FORT KENT — The eighth annual Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race, with 17 preregistered competitors, seems assured of its largest number of participants ever for next month’s classic 250-mile race through the northern Maine woods.

Officials believe three or four more mushers will enter the “Iditarod of the East” before registrations close on March 3. The two mushers who have won the race the last seven years, Andre Nadeau of Quebec and Maine’s Don Hibbs, have yet to register for the March 4 race.

The race is a qualifying race for Alaska’s famed Iditarod Sled Dog Race and is considered the among the largest winter sports event in Maine. Last year, Hibbs ran the race in record time, averaging almost 10 mph while on the trail. So fast was his pace that organizers believe the record will last for years.

“We are anxious for the race weekend, and we have great conditions,” Rita Cannan, chairman of the Can-Am Crown board of directors said Wednesday night. “Our workers have been giving it their all for several months.

“It’s amazing the time and effort volunteers put in for this race, and they don’t all come from Fort Kent,” she continued. “We get help from many towns in northern Maine, and even from people outside of northern Maine.”

Last year, about 7,000 spectators lined Main Street for the 9 a.m. start. Mushers run about one-quarter mile on Main Street before heading into the bush for the race that lasts from 48 to 96 hours.

Sixteen mushers took part in the Northland Telephone Can-Am 250. Another 39 mushers raced in the Key Bank of Maine 60-miler and the Pepsi-Budweiser 30-miler.

“The Can-Am put Fort Kent on the map,” Cannan said at a press conference. “People come from all over to compete in the three races and to be spectators in a sport that has grown tremendously since it started eight years ago.”

The economic impact of the race has never been tallied, but business people have been behind the race every year since it started in 1993. Business and industry support has been unwavering from the start, even this year in the raising of $71,000 to put on the races. Of the amount, $40,000 if for non-purse expenditures.

Funding for the race comes from the four businesses who put up the purses for the three races. Nineteen other businesses sponsor stage prizes, dog care prizes and other expenses. Money is also raised with the sale of souvenirs, advertising maps, raffle tickets and race videos.

Mushers compete for a total $31,000 purse in the three races. The 250-miler has a purse of $17,000 for the top 12 finishers, with the winner receiving $4,100. There is also $1,000 in prize money for the top three best-kept teams and five stage prizes of $1,000 for the top three teams in each stage.

In the 60-miler, the top 10 teams split $5,000 in prize money with the winner receiving $1,500. The top 10 mushers in the 30-mile race split $3,000 in prize money, with the winner receiving $1,000.

Also instrumental in the race is the volunteerism it spurs. During the weekend of the race, 350 to 400 individuals are involved in myriad jobs. During the year, another 150 individuals are listed as helpers in the effort.

Agencies such as Maine’s Forest Service and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the North Maine Woods and 16 major landowners have cooperated over the years to make the longest and most challenging sled dog race in eastern North America happen.

In the 250-mile race, mushers head south from Fort Kent, about 50 miles to the first checkpoint at Portage Lake. Then, its 50-plus miles west through the Maine forest to the Rocky Brook checkpoint. Musher then push another 50 miles west to Maibec’s lumber camp, not far from the Quebec border at St. Pamphile for the third checkpoint.

Its more bush running north and east to the Village of Allagash for the fourth checkpoint and another 50 miles, more or less, back to Fort Kent for the finish line.

For more information on the Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Race, or for places to stay in Fort Kent, check out the race’s web page at www.can-am.sjv.net.