Maibec-Allagash stage gave winner Massicotte fits

FORT KENT – Martin Massicotte is 36. He said several times during the race that he is getting too old for the sport.

“The dogs are in better shape than I am,” he said at the finish line Monday after running and maneuvering the sled to win the Can-Am Crown International 250-mile sled dog race.

After a grueling day on the trail Sunday, 12 mushers were on the 43-mile trail from Allagash to Fort Kent at 11 a.m. Monday. It took Massicotte nearly 11 hours Sunday to plow through the trail from Maibec to Allagash, arriving there at 1:28 a.m. Monday. Usually the leg is run in six to seven hours.

Massicotte, of St. Tite, Quebec, was breaking trail, and six other mushers followed him into Allagash in the next three hours.

‘Go DAD Hibbs’

The 6-year-old daughter of Millinocket musher Don Hibbs tugged at heartstrings at the starting line Saturday morning of the 250-mile sled dog race.

Hibbs’ daughter, Frederika Hibbs, held a sign that had drawings on it and a note: “Go DAD Hibbs.” Hibbs noticed it but could not read it as he lunged out the chute. Just before saying hike to his dogs, he looked at his daughter and said, “Love you.” He blew a kiss and was off for the woods.

Thousands of people watched the start of the race Saturday morning on Maine Street at Fort Kent. Later in the day, 100 to 125 people welcomed the first musher, Amy Dugan, at Portage Lake. On Monday, 50 to 100 people cheered as mushers crossed the finish line.

Dog-loving family

Rene Marchildon,, 36, the South River, Ontario, musher who came in second in the 250-mile race comes from a dog loving family. He works with his stepfather Paul Reid running a 327-dog kennel. This was his first 250-mile race in six years or racing and 30 years of working with dogs.

Blackie and Alie

At the Maibec checkpoint, about a dozen miles from the Quebec border in northwestern Maine, Robert Fredette of Plantagenet, Ontario, talked about his lead dog, Blackie. She’s 71/2 years old and has run six Can-Am Crown races with Fredette. The first year, Blackie had nine puppies two weeks after the race. Alie, her son born that first year, has run the race with Fredette ever since.

Sickness sidelines Weik

Matt Weik of Outing, N.H. was ill before the start of the race, and was actually late for his 28th starting position. It wasn’t long, however, before the 29th team was brought in, Weik came into the chute, never slowed down, waved to the crowds, and was off down the people-lined Main Street. He had to scratch at Portage Lake when his temperature rose to 102 degrees.