Two weeks and counting...

by Todd Brassard
on February 4, 2012

Back to Bloggin'

Last year, right around two weeks before the big race, I decided to start a blog to have an informal way to keep mushers in the loop on the latest developments.  Of course I hoped to keep the blog going with regular updates all season long, but as the pressure of race planning grew, the updates became few and far between.  I know, there isn't much point to having a blog if it doesn't get updated fairly often.  With only two weeks to go to our third annual event, I thought it best to get this line of communication open again.

Trail Conditions

I imagine the first question on everyone's mind is "how are the trails?"  At last report, the trails are in good shape.  Being that the Keweenaw is one of the few locations in the Midwest that actually has decent snow on the ground, our trail system is getting a huge volume of snowmobile traffic. This is definitely a needed economic boost for local businesses.  Fortunately, Keweenaw Trail Services keeps the trails groomed and in great shape despite the heavy usage. As of about a week ago, all sections of the CopperDog 150 trail have been reported safe and in good condition.

To our surprise, despite the junky winter, the climb up and over Brockway Mountain is looking better than last year having no bare spots as of a week ago.  However, we are taking a close look at an s-curve at the back end of the mountain that is likely to be icy and tricky for some teams to negotiate.  We have a full team (actually an official committee) visiting the location tomorrow (Sunday, 2-19-2012) to determine if this short segment of trail can be made safe and therefore keep Brockway on the map.  If not, we will have an alternate route planned.

What is different this year?

If you ran the CopperDog 150 last year, you'll discover a few changes this year.  We have moved the start of the race up 30 minutes and and pushed the Eagle Harbor restart back 90 minutes.  This will give everyone an extra two hours of much needed sleep at the Eagle Harbor checkpoint. 

We are also doing a reverse start out of Eagle Harbor, the slowest teams will be hitting the trail first Saturday morning.  This format was very popular in 2011 on stage 3, so we are giving it a try on stage 2 this year.  Eagle Harbor is also opening their Community Center to provide more space for mushers to crash and get some sleep during this quick layover.  Our goal is to provide a warm quiet place for mushers to sleep (other than their trucks).  

Looking back, the stage 2 finish in Copper Harbor lacked a little luster last year.  We had no systems in place to make sure teams were processed with mandatory vet and gear checks in the order they arrived, so some teams ended up waiting quite a long time. 

This year, we have greatly improved our FIFO (first in first out) logistics planning for the Copper Harbor finish.  The veterinary staff is larger (4 vets, 4 vet techs, 2 vet assistants, and 8 volunteers). We have a dispatcher keeping track of teams as they arrive in Copper Harbor and the corresponding order to mandatory checks are performed.  We have radio communications for faster response times and hot water being delivered to dog teams via ATV.  We're pretty excited about the improvements.

Last year's stage 3 restart out of Copper Harbor was also a bit of a congested mess (maybe not the best choice of words, but essentially accurate).  Last year our goal was to avoid having teams cross a major highway less than a quarter-mile into the leg, we met that goal, but at a price.  Talk to your musher friends who competed last year to get the full story.

This year we have totally redesigned the Copper Harbor start.  We have moved it to the middle of town, right off of US41.  With the help and guidance of some people in the right places, we have road closings and the permissions necessary to make the Copper Harbor start work great.  There are still some potential complications (land usage permissions and a tight turn), but we will likely have everything worked out by this coming Tuesday's race planning meeting.

We have also moved the start out of Copper Harbor back from 7:30am (last year) to 9:00am.  This gives everyone time to eat breakfast, time for our volunteers to make the drive to Copper Harbor (without having to get up at 5am), and is late enough for spectators to make the trip up and watch the start.  Copper Harbor is really coming together to be a great checkpoint this year.

There are many other great changes to the race this year, like a purse on the short race, some really great meals planned by Official Race Chef Pittillo, hand-crafted awards, and more.  Its truly going to be an great time this year.

Photos from the Trail 1-24-2012

posted by Doug Harrer
on Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Abbey and I went out to check out the trail by the Phoenix Farms Crossing.  I have to tell you that the trail is looking extreamly good in lines of a thick base on the snowmobile trail.  As you know we got snow all day and from what I've heard today was in the last 24 hours we got 24" here in Calumet.  As for Copper Harbor, they got 10-12" in that 24 hour period as well. Check out some photos ...

