A big thanks to all that put on this event.... Well done. Last year I raced th 150 and this year the 40 ...... Or was it 43? Finishing in Eagle River was storybook with the ice lanterns lining the streets, the houses all lit up and the sounds of the waves of Lake Superior. Just loved it. Thnk you to the vets that were standing by in case of need. Thanks to those that brought food for the lunch. Thank you Leslie

& Abby for you kindness too.

My family and I volunteered again this year. My daughter and my son and his wife and myself were vet checkers and crossing guards for the return on Sunday. Everything went like clockwork. Couldn't have been better.

we can't wait for next year!!!!!

All I can say is it was awsome ! A 2 year Quest from volunteer in 2011 to muusher in 2013, what ride !! Vet check was a little tight with a trailer. Musher parking was good. Prerace was great lots of volunteers to help out, I only had a a couple problems during the race, both were 2 short sections that ran next to a plowed road. some snow fence would have kept them off the dirt in the first one and ice and paved part on the second.Both spots were in the front 3rd of the race.Trail was marked extrealy well and all road crossings great. congrats on one of the best races in north america.Thanks to the folkes of Eagle River for hoestinng the finnish of the 40. They realy rolled out the red carpet. Realy hope they do it again next year

I would really like to thank all of those who opened up their homes and cabins in Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor and allowed us some sleep between the race days. I really enjoyed talking to the people that opened up their homes to us. Again, Thank You all!

-A very thankful volunteer

The race itself was well run, however I don't think it was as spectator friendly as last year. This year it was more difficult to get across 5th street. The volunteer working at the intersection of Elm and 5th wanted us to crawl under the fence he held up approx 3 feet high. I really wanted a burrito from the 5th & Elm Coffee shop, but wasn't about to crawl on the ground to get it. The year prior, they swung out the fencing so you could walk upright across 5th St. I wonder how much business certain places lost because it was difficult for spectators to cross 5th St? Is there somehow at the intersecting streets the snow on the course could be "panked" to make it harder so people could cross 5th street easier without doing a lot of damage to the course? It was also confusing that some of the food vendors required tickets instead of cash. If that is the case those vendors should have GIANT signs saying tickets required, no cash. Quite a few were disappointed Calumet Pizzaworks was not selling pizza by the slice like they did the previous year.

This was my first year as a musher but have been coming up as a spectator since your first year. I had a great time and would like to thank all the volunteers! I'm not sure that I liked the cross traffic to get to the starting shoot it also made returning from the port-a-potty a challenge. The Eagle River finish was a lot nicer then in the past when it ended in a dark parking lot, and the people of Eagle River put out some great food for every one. The sharp turn at the finish line worked out well but may have gone better if it had been mentioned at the mushers meeting and I heard from my handlers that parking was a little unclear but after they and the team behind them got turned around it was o.k.

I have always enjoyed the Copper Dog; but concur with the other comments regarding pets being taken to the event, and the icy walkways. In addition, I would suggest the band not play whilst the dogs are taking off. We were standing near the intersection with the food and band - and couldn't hear the names of the mushers because REIGN was performing.

From my view of the 2013 Copper Dog race.

I spent Friday morning doing vet checks with Dr. Ladd. Here's what was good....

All of the vets and vet assistants were friendly, professional, and outstanding all the way around. They explained what they wanted to the volunteers with patience and were just nice to work with. The mushers were amazing, and our team was thanked by every single person we met. I was touched by the level of concern that all of the mushers showed to their dogs, and some of the discussions with the vets were extremely educational. (It had never occurred to me that there would be a problem keeping weight ON a dog-- says the owner of a slightly chubby house dog :).

The people at the bank were extremely interested and very very helpful and spent the entire morning being an excellent public relations arm of Copper Dog-- and the Copper Country in general. Having the merchandise at the bank was a really good idea (and I saw more than 1 bank customer over buying a hat or tee shirt :)

What wasn't good:

Parking. Brett, the parking lot General, did an excellent job, and kept things moving very well, but in fact, the lot is way too small for some of those rigs, and some of the people have … issues... driving them in a tight space. It would be most helpful if we could “borrow” the Sacred Heart lot next year, especially for some of the really long rigs, so the drivers don't have to maneuver them into small spaces.

There was often a line for the one bathroom the bank has... nothing major, but maybe a port-a-pottie at the bank?

And our team had a request from the daughter of one the mushers (who is 6 years old) that next year we mark the long race with pink, because if we're going to color on her dogs, she'd prefer pink to green.

Friday night as “Assistant Doug”.

I'd done “Musher Parking” the 1st year and it was madness-- to the point that I wouldn't volunteer for it again. This year I was amazed at the ease and control of the “madness”. The maps, the radios, the team members in charge of different spaces.. all really excellent ideas. Other than a few “glitches” with teams who need to be parked near other teams for whatever reason, it was head and shoulders above what I'd seen before. And other than a few serious ice issues I don't know that it could be done any better.

