FORT KENT – All mushers in the 2008 Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race finished early Tuesday morning with the final musher, Bob O’Hearn of Sandown, N.H., crossing the finish line at 2:40 a.m. He crossed the finish line 13 hours and 10 minutes after… Read More
FORT KENT – Martin Massicotte of St. Tite, Quebec, won his fourth Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race Monday afternoon, passing Millinocket’s Don Hibbs, who had been leading throughout the grueling 250-mile race, just 15 miles before the finish line. Massicotte reached the finish line… Read More
ALLAGASH – Three-time Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race champion Don Hibbs of Millinocket was leading 16 mushers Sunday on their way to the finish line of the 250-mile race. The teams were in the final 100 miles of the Irving Woodlands 250-mile race, which… Read More
FORT KENT – Light snow Saturday morning did not deter fans for the start of the 16th running of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races at Fort Kent where crowds were estimated to be the largest ever. Hundreds lined the Main Street chute when… Read More
CAN-AM CROWN At Fort Kent googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
FORT KENT – Rita Cannan, president of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races, is overseeing the running of the 16th annual races this weekend for the last time. Only the second president of the 16-year-old classic, Cannan is turning over the reins to a… Read More
FORT KENT – Nearly 1,000 athlete dogs and some 90 mushers will rush through downtown Saturday morning looking for the heavy forests of northern Maine in the 16th running of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races. Thirty teams will compete each of three races… Read More
FORT KENT – Three former winners, several past contenders, four former mushers in the famed Iditarod Sled Dog Race and six newcomers are among 25 mushers that will take to the 250-mile trail of the 16th annual Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race March 1. Read More
FORT KENT – The final musher, Jaye Foucher of Ashland, N.H., came across the finish in the Irving Woodlands 250-mile sled dog race at 10:34 a.m. Tuesday. Foucher, in 21st place, crossed the finish line 22 hours and 47 minutes after the winner, Rick Larson… Read More
FORT KENT – Rick Larson, a six-year veteran of mushing from Montana and a rookie at Fort Kent, won the 2007 Irving Woodlands 250-mile sled dog race Monday. Rita Wehseler of Tofte, Minn., came across the finish line 16 minutes later for second place, just… Read More
Five of 25 mushers remaining in the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races’ 15th annual running of the Irving Woodlands 250-mile race were in the last 100 miles of the race Sunday night and within 39 minutes of each other. Don Hibbs of Millinocket, a… Read More
FORT KENT – Rita Cannan moved from table to table Friday at the Lonesome Pine Trails Lodge making sure there were no glitches during the registrations for the 15th running of the three races in the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race. Cannan, a semiretired… Read More
The town of Fort Kent will be bustling this weekend as organizers stage the Can-Am Crown Sled Dog races for the 15th straight year. And while a lot of familiar mushers will show up to take part in this year’s event, spectators will have yet… Read More
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… Read More
FORT KENT – The last two teams in the Irving Woodlands 250-mile Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race came across the finish line in Tuesday’s early morning hours. Fifteen of the 26 teams that started the race Saturday morning on Main Street in Fort Kent… Read More
FORT KENT – Matt Carstens of Whitefield, N.H., won the 14th annual Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race Monday morning arriving at the Lonesome Pine Trails at 6:01 a.m., the fourth fastest finish ever. Carstens, 33, covered the 251-mile trail through the northern Maine woods… Read More
FORT KENT – Six hundred ninety-six four-legged athletes. Eager, willing and able, they became 81 teams straining at their traces, awaiting a signal that released them and their 81 two-legged mushers along snowy trails through the northwest Maine woods. One after another they stormed out of the starting… Read More
FORT KENT – Seven mushers in the 14th annual Irving Woodlands 250-mile Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race were within 92 minutes of each other on the trail late Sunday afternoon as they headed for the fourth checkpoint at Allagash. They were leading a pack… Read More
FORT KENT – Three-time Can-Am Crown winner Martin Massicotte overflowed with enthusiasm Friday at the chance of matching the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race record of his friend Andre Nadeau by winning his fourth crown this weekend. Massicotte, 37, of St. Tite, Quebec, is… Read More
FORT KENT – A score or more of volunteers have been scouring the northern Maine woods for two months, making trails for the 14th Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races, set to depart from Fort Kent’s Main Street on Saturday morning. Volunteers are led by… Read More
FORT KENT – The reputation and traditions of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races held in Maine’s farthest northern reaches have gained tremendously over 13 years. The attributes spell success for the three races, a 250-mile classic, a mid-range 60-mile race and a short… Read More
FORT KENT – Mary Wolf, an 18-year-old St. Francis woman who scores of people cheered for and hoped she would complete the Irving Woodlands 250-mile Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Race was taken from the trail late Tuesday afternoon. Wolf was the last competitor on the… Read More
FORT KENT – An Alaskan malamute running in the 13th annual Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Race died early Tuesday on the trail between Maibec and Allagash. The dog died in harness while on the trail, but veterinarians believe an earlier collision may have caused the… Read More
FORT KENT – A sigh of relief went through the nearly two dozen people at Can-Am central about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when search and rescue people radioed to say they had spotted Liz Como and her sled dogs on the trail. Concern for the musher… Read More
FORT KENT – A haggard, tired-looking Martin Massicotte of St. Tite, Quebec, crossed the finish line of the Irving Woodlands 250-mile race at 1:34 p.m. Monday, winning his third Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race title after an unusually grueling trek through the North Woods. Read More