Doug Harrer
Board Chair
CopperDog 150

In The News - Readying for CopperDog

by Kurt Hauglie, Daily Mining Gazette, Writer
on 12/21/2011 (click here for DMG story)

CALUMET - According to Todd Brassard, the third year for a new community event is extremely critical for its continued success, and that's the case for the CopperDog 150 sled dog race conducted in Calumet in March.

Brassard, who is race director for the CopperDog 150, and two other representatives of the race, were at the regular Calumet Village Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday to update the council on the event and for assistance.

Meredith LaBeau, assistant race director, said race representatives would like permission from the council to close certain streets for the weekend of March 2 to 4. The requested closures are: Fifth Street from 3 a.m. March 2 to 4 p.m. March 4; Fourth Street from 2:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. March 2; The crossroads of Portland, Oak and Elm from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. March 2, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 3, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 4; Scott Street between Fourth and Fifth streets from 2:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. March 2, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 4.

One half of Fifth Street will be the snow road through the village.

Brassard said a new event for the race weekend is the Red Jacket Cyclotron, which is a bicycle race on snow.

Cyclotron race director Christopher Schmidt said the bicycles use especially wide tires for traction on the snow. That type of bicycle racing is becoming popular, including in the Marquette area.

The Cyclotron would need only one street for the race, Schmidt said.

Despite a limited format, Schmidt said the race is popular with spectators.

"Bikes just go round and round in a circle for an hour," he said. "It can be most tricky on the U-bend."

LaBeau said the Cyclotron is going to be a fairly open event.

"Anybody can come and try," she said.

Brassard said it's hoped 40 to 50 racers will take part in the Cyclotron, which should take four to five hours, depending on the weather.

"I'm really excited about the race," he said. "It could create a festival atmosphere for the whole weekend."

Brassard said the sled dog race registration closed in 10 days, while other races, such as the U.P. 200 based in Marquette, are still registering racers.

Brassard said success in the third year for any new event is most important for maintaining momentum into the future, and adding new events, such as the Cyclotron, can help that momentum. Village participation with such things as snow removal and police protection, are important, also.

"We all need to pull together to make this sustainable," he said. "I think the weekend's got a lot of potential this year."

The trustees voted unanimously to approve the road closures for the race weekend.

What a ride! (and those big fluffy dogs)

by Kim Pici on December 12, 2011

"Big Fluffy Dogs!!", exclaimed child after child as they were greeted by Brad King's team of Alaskan Malamutes at the 2nd annual free sled-dog rides for kids this past Saturday at Agassiz Park in Calumet.  Practically every child that got a chance to pet these mammoth, furry dogs had a hard time containing themselves.  After snapping almost 100 instant Polariod photos of kids of all ages and hearing their parents ask “don’t you want a picture with the Big Fluffy Dogs?”, I realized something, we all truly love Big Fluffy Dogs!

The Free Sled-Dog Rides for Kids event was a huge success this year with almost four times the turnout as last year.  Not only was this a spectacular "photo op" for the infamous team of BFD’s (that's Big Fluffy Dogs), but a wonderful opportunity for kids to receive a ride behind a real sled-dog team led by a real Musher, its an experience of a lifetime for many kids.

Dog teams where provided by Tom Bauer, Musher and owner of Otter River Sled Dog Training Center and Wilderness Adventures, his son Roy Bauer, and their crew of expert handlers.  Over 250 kids, lifted graciously in and out of sleds by members of the Copperdog150 Community Outreach/Events committee, got to experience this great event that we all work so hard to support.

According to several of the parents, Tom was great in offering up his knowledge and talking about how kids could get introduced to the sport of Mushing.

Thanks to Pat's Foods and Ferrellgas there were free hot dogs roasting on the grill and being served up by Jerry Mitchel of Carmelitas and there was lots of Hot Cocoa being sipped by many to combat the very chilly temperature.  Aspirus Keweenaw generously donated an "instamatic" camera allowing us to get some great shots, giving kids an instant keepsake.  Local mushers Truman Obermeyer and Jerry Trudell rounded out the pack with some stars from their sled dog teams.  We had a trail for the dogs to run thanks to Copper Country Rentals and the snowmobile they provided to blaze a trail in the park.  Adam and Meghan of Brockit, huge contributors to the romance of CopperDog 150 events, where in the middle of everything getting some of the great photos you see here.  For more photos, click here.

