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Joanna Oberg
Two local mushers raced their sled dog teams in the Calumet, Michigan Copper Dog 150-mile sled dog race held March 4 and March 5, and both teams placed nicely in a deep field filled with excellent dog teams and mushers.
Grand Marais sled dog musher Joanna Oberg placed third, and Rita Wehseler, Tofte, sixth in the race won by JR Anderson, with Ryan Anderson taking second place.
The race was held over two days and run in three 50-mile stages. When the times for the stages were added up, Oberg was only 13:31 out of first place. Wehseler was 43:52 behind JR Anderson, who crossed the line in 10:10:19.
After the first leg, Rita’s team was in third place, just one minute behind JR Anderson, who led the whole way. Meanwhile, Joanna was 22 minutes behind the leader after the first leg.
“I don’t know how many times I had to stop during the first stage,” said Joanna. “One of my dogs, Bandit, was having problems with his stomach. He gets overly excited during races. He’s a phenomenal dog, high energy, fast, a good leader, but he can’t handle racing. I knew it was a risk-taking him, but he had been training well. Still, you can’t reproduce racing in a training session. I had to put him on the sled the last nine or ten miles. I lost maybe ten, fifteen minutes. I’m not sure, though, how much time I lost because I don’t carry a watch with me. I just race.”
Rita Wehseler
Joanna’s team was second during the second stage, with Rita’s team sixth in that stage. However, after the two legs were combined, Oberg sat third, and Rita was fourth.
Joanna had to pull two more dogs during the third and final stage, and she finished with six dogs. Still, she held onto third place while Rita slipped to sixth. Both are good showings with the tough competition in the field.
This was Rita’s seventh CopperDog 150 and Joanna Oberg’s ninth CopperDog 150 race.
Joanna operates Run Silent Racing Kennel and Rita runs the Stoney Creek Kennel.
Rita ended her year with a first place in the John Beargrease 120, a fourth place in the Gunflint Mail Run, a ninth place in the Klondike Dog Derby, and a first place in the 32-mile Northern Pines Dog Sled Race held February 20 in Iron River, Wisconsin. Joanna placed third in the Beargrease 120, first in the Gunflint Mail Run, second in the 82-mile Midnight Run held in Marquette, Michigan, and fourth in the Klondike Run Dog Derby held in Excelsior, Minnesota.
Other local mushers
Matthew Schmidt placed fifth and his wife Erin Altemus eighth at the Midnight Run. Mary Manning, Hovland, placed 16th at the Midnight Run.
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