© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

Can Am Sled Dog Races to Go Ahead, But Greenville Races Canceled

BANGOR, Maine - While the winter has disrupted a number of winter sporting events, one event that's going ahead as scheduled is the Can-Am Crown Sled Dog Races on March 5. But sled dog races scheduled for Saturday in Greenville have been called off.

"I was very happy with the news that we got last night from our people that work on the trails," says
Can-Am President Beurmond Banville.

Banville says it's been touch and go all month, but the area received about 7 inches of fresh snow this week.

The trails aren't perfect, he says, but they're runable. "They're telling us we have a few problems but it's nothing that cannot be taken care of this weekend and the starting days of next week."

Banville says cooler temperatures in the forecast with small amounts of new snow should help preserve and soften the snow pack.

The trio of northern Maine races, now in their 24th year, take mushers on a loop beginning and ending in Fort Kent.

Meanwhile in Greenville, the blast of spring temperatures and rain has led to the cancelation of the Plum Creek Wilderness Dog Sled races, which were to be run on Saturday. The races had already been postponed from Feb. 6 during another bout of warm weather.

Bethany Young a race coordinator who works for the town of Greenville, says the cancelation is a huge disappointment.

"It's a big bummer for Greenville. A lot of people in our community come out to watch and support the mushers and a lot of volunteers come from all over the state, all over the country."

She says numerous hotel and restaurant reservations, which traditionally give the Moosehead Lake region a winter revenue boost, have been canceled.

The trail was deemed to be too icy and hard for the dogs and mushers to safely navigate. Young says the race will return next year, with the date already set for Feb. 4.