Many people asked while I was snapping photos, “are you going to do this again?”. Well I certainly hope, that with support from the CD150 volunteers and the great local members of the Mushing Community, we can continue to make this a big part of the Copperdog150 events.  So a big thank you to our local sponsors and all the mushers that took the time to bring down their dogs and speak with members of the community about this great sport.

One things for certain though, next year not only do I want a photo op with the BFD’s … I want a ride!

The Weather Channel Ranks Hancock 3rd!

by Kim Pici on December 17, 2011

It seems that the Keweenaw Peninsula is an ideal place for a sled dog race. The one key ingredient that is required for a sled dog race is plenty of the white stuff. It is well-known that the Keweenaw gets an abundance of snow. But did you know that one of the Keweenaw's cities is on the record as being the 3rd Snowiest City in the United States? According to a recent statistic on Weather.com, Hancock, Michigan has earned the moniker 1st Snowiest City east of the Rockies.

According to the weather company's stats, Hancock averages 122 inches of snowfall between December and January. That number surpasses the cities of Minneapolis and Denver in their annual snowfall.

And, after some additional fact checking, the Keweenaw seems to have the only town in the Top 10 Snowiest Cities that is part of a region that hosts a sled dog race!

Crested Butte, Colorado (2nd Snowiest City)? Nope, no sled dog race there.
Valdez, Alaska (1st Snowiest City)? Even though the infamous Iditarod runs through Alaska, it doesn't come close to Valdez.

We are glad for Weather.com's label. Snow is part of what makes our community a great place to live and play. Yes. We endure long, harsh winters with a lot of snowfall. Thankfully, the Copperdog150 helps us do what all people who live in America's snowiest cities must do -- embrace winter and rally around it. And most of all -- pray for snow on race weekend.

Got Swag?

by Jason Makela and Todd Brassard
on November 23, 2011

We at the CopperDog 150 have decided that it's about time we produce more swag for all of the great supporters of the race to own and wear with pride.  The s.w.a.g. (stuff we all get) will include awesome new t-shirt designs, baseball caps, winter hats, collectible pins, magnets, and even some iron-on embroidered CopperDog 150 patches!

We'll have all of this great new stuff for sale for reasonable prices at our Kids Dog Sled Rides at Agassiz Park on December 10, the Volunteer Drive at River Valley Bank on February 4, and the Volunteer Training session at the Calumet High School on February 18.  If you can't make it to one of these events or if you just can't wait to get your hands on all of this great CopperDog 150 gear feel free to email us and we'll be sure to find a way to get the gear from our hands to yours!  Email Todd Brassard.

Snow Fence on the Move...

by Abbey Green and Todd Brassard on November 18, 2011

This past Wednesday amidst winter's first snow fall, a tough team of Board Members and Volunteers resolved themselves to move the huge pile materials for the Calumet snow fence (about 3,500lbs of lumber, 350lbs of metal, and 50lbs of nylon fencing) from its summer home to its new home for the winter. 

An enthusiastic CD150 supporter, volunteer, worker, planner, and Trailblazer, David Rheault generously stored all of the lumber, poles, and fencing since the conclusion of the 2011 race. With winter finally sinking its teeth into the Keweenaw, David recommended that we move everything to a more accessible location, his placed was going to be buried in snow soon enough.  Once we arrived on the scene, we knew David was absolutely right. Moving that lumber was going to be a hundred times harder come February before the race.

Enter Paul Lehto and the Calumet Township, who is not only allowing us to store the materials in the Township Garage, but also provided us with a Township twin-axle trailer to move everything.  That's move everything to a location that is only 2 blocks from 5th Street!  We could not ask for a better situation.  The next time the fencing will see the light of day is when its picked up by our volunteer army to be deployed down a half-mile of snow road.

Although CD150 planners are getting pretty good at planning a sled-dog race, planning the move of our snow fence was just a bit problematic.  Despite the plethora of Michigan Tech engineers who showed to help heave lumber, we managed to load the tailor without centering the 3,500lbs load over the axles.  The tongue was sunk so far into the ground we ended up unloading the trailer and starting over.  It just goes to show, even the best minds can overlook the most obvious problems.  I suppose we were spending too much time socializing and trying to knock each other over. 

The job is done and we are very excited to have the fence ready to role out for race weekend.  Interestingly enough, the materials we own are only about half of what we need to fence the entire road.  We borrow the rest of the lumber, poles, and fencing from Michigan Tech, who is kind enough to help us out.  We all band together in the U.P., that's how we get things done.

