FORT KENT – There are still four months before baying and yelping dog athletes and their mushers take over Main Street in Fort Kent for the CanAm Crown International Sled Dog Race, but sponsors for the $41,000 race have come to the starting line.

President Rita Cannan said Sunday that Irving Woodlands LLC has agreed to sponsor the $20,000 purse for the Irving Woodlands 250-mile classic for the next three years. Willard Jalbert Sporting Camps will sponsor the $7,000 prize for the Willard Jalbert Jr. 60-mile race for three years, and Budweiser and Pepsi Bottling of Aroostook will fund the $4,000 purse for the PBC 30-mile race.

“My God, but it’s wonderful,” Cannan said of the financial support. “It’s the first time Irving makes a commitment for something this big for CanAm.

“They’ve always supported the race, but in a smaller degree,” she said. “This is really good for us.”

With the sponsorships in line, the financial pressures of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race qualifier have been eliminated.

In past years, KeyBank, MBNA and FairPoint Telephone Co. have sponsored the major race of the 13-year-old CanAm Crown.

Cannan said work now can continue on the race itself by the 18-person committee for the CanAm Crown.

“We are making a few changes, but we will still continue with a Main Street start,” she said. “Fans like the races to start on Main Street.

“Our volunteers just don’t seem to end, and they are the heart of the race,” she said. “People call each year to help us, even last year when volunteers were stretched with the [Biathlon] World Cup. Some who have never done it before, young people who we know will be on for a long time, call wanting to help.”

The 250-mile classic is the longest sled dog race in the eastern United States. This year the race will return to its traditional first weekend of March. Last year, it was held earlier so as not to conflict with the Biathlon World Cup in Fort Kent.

One of the important changes for the next race is returning to the Rocky Brook lumber camp for the second checkpoint of the race. The checkpoint had been at Big Machias Lake the last three years.

The newly renovated lumber camps at Rocky Brook, owned by Irving Woodlands, will allow for a larger area for mushers and their teams. The facility also has more room for volunteers and veterinarians.

The Main Street start may also have more than one area to start the race. The three races could have 90 teams competing. The starts for the 60- and 30-mile races may be moved to parking lots near the Daigle Oil Co. and Nadeau Furniture parking lots. The 250-mile race will still start at the KeyBank parking area.

With 90 teams in the running, there is simply not enough room to have all of the starts at the same location.

“Being back to our first weekend in March, we expect a big turnout of teams this year,” Cannan said.

Last year, with the race held in February, the CanAm was in conflict with bigger-purse races in Quebec and Ontario. Cannan believes the normal March running will bring some teams back to Fort Kent, especially for the 250-mile run through the northern Maine woods.

The March 5, 2005, race will be the 13th running of the CanAm Crown. Cannan is in her eighth year at the head of the classic.

“We have only one goal in mind and that’s to make the CanAm a bigger success each year,” she said of the 18-person committee. “We just work to keep it running each year.

“It just works,” she said. “That’s because of the commitment of people and those who support us financially.”