Mushers from Cook County did a lot of traveling to partake in their sport this winter. Frank Moe traveled to Wyoming for the Pedigree International Dog Sled Race and also enjoyed the WolfTrack Classic in Ely. He is pictured here on the first leg of the 70-mile WolfTrack Classic. Moe took first in the close-to-home race.
Keeping up with the energetic Cook County dog mushers and their canine teams in the winter months is tough. The Cook County News- Herald caught up with a few of the mushers recently to see how the 2014 mushing season went.
Gichigami Express
Mushers were busy to say the least, starting with the Gichigami Express Sled Dog Race in Cook County on January 4-6 with Frank Moe of MoeTown Kennels, Matt Schmidt of Nuannaarpoq Kennel and Odin Jorgenson of Jorgenson Kennels taking part in the local race in extremely frigid temps. Schmidt finished 10th in that race.
Moe said three of his dogs had minor frostbite after the second day and he and his handler/wife Sherri Moe decided to scratch. “We wanted to make sure they could heal up and that no other ones got injured,” explained Frank.
Gichigami Express Board Member Odin Jorgenson also scratched and has taken some time off from sled dog racing this season to be with his family.
There has been plenty of snow this year for mushing! Mark Luttinen of Grand Marais enjoyed running a MoeTown Kennels team in the 30-mile WolfTrack Classic in Ely in February.
Voyageurs Classic
Mark Luttinen raced in the Voyageurs Classic in Northome, Minnesota on January 11, finishing 10th. He said he runs dogs from MoeTown Kennels, “thanks to Frank and Sherri Moe.”
Luttinen said the Voyageurs Classic taught him some lessons about caring for dogs with the unassisted layover at the Voyageurs Classic. “And running hills for an entire race will give you unbelievable cramps if you don’t replace electrolytes early and often!” he said.
“The race was longer than advertised, trail was softer, turns were a little tricky with the lead dog in heat and there are a lot of decisions I had to make about the team with little consultation. I got to discover firsthand how helpful and friendly the other mushers are during a race. Lots of challenges were overcome and we completed the race in a respectable position with all the dogs coming in happy and healthy,” said Luttinen.
Andrea DeBoer is following in her mother, Robin Beal’s footsteps. She—and her 9-year-old daughter Taylor—participated in their first dog sled race this winter. They ran the Amarok Kennel dogs in the Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race in Little Falls, Minnesota in February.
And, he summed up the thoughts of many mushers when he added, “The run at night in Voyageurs is a great time on the trail just with the dogs.”
John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon
The next big race was the famed John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon on January 26 – 29. Erin Altemus of Nuannaarpoq Kennel of Grand Marais was the only Cook County musher following the John Beargrease trails. She finished in fourth place and she was enthusiastically welcomed by her husband, Matthew Schmidt. The couple takes turns racing their Nuannaarpoq Kennel team.
Wyoming Pedigree International Stage Stop
Local mushers traveled a long way to take part in the Pedigree Stage Stop Race in Wyoming from January 31 to February 8. Frank Moe and Dennis LaBoda raced in the beautiful Rocky Mountains in the eight-day stage race with stops in interesting western towns named Lander, Pinedale, Cora, Big Piney, Alpine, Diamondville, West Yellowstone and more. Moe said, “It’s the biggest stage race probably in the world, for sure North America.”
Moe said, “I got to train 17 of our dogs for a week near Dubois, Wyoming then met Sherri in Jackson where we drove to West Yellowstone and trained there for a few more days before the race start back in Jackson, Wyoming.
“It was an incredible, maybe once in a lifetime, experience where we got to run and race in spectacular country with some of the fastest teams in the world. We had a couple of good runs where we finished 7th and 8th. We finished 13th overall and won the Sportsmanship Award for the race.
“While Sherri and I loved the experience, we’ve realized we have marathon dogs. That’s what we’ve bred, raised and trained them for so we’ll be back to that next season. But we loved running in the mountains, the beautiful country and all the new friends we made out there.”
LaBoda finished in the top 10, claiming 10th place in the Wyoming competition.
Apostle Islands
Local musher Matt Groth had an excellent finish at the 19th Apostle Island Sled Dog Race on February 1 – 2, taking 1st place in the 10-dog division. Matt Schmidt was just a little behind Groth in that race, claiming third place.
Tofte musher Rita Wehseler also entered the 10-dog division, but scratched after the first day of racing.
Also traveling to the other side of the Big Lake for that race was Mary Manning of Hovland, finishing in 7th place in the six-dog race. Nancy Lang of Snowy Ridge Kennels of Grand Marais finished 3rd and Erin Altemus, Nuannaarpoq Kennel of Grand Marais, finished 7th in the Sportsmen’s Class.
Midnight Run
Erin Altemus also ran a Nuannaarpoq Kennel team in the Midnight Run eight-dog race in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on February 15. Erin finished in ninth place in that 90-mile race.
Winter Warriors
Dennis and Charlie LaBoda both competed in the Camp Ripley Winter Warrior Sled Dog Race in Little Falls, Minnesota on February 15 – 16. The Night Train Racing Kennel swept the event. Dennis was the 1st place finisher in the six-dog race. Charlie finished in 1st place in the 10-dog race.
That race was the first ever for Andrea DeBoer, daughter of Robin and Greg Beall. DeBoer ran the 25-mile, six-dog race and finished in 5th place. Her daughter, Taylor, 9-years-old, ran the two-dog junior race and finished in an impressive 2nd place.
Andrea raced dogs from Beall’s Amarok Kennel. “My team was made up of two veteran dogs and the other four were rookies, along with me. They handled the race well and I saw what we needed to work on for next season,” she said.
“The trails were amazing. I don’t have much to compare it to, but I will definitely be back next year,” said Andrea.
Wolf Track Classic
Frank Moe of MoeTown Kennels finished in 1st place in the February 22 – 23 WolfTrack Classic Sled Dog Race in Ely.
Finishing 3rd in the 10-dog, 70-mile WolfTrack Classic was Matt Schmidt and 10th was Adam Treeful, a mushing guide at Gunflint Lodge.
Mark Luttinen competed in the 10-dog, 30-mile race with sled dogs from MoeTown Kennels and finished 10th. Mary Manning finished 25th.
Luttinen said, “Wolf Tracks has wonderful scenery, great snow, a good bunch of hills in the first part of the race and wicked wind once you are out of the woods.”
Copper Dog 150
Dennis LaBoda of Night Train Racing finished 8th in the Copper Dog 150 in Upper Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula on February 28 – March 2. In the 10-dog, three-stage, 150-mile race, LaBoda and his team ran from Calumet to Eagle Harbor, Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor and back to Calumet.
Dennis’s lead dogs are Mary, who loves to race, and Felix, who keeps up with Mary.
Frank Moe finished 17th, which he said was “pretty good for a bunch of marathon dogs in a sprint race.”
In an interesting twist at the Copper Dog, mushers get to select the music that blares out of the speakers when they are in the starting chute. What did the Cook County mushers pick? LaBoda—Hell’s Bells by AC/DC. Moe— Call Me the Breeze by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Mush for a Cure
The season wrapped up with the Mush for a Cure fun run on March 8 with MoeTown Kennels sponsoring three teams. Jessica Berg-Collman ran six dogs; Mark Luttinen ran eight dogs; and MoeTown Kennels handler Lisa Bouley ran a team of five with lead dog Acorn who turned 10 years old that day.
Other Cook County folks donning pink for the sourdough start were Della Severtson, Adam Treeful, Jessica Fries- Gottfried, Nancy Lang, Mike Nelson, Mary Manning and a team of the Points Unknown Kennel.
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