Can-Am sled dog race cards all filled

FORT KENT – Six months still remain before the howling of dogs and the beating of paws can be heard on Main Street in Fort Kent, but the tradition and competition of the now 15-year-old sled dog race have made it one of the premiere competitions in the sport.

Ninety teams, the maximum allowed in the 30-, 60- and 250-mile races, have registered for the Can-Am Crown’s March 2007 running, and some of the sport’s great names, including three teams that have run the famed Iditarod in Alaska, are on waiting lists.

Registrations were opened Aug. 1, and the three rosters were full within a week of opening. The numbers surpassed the sign-ups in 2005 when the rosters for the three March 2006 races were filled by Nov. 1.

The races are scheduled to run the weekend of March 2, 3 and 4. As it has been for many years, the sled dog teams will have a Main Street start on Saturday, March 3.

The first sled dog race, the Can-Am Crown 250, was run in 1993, and the 30- and 60-mile races were added in 1994 and 1997. The three races have gained widespread support in the sled dog community. Over the years they have come to Fort Kent from throughout the northern tier of the United States, Canada, Alaska and even England and Australia.

“It’s just amazing,” Rita Cannan, president of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race board of directors, said Sunday. “We were filled by August 7, and we have 30 people on the waiting lists.

“We apparently have picked up a good reputation and good rapport with the mushers,” she said. “Can-Am and [Fort Kent] treat them like kings when they come here.

Mushers come with their handlers, spouses and children.

“Everybody is excited, and there are a lot of people responsible for this,” Cannan said. “Sponsors can see the money is well spent, giving the town a lot of exposure, and the board of directors and volunteers are just very hard workers.”

Some $44,000 in prizes is up for grabs in the three races. There’s $29,000 in prizes in the Irving Woodlands Can-Am 250-mile classic, $7,000 in prizes in the Willard Jalbert Jr. Can-Am 60-mile race and $4,000 in the Pepsi-Budweiser Can-Am 30-mile race. There is also $4,000 in cash, known as the Finishing Touch Purse, put up by Fairpoint New England, split among all of the finishers of the 250-mile race.

Cannan said mushers are calling wondering what has happened. They usually have more time to register.

Among those on the waiting list are Don Hibbs, a three-time Can-Am champion from Millinocket.

Another three-time champion, Martin Massicotte of St. Tite, Quebec, is registered along with last year’s champion, Matt Carsten’s of Whitefield, N.H. Both said they intend to win, again.

Others who have signed up are former champion Bruce Langmaid of Longstock, Ontario; Ashley Simpson of Monson; three-time runner Amy Dugan of Shirley Mills, who has finished in the top 10 all three times; Rita Wehsler of Minnesota, the first woman ever to finish the Can-Am; Larry Murphy of Fort Kent, the local favorite who has finished the Can-Am four times in seven years; Mike Ellis of Rumney, N.H., who twice has finished in the top 10, Robert Fredette of Quebec; and Andre Longchamps of Quebec, both perennial contenders.

Georges Theriault of Gatineau, Quebec, will be the race marshal for the 250-mile race through the northern Maine woods. He has held that position every year of the race except for 1994 when he was a competitor in the 60-mile race.

John Pelletier of St. John Plantation will be the race marshal for the 30- and 60-mile races.

Nick Pesut, a Presque Isle veterinarian who has served as a trail veterinarian or chief veterinarian since the race started in 1993, again will be the chief vet for the races.