FORT KENT – He doesn’t wear a badge or ride a horse, but for this weekend at least, call him Marshal Shawn Graham. Race marshal, that is. And his word is the law of the trail.

When the Moosehead Lake Area 100-Mile Sled Dog Race kicks off Saturday, Graham, 35, is the guy everyone will go to with questions on rules, regulations, dog care, logistics, trail conditions, food and transportation – quite possibly all at the same time.

“Without a race marshal like Shawn, the sled dog race would be unorganized chaos instead of organized chaos,” said Greenville area musher John Osmond. “He’s the one that keeps the race machine running smoothly.”

This is the second running of the three-year-old event – last year’s race was canceled because of lack of snow – and Graham has served as marshal each year.

“I have a real love for the outdoors and working with dogs and animals,” Graham said on the eve of his departure for Greenville from Fort Kent. “Mushing is a real passion for me and a big part of my life.”

Graham has been involved with sled dogs to varying degrees for 10 years. He has raced teams in New Hampshire and northern Maine in the annual Can Am Crown Sled Dog Race. He is also a past member of the Can Am board of directors.

Health reasons have kept him off the sled runners for three years, but it’s easier to take the boy off the sled than to take the sled away from the boy.

“Being part of a race like in Greenville is very bittersweet,” Graham said. “I long to be the one out there on the trail with the dogs.”

Making it more poignant is the fact several mushers race with dogs Graham raised from pups in his own kennel breeding program.

“I see a lot of my dogs at these events,” Graham said. “They remember me and are always jumping and happy to see me.”

Though the race begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, Graham’s race marshal duties actually start the night before at the drivers meeting where the rules are explained in detail.

Should any conflicts occur on the trail, the race marshal is the final arbiter, assuring all mushers are competing on a level field.

“I understand the language of the sport and what the drivers are going through,” Graham said. “Without that appreciation, it would be a challenge.”

Since the race attracts a fair number of French-speaking mushers from Quebec, it helps that Graham, in addition to speaking “mushing,” is also fluent in French.

“Shawn is an undaunted and charismatic guy,” said John Simko, Greenville town manager and race co-chairman. “He’s a real ambassador of good will, [and] the race would not go forward with a nonmusher in charge.”

Once the teams leave Greenville, Graham will spend the next 16 to 20 hours on the trail going from checkpoint to checkpoint and dealing with myriad race details.

Trails not marked properly? See Graham. Not enough straw for the dogs at the checkpoint? Talk to Graham. A dog needs to be removed from a team and taken out of the woods? Find Graham. A musher’s sled needs a quick repair job? Anyone seen Graham?

“I guess I really am the go-to guy during the race,” he said. “I’ll be out there until the last musher crosses the finish line.”

Among those racers is Osmond, who is pleased his friend and fellow musher is returning.

“The town could not ask for a better race marshal,” Osmond said.

“He just knows how to handle people,” Amy Dugan, race co-chairman and who, with Osmond, owns and operates Mountain Ridge Kennel. “He’s very fair, and the mushers respect him. It really helps that he’s been on the runners [and] he knows what we are going through.”

For his part, Graham is thrilled to return to Greenville.

“They really pull together to put on a great race,” he said. “It’s very rewarding to help the people to make it happen.”