Millinocket’s Hibbs among Can-Am contenders

FORT KENT – Three former winners of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog races will be going head-to-head in the 250-mile classic which starts on Main Street Saturday morning.

Don Hibbs of Millinocket, who won in 1997, 1999, and 2000, will square off against Martin Massicotte of Quebec who won in 1998 and 2002, and Keith Ali of Minnesota who won in 2001.

A fourth former winner, Bruce Langmaid of Ontario, who won in 2003 and 2004, is on a waiting list for the race through 250 miles of the northern Maine woods.

All four have been tough competitors in the years past. It has been three years since Hibbs entered the race. He’s one win away from tying Andre Nadeau’s record of four 250-mile crowns at Fort Kent.

Ali was second in the race in 2000, the first time he entered the run at Fort Kent. He won in his second attempt. Langmaid has been in the top three for the last three years, and is a veteran of many races at Fort Kent.

Massicotte, whose competed in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest race twice, was second to Langmaid last year, and he has been a perennial contender at Fort Kent since 1995.

All three of the races, the J.D. Irving Ltd. 250-mile race, which is a qualifier for Alaska’s Iditarod and Yukon Quest 1,000-mile races, the Willard Jalbert Jr. Memorial 60-miler, and the Pepsi-Budweiser 30-miler, are full with 30 teams each.

Two mushers are on the waiting list for the 250-mile race, three are on the list for the 60-mile race and two mushers are waiting to get into the 30-mile race. It is the first time in the 13-year history of the sled dog racing weekend that all races have the maximum number of competitors.

“Everything is going just perfect,” Rita Cannan, president of the Can-Am Crown Inc. board of directors, said Wednesday. “The only exception is a little bit too much snow

“I didn’t ask for this last storm, and that will make it a little hard on the trail crew,” she said. “They have to pack it down again, and we hear of more snow coming.”

There is $40,000 in cash up for grabs in the three races. Irving has provided $20,000 for the 250-mile race. The winner receives $4,500 and the other top 11 mushers split the remainder with the 12th musher receiving $600. That race also has stage prizes, $1,000 split among the top five fastest teams between checkpoints. The Finishing Touch purse of $4,000 is split among all finishers.

Jalbert has provided $7,000 for cash prizes in the 60-mile race. The winner receives $2,000, and the remainder is split among the top 12 finishers.

Pepsi and Budweiser sponsor the $4,000 purse for the 30-mile race. That is also split among the top 12 finishers and the winner receives $1,200.

“It should be an exciting year,” Cannan said. “I think it may just be the best year we’ve had in the 13-year history of the races.

“We have quite a few mushers from the Midwest who could not make it last year when the race schedule was changed,” she said. “They are back.”

While mushers have pre-registered, the official registration will be Friday at the Fort Kent Town Office. All mushers must attend veterinarian checks Friday afternoon, and a mushers meeting Friday night.

Competitors in the 60-mile event race out of Fort Kent Saturday at 8 a.m. The 30-mile racers start leaving at 9 a.m. and the 250-mile endurance run starts at 10 a.m., all at two-minute intervals.

The top mushers in the 30-mile race are expected to arrive at the Lonesome Pine Lodge finish line about noon, while the 60-mile race should have finishers starting at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The awards ceremony for both races is held Sunday, March 6, at 8 a.m. at the Lonesome Pine Trails Lodge.

The 250-mile race winners usually return to Fort Kent in the early morning hours of Monday, less than 48 hours after they leave. During this race, mushers must take 14 hours of mandatory layovers. Five hours must be taken at the fourth checkpoint at Allagash, and the remaining nine hours can be taken at any of the first three checkpoints at Portage Lake, Rocky Brook or the Maibec Lumber Camp.

The awards ceremony for the long race is set for Tuesday night at the Lonesome Pine Lodge.

Race officials had to order 1,400 pounds of meat for dogs this year. There is a ban on bringing meat across the international border, and Canadian mushers pre-ordered what they needed for the race. The food for the dogs arrived at Fort Kent on Wednesday. Ben Thomas of Blanchard, a former competitor at Fort Kent, supplied the meat.