Okay, so who wants to volunteer to help set up a snow fence on March 2 or take it down on March 4?  Come on now, don't be shy.

Notice: New Waiting List Policy

Posted by Todd Brassard on 11/7/2011

Dear Mushers,

When we opened up registration for the 2012 CopperDog 150, we hoped mushers would register early.  We put together a six month incentive program to entice teams to sign-up early and save money.  We had high hopes for our approach.  What we did not expect was that the 150-mile race would be filled within 10 days of opening registration.  We were caught unprepared and had no policy or systems in place to manage waiting lists.

Earlier, we had also made the difficult decision to limit the number of teams to 30 for the pro race and 15 for the short race.  We say “difficult decision” because we want to give every team who wants to experience our beautiful country and friendly communities an opportunity to participate.  Initially we “thought” we were prepared to receive 40 teams and 25 teams in the long and short races, respectively, but a series of concerns arose from our race planning team, past race officials, and chief vet.  Their concerns were that increasing the size of our race too quickly could reduce the quality of our event and possibly undermine our own race philosophy.

The heart of our philosophy is “happy healthy dogs, happy healthy mushers.”  We had a great second annual event in 2011, but there were plenty of problems that were identified that require fixing for the 2012 race.  We quickly realized the right thing to do is to preserve the same race size as in 2011 for 2012 to solve problems and improve overall race quality.  If our expectations are met with the upcoming race we anticipate increasing the registration limit of the 2013 CopperDog 150 accordingly.

One immediate problem we were left to solve was developing policy and procedures for a waiting list.  After reviewing the policies of other events and consulting with a few friends that we deem to be experts, we are addressing this issue today.

Waiting List Policy:  When a musher wants to compete in the CopperDog 150, they register for the event through the web site or by phone, pay the registration fee online or by check and, if the race has openings, the mushers are registered in the event, otherwise, they go on the waiting list.  In either case, the musher must pay the full registration amount listed for that date.  When other teams withdraw from the event, or if the capacity of the event is increased, mushers will be registered in the order they appeared in the waiting list.  If registration availability does not permit a musher to make it into the event, they will be refunded 100% of their registration fee.

The most significant aspect of this policy is that all mushers pay the full registration fee up front.  This helps assure that teams serious about getting into the event put their names in the waiting list.

What does this mean if you are already on the waiting list?

We will be reactivating our registration system and asking that all mushers on the waiting list formally register and make payments through our online system.   You will have until November 15, 2011 to make a payment or your spot on the waiting list will be forfeit.  We will ensure that the sign-up order of the original waiting list (now removed) is restored during this 7-day-period.

http://www.copperdog150.com/Store/Catalog?CategoryID=3

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail or call me.  Thank you for your time and attention in this matter and for being patient with us as we adapt to new situations.

Kind Regards,

Todd Brassard
Race Director
CopperDog 150

Registration Open for 2012 Races

by Todd Brassard
on September 24, 2012 10:51PM

Dear Mushers,

The CopperDog 150 is back for a third season of outdoor adventure in the Keweenaw and we’re hoping you’ll join us for a weekend of friendly people, fast trails, and hearty competition.  It’s all happening March 2 – 4, 2012.  

Registration is now open on our web site (www.copperdog150.com) for two competitions, the CopperDog 150 and the CopperDog 35.

The CopperDog 150, our signature event, is a pro-class, 10-dog, 150-mile, 3-stage race that tours some of the best trails and sights the Keweenaw Peninsula has to offer.  We’ve upped the race purse to $22,000 for 2012 and are now paying down to 12th Place.  The CD150 is limited to 30 participants.

The CopperDog 35, a 6-dog, 35-mile, single stage race is more interesting this year with the addition of a $1,000 race purse paying through 3rd Place.  This race enjoys all the start-up excitement and energy as the 10-dog race as it departs downtown Calumet immediately following the 10-dog teams.  The CD35 is limited to 15 participants.

We’ve listened to your feedback and have learned much from last year’s competition.  Expect some great changes in 2012.  Improvements like all-day access to mushers’ parking , even more signs on the trails, longer rest periods at checkpoints, and less congestion at finishes just to name a few.  We are very excited about the 2012 event and hope our hard work will show in the little details.

