FORT KENT – Bruce Langmaid of Ontario, the winner of the 2003 250-mile Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Race, is looking to repeat the feat, he said Friday afternoon.

Martin Massicotte of Ste. Tite, Quebec, a two-time winner (1998, 2002) of the Fort Kent classic, was not at Fort Kent last year. He competed instead in a 1,000-mile race in Alaska, but he is back this year looking for another win.

Prior to the start of the Key Bank 250-mile race, at 10 a.m. Saturday, nearly 50 other dog teams will take off in the 30- and 60-mile races. The first teams out, in the 60-mile Pepsi-Budweiser race, will begin leaving the Main Street start gate at 8 a.m. The mushers in the locally sponsored 30-mile race will start at 9 a.m.

Mushers in the two shorter races will reach the finish line at the Lonesome Pine Ski Lodge starting in midafternoon. Winners of the 250-mile race usually start arriving early Monday. The last finishers must come in before a Tuesday night banquet.

“I’m cautiously optimistic about winning,” Langmaid said Friday afternoon. “The team looks really well, I’m feeling good, and this is our fourth time running this race.”

“No one is a shoe-in because anything can go wrong,” the 46-year-old Blackstock, Ontario, kennel owner said. “A musher and his team build more confidence each time they go out.”

Massicotte was unabashed about his intent.

“When I present myself at a race, it’s to win,” he said while a veterinarian checked the papers on his team. “Those who say they come to participate don’t win races.”

“Unless you come to win, you don’t win,” said the Can-Am Crown veteran. “Seven of my dogs here did the Quest [the 1,000-mile race in Alaska] last year.”

Langmaid, like many mushers who compete in long races, was anxious to get out in the back country. He said he leaves the stresses of everyday life at the starting gate.

Langmaid has run the Fort Kent race three times before. He came in third twice in addition to winning last year. He said his dogs have been healthy, and he’s in good shape, although feeling his 46 years on some days.

He’s already run three races this year, including the 120-mile Marmora (Ontario) last month. He said he’s done well dealing with the lack of sleep during races.

Last year, Langmaid made it back to Fort Kent in about 45 hours. During the race they have mandatory layovers at checkpoints. While on the trail, mushers get little sleep, if any.

“Considering the obstacles we’ve been through this year, we are in good shape,” Rita Cannan, president of the Can-Am Crown board of directors, said Friday. “We have a decent turnout of mushers, even though we are competing with other races.”

The Can-Am Crown changed its traditional first weekend of March race date to allow for the first-ever Biathlon World Cup in Fort Kent that week. That put it in competition with races in Ontario, Michigan, and Minnesota this weekend.

Organizers also had a glitch with the crossing of beef for dog food because of the mad cow disease situation with Canada. The area has also not had much snow for training.

The Key Bank 250-mile Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Race is a qualifier for the Iditarod and Yukon Quest races in Alaska. As of Friday noon 15 mushers were registered for the long race through the backwoods of northwestern Maine.

The roster included several veterans of the race, beyond Langmaid and Massicotte. Those are Robert Fredette of Quebec, Ashley Simpson and Amy Dugan of Shirley, Maine, Larry Murphy of Fort Kent, and Marcelle Fresineau of Quebec.

A newcomer to the race, but a veteran of the Iditarod, is Aaron Peck, most recently of Alaska. He worked with Martin Buser, a several-time winner of the Iditarod, while in Alaska.