On Feb. 28, Mar. 1, and Mar. 2, the Michigan Tech Mushing Club raced at the CopperDog 150. This event, held yearly in Calumet, features dozens of teams that travel from all over the U.S. to compete in one of the Upper Peninsula’s greatest dog sled races. This year, Haleigh Bonk, an MTU student, won second place in the CopperDog’s premier event, the 150 mile race. The race, which goes through the Keweenaw Peninsula, traverses some of the roughest terrain the Midwest has to offer. Michigan Tech’s team competed in many of the other events.
According to Ben Amat, the president of the Mushing Club, the dogs used in the industry typically follow certain criteria. “We use a dog breed called Alaskan Husky. They are not a recognized dog breed by any of the kennel clubs, but they are bred purely for how they perform, rather than their looks.” They typically run 12 dogs in a line for most races.
The club has a kennel, where members care for the dozens of dogs at the facility. The dogs that run for the MTU Mushing Club are impressive athletes; they competed in Marquette this season, running a staged 220 mile race, with the longest stretch reaching a total of 67 miles. According to Amat, the season is “All the time! We do lots of work outside of running. Caring for the dogs is always the number one priority.” He mentioned that the club is always looking for volunteers who are interested in helping out and interacting with the dogs.
As the CopperDog 150 is the last event of the season for these dogs, the club will enter a downtime phase when the dogs will receive lots of love and care from club members. For more information, you can reach out to the MTU Mushing Club to help out with events such as the CopperDog 150.
