Hibbs seeks third victory in 250-mile sled dog race> Defending champ thinks setup perfect for team

FORT KENT — Don Hibbs, a two-time champion of the 250-mile Can Am Crown International Sled Dog Race, is looking for his third title when he takes off this morning down Main Street and into the northern Maine woods.

The 43-year-old Nahmakanta Lake sporting camp owner holds the record for the fastest time in the classic sled dog race with a time of 24 hours, 51 minutes, 40 seconds.

Hibbs dogs are Alaskan Huskies and are bred for speed and spirit. Hibbs seems to be of the same breed; he stops very little and his winning spirit is almost legendary on the mushing circuit.

“I feel good about this race; it’s better suited for my dogs,” Hibbs said Friday afternoon. “This is a running race and my dogs are powerful runners.”

He places a lot of confidence in his female lead dog, Spider. “She’s taken us places,” Hibbs said.

Hibbs will be looking over his shoulders to see if anyone is on his trail and down the trail ahead of him to see who he can pass because the list of competitors is a tough one. Hibbs knows that, having raced against most of them in his 15 years of mushing over much of North America.

Two weeks ago he came in second in the UP 200, the Upper Peninsula race at Marquette, Mich., behind Keith Aili, who is also registered at Fort Kent.

“This is a different kind of race. It’s made for my kind of dogs,” Hibbs said. “But he’s [Aili] very good and there are others.”

Hibbs won the 250-mile race at Fort Kent in 1997 and 1999. He scratched in 1998 because his dogs were tired and lame. He had come to Fort Kent in 1998 with just one week’s rest from another sled dog race.

The other mushers Hibbs will be looking at include Terry Adkins, a retired Air Force officer from Montana who is a regular at Alaska’s famed Iditarod; Andre Nadeau, a Quebec contractor who has won the Can Am Crown four times and placed second in the Northwest Territory Yukon Quest; and Martin Massicotte, another Quebecquer who has won at Fort Kent.

“You can never count out Andre, he’s always a wild card,” Hibbs said of his French competitor. “He’s a fox, you always know he’s there, somewhere.”

Rooting for Hibbs will be his wife and three kids, who came to Fort Kent with him. It’s the first time they are able to attend one of his major races and it’s only because they were able to find someone to operate their camps while they are away.

“I guess I just got hooked on dogs and I’ve been at it for 15 years,” he said. “Sled dogs and mushing has a very strong appeal, but I’m more of an amateur than a professional.”

He said he does not have enough time to become a professional, which is full-time. His sporting camp business comes first.

“That’s why I train mostly at night, after I’m done my day’s work in the business,” he said. “My business is my first priority, and I take care of business.”

Despite the heavy competition in the field of veterans and newcomers, Hibbs said, “I feel good and the dogs look good.”

Hibbs is taking a year off from mushing dogs after this winter. His team is getting along in years and he wants to train a new brood of dogs. He has 20 puppies back home and “they need to be trained.”

“I may compete in shorter races next year, but not long races like I have been,” he said. “I’ve been through a lot with this team in the last five years, and they have seen the top of their competitive speed. It’s time to train new dogs.”