Lynne is back from Cheboygan, MI, mushing out of Iskristall Kennel, which is Swedish for Snow. She has entered every CopperDog race, she loves it! She is returning this year with leaders Cache, Tinder and Rossi.

Lynne is a retired elementary school teacher, who in 2000, went to the Iditarod from Anchorage to Nome as a teacher-on-the-trail, and sent reports back to Michigan schools! She started skijoring in 2004 with one dog and she also completed the Yukon 300 in 2017.

When it is not winter, she is a canoe racer and the President of the Michigan Canoe Racing Association.

Her sponsor is Dogbooties.com.

Good luck in the CD80!

Alex LaPlante, from Two Harbors, MN, is joining us for another CopperDog. She has attended all but one CopperDog, either handling or racing. She will be running a mostly puppy team from Dark Sky Kennel; Mango, Berry, Plum, Fig, and Lemon. Her lead dogs are Roy and Goose.

She would like to thank her mom Betty for the dog bootie sponsorship and her brother Bryan for the runner plastic sponsorship.

Good luck in the CD80, Alex!

Shannon, from Sand Coulee, MT is back for another CopperDog. This will be her fourth CopperDog as a competitor. She is running out of Mo Betta Sled Dog Racing with leaders IV (pronounced Ivy) and Levi.

She is very proud to say she has attended the very first CopperDog in 2010 as a spectator!

Training in Montana, she often runs into wildlife on their training runs. One time this season, they ran with a herd of about 60 to 70 mule deer and antelope!

She would like to thank her sponsor, Kaye Ward, and would also like to thank her family for holding down the fort at home while her and her husband, Chris, are away, and she would also like to thank Chris for letting her take the main team this time!

Good luck in the CD80, Shannon!

Derek, from Gypsy Moondogs, a kennel in Mosinee, WI is joining us for his first CopperDog! His lead dogs are Redwings and Brutus!

He would like to thank his dogs for trusting him and letting him be a part of their lives every day. He would also like to thanks his parents, John and Bonnie, for handling at races and helping out at the kennel... and Phil and Kim Ruhl of Howling Spirit Racing Siberian Huskies.

Derek, good luck in your first CD80!

Heather is running her first CopperDog! She is running a team from Meander Mountain Huskies Kennel and her lead dogs are Pebbles and Frankie. They are Alaskan Huskies!

John Fisher and Heather once went on an “easy training run” that was supposed to take three hours. Eight hours later they had had many adventures that included their dogs swimming!
But they made in back safely in the end!

She would like to thank her sponsor, Vermilion Veterinary Clinic of Cook, MN.

Good luck in the CD80, Heather!

Ashley is joining us for her first CopperDog! She will be running the CD80 with lead dogs Sienna, Mowgli, and June!

Crazy story from Ashley occurred about 7-to-8 years ago while she was training dogs in Colorado. She ran Malamutes at the time and had them trained to go over cattle-guard grates. For those who don’t know, they are bars that go over a hole dug into the road to form a sort of bridge that cars can drive over, but cattle are too nervous to go over them.

The dogs sort of pick their way across them like an agility course. Occasionally they would pass cows and with some strong reminders the dogs usually went by with no issues. One morning she was coming back from a short ATV run with the 'mutes, and a herd of horses crested a hill about 100 yards to her left, and they started stampeding towards the dogs.

She start to panic a little bit but they were close to the cattle guard so she knew if she could get there, they would be okay. She got her lead dogs up to it right as the horses got to the road and began to cross it behind them sort of parting their herd to go around them. Once her lead dogs drug the team across they were fine and she could have her mini heart attack! She is just thankful the dogs listened. She also had a team of 14 dogs at the time. It could have ended much differently!

Ashley is very fortunate to have a lot of great sponsors this year! Arrowhead Excavating, Dutchman Tree Service, The Vermilion Club, Love Your Lake, Griffen Construction, and TA Services.

Her and Ryan manage their kennel together and have always wanted to give the CopperDog a go! They are looking forward to an exciting new race!

Ashley, good luck in the CD80!!!

Frank Caldwell is here for his fifth CopperDog from TC Kennels in Newberry, MI. Frodo, Payphone, Larry, and Bandit will be his lead dogs.

Frank and his wife, Regina, "would like to thank the entire CopperDog team for putting on such a great event year-after-year. And the sponsors and volunteers for their time and generosity! We couldn't do what we love, without you. And to our dogs from past and present that make up our team, you are the best! Wishing safe and happy trails to all the CopperDog teams this year."

Good luck in the CD80, Frank!

Alyssa is back for another CopperDog! She raced the CopperDog 25 last year and had volunteered prior to that. Now she is taking on the CopperDog 80 with leads Agate and Heather.

Alyssa is a part of the Mushing Club at Michigan Tech and is running a team from Tom Bauer's kennel, Otter River Sled Dog Training Center & Wilderness Adventures. She said that the Otter River Kennel has done a great job of getting her out on a sled to train and race!

Her crazy story was when she was training and her team took a turn too early on their trail, following where a snowmobile had gone and they got stuck with her leaders on either side of a tree, they pretty much just had to turn around the way they came to get back to where they were on the trail!

Good luck in the CD80, Alyssa!!

Joann is joining us for another CopperDog! Her and her husband's team, Coyote Run Sled Dog Kennel, has attended every CopperDog since the beginning with either her or her husband, Larry, on the runners. They are from Gaylord, MI. Her lead dogs will be Rey, Finn, and Rue.

The scariest experience she has ever had mushing dogs was racing the Midnight Run in the 2015 blizzard with 72 mph winds. She could not see anything and her and her entire 8-dog team kept getting blown off the trail when they were by Lake Superior!

This is Joann's 22nd race season. She hss raced many Midwest races such as Beargrease 120, CopperDog 150, Midnight Run, Tahquamenon Country, etc. over the past couple decades.

She would like to thank her sponsors, UpNorth Land Company and Northwood Land Company.

Good luck in the CD80, Joann!

Wade will be running his first CopperDog this year but he has attended the race prior. He is part of the Mushing Club at Michigan Tech and will be running a team from Tom Bauer's Kennel, the Otter River Sled Dog Training Center & Wilderness Adventures. His lead dogs will be Ares and Winchester.

His crazy stores goes something like this; at the Midnight Run in 2021 on the way back to the finish he rammed his sled into a tree, breaking his brushbow. The tree was then surrounded by the sled so he had to pull the team backward so he could push the tree back through the brushbow. Shortly after, his sled slipped off the side of a small bridge and he managed to jump off, pull his sled back onto the bridge, and finish the race! Let's hope he has a clean run at the CopperDog!!

Good luck in the CD80, Wade!!