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EAGLE LAKE – Mushers from New Jersey to Quebec braved the rain, slush and flooding across the trail this weekend to run in the second annual Irving-Eagle Lake 100 Sled Dog Race.
This year, 15 racers competed and 12 finished the event, which is the only mid-distance competition hosted in the area, race chairman John Kaleta said Saturday.
Matt Carstens of Whitefield, N.H., glided in for the No. 1 one spot at 11:22 on Saturday night, securing a $1,200 prize. A $5,000 purse, which was put up by Irving Woodlands LLC, was divided among the top 10 teams at the finish line.
Taking second place was Stephane Duplessis of St. Zenon, Quebec, crossing the finish line at 11:50 p.m., followed by Andre Longchamps of Point Rouge, Quebec, coming in at 12:08 a.m. Sunday. Official race results will be printed this week.
Kaleta said Sunday morning that organizers were pleased with the event’s success.
“It was great. It was insane,” he said. “Water levels started rising up on the streams. … Right near the finish, a beaver dam opened up, letting loose a huge amount of slush. Teams were wading through 4 feet of water. Luckily, the finish was only one-third of a mile from there.”
The racers completed an almost 100-mile loop from Eagle Lake through the woods to Moose Point Camps on Fish Lake and back. At the campground checkpoint, competitors were required to take a four-hour layover.
Kaleta said that two teams scratched, or withdrew from competition, at the checkpoint and that one more team scratched on the trail at a safety checkpoint.
Kaleta said the Irving-Eagle Lake 100 gives mushers the experience of a race with a checkpoint but without all the miles of a long-distance race such as the CanAm Crown 250 International Sled Dog Race, which will be held in about six weeks.
“For years, we’ve always had the CanAm in March, and the only other races were 60 miles with no checkpoints,” Kaleta explained. “Teams were just not prepared for the CanAm. We tried for years to put together a race with at least one checkpoint, and we came up with this.”
Kaleta said that about 100 volunteers helped to run the event, and two veterinarians were on site for the dog teams.
Kim Darst of Blairstown, N.J., said Saturday just before the race that she was participating specifically to prepare for the upcoming CanAm. She and her dogs headed north for the race after finding out about it on a sled dog Web site.
“I’ve mostly done 30-mile races, so it’s nice to have an intermediate,” Darst said.
Closer to home, Larry Murphy of Fort Kent said he jumps at any chance to take a sled dog ride. Six years ago, some mushers tricked him onto the runners of a sled rigged up with an eight-dog team that took him on one wild ride. Murphy said he has been in love with the sport ever since.
He still serves as the assistant principal at Fort Kent Elementary School but said he “gave up 25 years of coaching for this.”
About 20 minutes before the start of the race, one of Murphy’s pupils walked up and handed him a little stuffed animal for good luck.
“I wanted it to be a husky, but they didn’t have one,” she said as the two tucked it into the bag on his sled.
With a quick hug, she was gone, but Murphy was still smiling.
“I love this,” he said, gesturing to his sled and his dogs, “because it’s rewarding.”
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