After 250 miles of mushing, Martin Massicotte was the well-deserving recipient of plenty of attention in the minutes following his victorious Can-Am Crown Irving 250 run on Monday. Fifteen feet in front of Massicotte and the throng of race officials and well-wishers, however, an emotional… Read More
CAN-AM CROWN SLED DOG RACE Irving Woodlands 250-mile Race googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
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… Read More
FORT KENT – Allan Dow, a retired postal worker and former fire chief in Maine’s capital of sled dog racing, was the dog-traffic cop Saturday morning as 90 sled dog teams looked to get to the starting line in three events as part of the 13th Can-Am Crown… Read More
FORT KENT – The late Willard Jalbert Jr. mushed dogs in Fort Kent decades before mushing was the biggest event of the year in this northern Maine town that was invaded by nearly 1,000 dogs and 90 mushers over the weekend and thousands of fans Saturday. Read More
CAN-AM CROWN At Fort Kent googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0] googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
FORT KENT – A northern Maine snowstorm changed the outcome of the Irving Woodlands 250-mile Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Race late Sunday night when the musher who had been leading the race from the first checkpoint Saturday officially scratched from the competition. Keith Aili of… Read More
FORT KENT – Three former winners of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog races will be going head-to-head in the 250-mile classic which starts on Main Street Saturday morning. Don Hibbs of Millinocket, who won in 1997, 1999, and 2000, will square off against Martin… Read More
FORT KENT – There are still four months before baying and yelping dog athletes and their mushers take over Main Street in Fort Kent for the CanAm Crown International Sled Dog Race, but sponsors for the $41,000 race have come to the starting line. President… Read More
ALLAGASH – Bruce Langmaid became the fourth musher to win a second Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Race on Monday morning, coming in an hour and 19 minutes ahead of two-time winner Martin Massicotte. Langmaid, 46, a kennel owner from Blackstock, Ontario, led the Key Bank… Read More
FORT KENT – There is no definite economic study to show the dollar benefits of the annual Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race, but most people believe there is a great benefit, and it may not all be in dollars. The effect the 12th annual… Read More
ALLAGASH – The KeyBank 250-mile sled dog race was a run to the finish Sunday afternoon as the top three teams, within 30 minutes of each other, were on a dash from the northwestern Maine woods to the Allagash checkpoint, about 55 miles from the finish line. Read More
FORT KENT – Alan Dow started repairing signs for the 2004 Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races last March and finished Thursday night, just before he had to set up the finish line gate Friday morning. Dow, 62, of Fort Kent said Friday afternoon that… Read More
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… Read More
After about 48 hours spent in dog sledding command centers, Fort Kent restaurants, and remote checkpoints, I’ve learned quite a bit about dog sledding … and the people who share a passion for the sport. First, a quick disclaimer. While I do consider myself a… Read More
FORT KENT – Five years ago – during his first Can-Am Crown 250 International Sled Dog Race attempt – Bruce Langmaid led for much of the race … reached the outskirts of Fort Kent in first place … and found out he had a bit of a problem. Read More
FORT KENT – Ashley Simpson came to Fort Kent this past weekend intending to run the Can-Am 60 with the goal to someday run the event’s flagship 250-mile race. On Monday morning the 18-year-old from Shirley had not only completed the Can-Am 250, she did… Read More
FORT KENT – Out on the race course, the Can-Am Crown MBNA 250 develops in fits and starts, as mushers “snack” their dogs along the trail, stop to heed the call of nature, or just check on their canine companions’ well-being. Much of the time,… Read More
FORT KENT – A mile from the finish line of Saturday’s Pepsi/Budweiser 30, 16-year-old musher Jake Swanson found himself on the wrong end of a rookie mistake. And the personable 10th grader from Leroy, Mich., wasn’t the only “rookie” heading the wrong direction. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
FORT KENT – Up to $40,000 in prizes are up for grabs by sled dog mushers this weekend in the 11th running of the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races. The annual race is among the largest winter sporting events in Maine. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
FORT KENT – A tired and exhilarated Martin Massicotte and six dogs still ready to run crossed the finish line at 5:17 a.m. Monday to win the 10th annual Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog race and its $4,500 first-place prize. He was greeted by about… Read More
FORT KENT – Larry Murphy, a Fort Kent father, grandfather, and elementary school assistant principal, is running his first Can-Am 250-mile sled dog race Saturday with a goal of just reaching the finish line in the classic. It’s Murphy’s first major race, although he has… Read More
FORT KENT – Two teams of husbands and wives and a father- and-son team, all from Maine, will be among the mushers competing against each other and 24 other mushers in the Can-Am Crown’s annual 250-mile sled dog race through the northern Maine woods next weekend. Read More
FORT KENT – Rita Lensing, a 36-year-old waitress from Shroeder, Minn., became the first woman ever to finish the 250-mile Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race Monday when she crossed the finish line in seventh position. She limped across the finish line, and was taken… Read More
FORT KENT – Thousands of people lined Main Street on Saturday, braving intense cold for the start of the ninth annual Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races. A record number of mushers participated in the biggest sled dog race in the East. Seventy-seven mushers, using… Read More
ALLAGASH – Twenty-six-year-old Keith Aili sprinted to the finish line Sunday night and smashed the race record in winning the ninth Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race. It was Aili’s first championship in three attempts. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
FORT KENT – The excitement of the Maine Principals’ Association’s Class A skiing championship and the U.S. Junior Biathlon Championships have not had time to diminish in this northern Maine town and the ninth running of the Can Am Crown International Sled Dog Race hits the trails Saturday… Read More