The start-- The good. Plenty of volunteers, excellent communications, all of the mushers that I talked with had all the volunteers they needed and then some. The volunteers were good, most had the training and stamina to keep up with the teams, and I only saw 1 of the CD40 teams get away from their volunteers and decide they were going to start early... And a lot of the staff at the start jumped to grab... so it wasn't a case of an unexpected start :)

The Rotary volunteers were really excellent in keeping people off the course, and in clearing people out. If we can get more of them next year, that would be REALLY GOOD. (I think we'll see a lot more volunteers from Rotary next year, they were all having a really good time and were very excited at being able to help).

The bad:

People with pets. We need to put big BRIGHT signs up all over town that say “NO PETS” . Really. Because some people will not listen to anyone. I know one guy was told by 5 different people, from the Rotary volunteer, to Abbey, to Doug to take his dog home. And I think all that accomplished was that he moved the dog down the block. I saw the Rotary volunteers stopping at least 15 people coming in with dogs.

Bathrooms: We need port-a-potties on both sides of the road with signs or else businesses who are willing to let people use their bathrooms with signs. Cafe Rosetta had a line for the toilets in their place... and not many of those people actually buying. And we had a lot of people trying to get around the start area to get over to “the bathroom.”

Residents: We're blocking quite a bit of resident parking. We need to communicate with them a little better, and to maybe find them somewhere else to park so they aren't trying to run over dogs or the snow road.

Ice: I know there's not much we can do, but we should try to make the village aware that the sidewalks and roads were really slippery and I saw a lot of people, including a couple in handicap parking, go down.

Spectator parking: Signs!! and maybe we could borrow the lots out by Pats/Shopko and the information center and the Church and have buses running? Community action has a bus they might “lend” us, and that'll help with congestion downtown.

From my mother, who took my niece (age 6) and nephews (age 6 and 9) down for the start, for the first time:

“Who would have thought that dogs running could be that cool? The little kids were very entertained, they all got their pictures taken with the Tech mascot. The sidewalks were really slippery. Tell that guy at Kessel thank you for having the handicap parking, but his lot was really really slippery. And you needed more bathrooms. The guy doing the announcing was really good, too. Funny and educational. And whoever had the ladder up by Kessel, someone is going to get electrocuted there. Don't do that. Or guard the ladder. There were a bunch of kids trying to climb it.” and “Not enough places for little kids to get warm. The coffee shops were packed, and that place with all the pictures (Ziyad Gallery) had too many glass things to take kids into.”

Eagle Harbor start on Saturday morning:

The good. Easy to find the volunteer signup and such. Jason's pep talk was good (and short). The fire was nice, while we were waiting for things to start. And of course, the mushers were grateful and specific in what they needed, making volunteering a pleasure. The mushers who stayed with host families that we talked to had only good things to say, and many of the host families were at the start getting their pictures taken with “their” musher. Those host families are really good PR for the race and the area.

The not good.

Only 1 person in charge of assigning the volunteers for the mushers. We were getting a bib number from Brad, then getting down the street and being reassigned by Kim... or we'd find the team we were assigned already had a bunch of volunteers. This was way too chaotic. Pick a person to be in charge of assigning volunteers to mushers and stick with that person, don't re-assign volunteer teams. It was working out that some teams had way too many volunteers and some not nearly enough.

Ice. Again. Not sure what we could do, other than maybe get the county to sand?? I don't know how that'll be on the dogs or sleds, but a lot of volunteers were falling, which certainly isn't good for the volunteers or the dogs.

Volunteer parking needs to have signs, as we ended up... somewhere we probably shouldn't have been.

Thank you volunteers!

By any measure, this year's CopperDog and surrounding events were an overwhelming success. Racing conditions were outstanding, spectators turned out in droves, and hundreds of you got involved with our community. It can't be overstated: volunteers are the most important ingredient in an undertaking of this magnitude. So many people go above and beyond to provide the safety and hospitality that make mushers want to come back to our race. The CopperDog organizers would like to thank you for your contribution to this event; we hope you had as much fun as we did.

While the race has continues to get better each year, there is always room for improvement. If you have ideas about how we could make CopperDog safer, more fun, or have even bigger economic impact we would love to hear from you. One topic that has already been floated by many crossing volunteers is the merits of additional snow fence. Budget providing, we hope to have more snow fence available next year.

Lastly, if you have any CopperDog materials (safety vests, crossing signals, snow fence, crossing logs) please drop them off at River Valley Bank in either Calumet or Houghton. We're on a very tight budget, and can ill afford to replace these items.

Once again, thank you for being part of CopperDog 2013! You guys are the best!