Latest news, weather, high school sports for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

COPPER HARBOR -- Musher attendance for some U.P. sled dog races was down this year, but in just its second year, the Copper Country race is booming in popularity.  The trails are fast, the dogs healthy, and many mushers are happier than ever with the conditions.

"I think this race is going to be big!  One of the best in the Midwest!" exclaimed musher Maggie Heielmann.

It's only the second year for the Copper Dog 150, but the race is already booming in size.  Despite a reportedly rough economic time for mushers, the amount of teams racing in the Copper Dog 150 has grown by 50 percent.

"We almost ran out of bibs; we only bought 45 bibs, so we were really getting nervous we would get too many," says race director Todd Brassard.

Forty-two teams left the chute Friday.  On Saturday, remaining teams traveled about 50 miles from Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor.

It's a part of the three-day 150 mile journey, a journey race veterans say these dogs love to do.

"Mushers are not making them do this.  Some of these dogs, its in their genetics, they love to do it, it's what they're bred to do," says chief vet Jeff Ladd.

And mushers say they enjoy it just as much when the trails are safe.

Volunteers for the Copper Dog 150 have been working around the clock to monitor conditions and making that information readily available to mushers.

"Mushers aren't here to do an obstacle course.  They're here to see how fast their dogs are and have a competitive race of speed," Brassard adds.

The conditions of the trails, help from the 100 percent volunteer staff, and quality of veterinarian care keep mushers, like Maggie Heielmann of Minnesota, planning to come back yet another year.