Mushers, dogs and spectators from all over come to the Upper Peninsula for the UP200, Midnight Run and Jack Pine 30 sled dog races.
The U.P. Sled Dog Association is excited to celebrate the 30th anniversary this weekend.
“It’s been interesting to watch it grow,” said Darlene Walch, U.P. Sled Dog Association President. “The first year there were not a whole lot of mushers downtown and I don’t think anybody in Marquette quite knew exactly to expect.”
It all started when an avid sled dog racer and his family came to the U.P.
“There was a gentleman that moved to Marquette in the late 1980s named Jeffrey Mann, who had this bright idea that there could be a sled dog race,” said Walch.
After Mann made connections in the community and lots of planning, mushers sped down Washington Street in Marquette in the first UP200 on a Friday night in February 1990.
“The UP200 used to run from Marquette to Escanaba and back again, but in 2003, Escanaba didn’t have any snow,” said Cathy Egerer, Grand Marais Checkpoint Coordinator of the UP200. “Three weeks before the race the UP200 Board was scrambling to find a place to make the turnaround point and Grand Marais came up.”
The course change in 2003 became permanent after the board voted in favor.
More trail alterations occurred in 2014 when the Midnight Run changed the turnaround to Chatham and the finish line to Marquette.
“It started out as a fairly local event in Michigan and the upper Midwest but at this point we are getting mushers from Canada,” said Walch. “We are getting people coming in from Alaska. The spectators who come to this event are coming from all over the place. This is on people’s bucket list.”
According to the U.P. Sled Dog Association, many volunteers over the past three decades have made the race possible.
“The final mile on the race is dedicated to all the volunteers who are not with us any longer,” said Walch.
This includes Carl McKenzie, whom this year’s race is dedicated to.
Take a deeper look into The Upper Peninsula Dog Sled Association history on their
.