For one week, through October 1st, we are offering exceptionally low “early bird” registration rates for both races.   Register for the CopperDog 150 for only $250 and/or the CopperDog 35 for only $70. The maximum number of participants in each event is strictly limited, so register early to avoid the waiting list.

Thank you for your interest in the CopperDog 150.  We’re looking forward to a great 3rd season and hope to hear from you soon!

Bad Web Site ... Sit! Stay!

by Todd Brassard
on September 23, 6:37AM

After discover a few errors in our web site's error log last week, I took some time to do a thorough review of it's overall functionally.  And problems I did find... and problems.... and more problems.  I'm sorry if anyone has been trying to use the site and getting those frustrating "yellow screens of death" I call them.  The good news is, I've been playing programmer and getting most of the problems resolved.  Nevertheless I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the logs for a while to make sure everything is working well.  If you experience a problem, please don't hesitate to let me know about it.

Online Registration is Working!   

The good news is, the online registration is working!  Despite all the problems from the very beginning, Jerry and Pat Trudell (most excellent supports of the c-dog) were the first to sign-up for the long race last week.  Thanks for being the first team on the roster!

Gearing Up for the 2012 CopperDog Weekend

by Todd Brassard
September 19, 2011

The CopperDog 150 race weekend may be more than six months off, but race planners have been hard at work through the summer months layout the groundwork for the 2012 and future CopperDog events.  We revisited the strong and week points of our first two years, developed new policy and procedures, elected a new board (with a good mix of veterans and new blood), formed committees and welcome many great volunteers to the table, and just taken a number of initiatives to help assure the long-term sustainability of the CopperDog 150.

Photo Courtesy of raybosley.com

We have greatly appreciate all of the complements and encouragement for the things that went well, especially for all of the dedicated volunteers handing dogs and working out in the cold.  We've learned much from last year's event and identified many areas where we have lots of room for improvement (everything from parking mushers' rigs to piles ups at the finish line).  With so many new faces around the planning table, I'm excited to see all the cool solutions people are going to come up with.

We're Still Bloggin'!

by Todd Brassard
September 19, 2011

A few weeks prior to last year's race weekend I started this little BLOG page to help keep mushers up to date with the latest CopperDog 150 goings on.  I think everyone enjoys a good flow of current information and as we getting rolling with the 2012 web site, we're going to try to keep the information coming at you over the coming months.  I say "we" because I'm hoping to see some BLOG write-ups from a few of our key event planners.  We have some great people on planning team this year, all volunteers of course.  I'm anticipating our best event yet.

Thanks for taking the time to check our web site, its still a work in progress.  Please feel free to share your thoughts and ask questions.  Stop back often to read up on the latest developments.  

Todd Brassard
Race Director
CopperDog 150

Get Your 2011 Volunteer Guide

by Todd Brassard
on February 28, 2011

Did not make to Volunteer Coordinator Brad King's training session?  That's okay!   We have the CopperDog 150 volunteer guide available for download (PDF, 2MB).  

Here's a little preview of what you'll find in the volunteer guide.  Scroll down to see a couple of photos from volunteer training session held as CLK Schools.

What's a small town race to do?

by Todd Brassard
on February 25, 2011

Every day brings new and unexpected challenges when planning an epic event like the CopperDog 150 sled-dog race.  This year has certainly not been the exception.

When we learned that we would not be able to borrow fencing from the local university (because the fencing is in use for a ski race) for the downtown Calumet start, there was silence around the board table. The silence was not surprise because the downtown start requires almost 1 mile of snow fence to enclose the starting chute on 5th Street; this was a serious hurdle to overcome.

What's a small town race to do? 

Well, the only the we could.  After researching all of the options, downtown Calumet Start Coordinator and Director of Main Street Calumet, Tom Tikkanen said, "Well, we're just going to have to build our own."

A last minute board vote by e-mail approved the $2,000.00 of materials necessary to build the fencing system. This is a large amount of money for our limited budget, but the idea of having our own fencing was exciting. One less problem for next year. If we could solve just one problem a year, future races should get easier to plan and execute.

Yesterday after work I stopped by the garage where David Rhealt was hard at work cutting and drilling the lumber that will eventually add up to almost a mile of fence support.  One of the great things about working with people like Tom and David is you know the job is going to get done and done well.

Why is the snow fence so important anyway?

It really comes down to control and safety. Watching these mushers start downtown is very exciting, but its also a competition. The fencing help the dogs see their path and not be distracted by all of the spectators hooping it up for the race teams.