Apostle Islands Sled Dog Race kicks off this weekend.

The race course runs along the Sand River Trail System in Bayfield. Kelley Linehan, marketing and events manager at the Bayfield Chamber and Visitor Bureau, said they have around 40 teams competing from the Midwest and Canada. Linehan said the course is in excellent condition this year despite the warm weather.

“So those warmer temperatures actually just served to kind of pack the trail down,” she said. “And we have had some people out there in the past couple of days just running it as a trial, and they said that they are going as fast as they have ever gone before.”

Linehan said racers put a lot of work into building the best dog teams. She said a lot of the dogs have been rescued.

“The kennels would go to rescue facilities or humane societies and find the dogs that have the temperaments and the sort of build that would be good for racing and rescue these dogs and sort of work with them and train them to turn them into the athletes that they are for the race,” she said.

Linehan said one of the best parts about the race is right before it begins.

“One thing that is really interesting is the dogs, as they start to get excited for the race, they start to sing actually. It’s kind of like a howling, singing song. The soundscape that exists there, it’s unlike anything that I had ever heard before.”

The winning teams split a $3,000 award. The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday afternoon after the last team arrives at the Bayfield Lakeside Pavilion.