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The first dogs won’t leave the chutes until Sunday, but the WolfTrack Classic has already scored perhaps its biggest victory over Mother Nature.
Ample snow in the Ely area will allow the major winter event to go on as planned, after being canceled because of a lack of snow a year ago.
The 17th annual sled dog race is slated for Sunday, Feb. 23, with both the start and finish lines at the city softball complex on Ely’s east end.
As of Wednesday, about 40 mushers had registered for the event, and the area is coming out of the deep freeze just in time to make sled dog watching more comfortable for the spectators.
Temperatures are expected to be in the 30s on Sunday for the races, which are sponsored by the Ely Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s looking good,” said Eva Sebesta, the Chamber’s executive director. “The warmer temperatures will make for a little bit faster trails.”
That could mean some earlier arrivals for the first finishers on Sunday.
The WolfTrack includes both a six-dog, 30-mile race and an eight-dog, 50-mile contest, with staggered starts beginning around 9 a.m.
Sebesta said the first finishers could be coming in around 11:45 a.m. or so.
New champions will be crowned in both races as neither winner from 2023 will return.
Top returning finishers from the six-dog event include mushers Steve Goetken and Dusty Klaven. The six-dog race also includes Brian Bergen, who was a high-finisher in the eight-dog category two years ago.
“We’ve got a lot of changes,” said Sebesta. “A lot of our mushers who originally signed up for the eight-dog have now dropped to the six-dog. A lot just don’t have the miles they’ve had in past years.”
A total of 13 mushers are currently lined up for the eight-dog event with another 27 in the six-dog.
The mushers and their teams come from the Midwest although there are a few Canadian teams including one from Sioux Lookout, which is roughly 300 miles from Ely.
The event requires a cadre of volunteers, everything from dog handlers to those who handle road crossings.
“This year we’ve got about 120 volunteers,” said Sebesta. “We were with Vermilion (CC) campus law enforcement for road crossing and the sled dog class for some of the handlers. Then we actually have about a third of our volunteers come from other areas. We have some from far away as Missouri, and a lot of those folks come back every year.”
The WolfTrack Classic always includes a full weekend of festivities, and events started Friday with the Wolf Track Prance and continue in earnest on Saturday.
Dog teams will assemble beginning at 3 p.m. in the parking lot of the Vermilion campus at Minnesota North College.
It’s the first chance for the public to meet “these beautiful and energetic rockstar athletes and their mushers” according to a news release issued this week.
The college’s Wilderness Club will provide an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner in the school cafeteria from 4 to 6 p.m.
Tickets are available at the door for $10 per adult and $5 for youth. The dinner is a fundraiser for the club.
The WolfTrack Classic crew will also have race gear available for purchase from 3–5 pm, and Midco Communications will offer free drawings and other treasures.
Saturday’s activities lead up to race day, and Midco will be giving away blankets with the WolfTrack Classic logo, along with free coffee, hot chocolate and breakfast treats - while supplies last.
The public is asked to leave pets at home, and the recycling center near the softball complex is closed during race festivities.
Spectator parking will open at 8 a.m. in the Old Airport Road parking lot, and will close either when the lot is full or at 8:45 a.m.
Should the lot fill, spectators will be directed either to side street parking of the Ely Chamber of Commerce parking lot. The recycling center is closed on race day.
Dog teams will begin departing at 9 a.m., with the energy of the 420 dogs providing a frenzy of high pitched anticipation.
The eight-dog teams hit the trail first, followed by the six-dog teams at two-minute intervals until all teams are on the trail.
The race will be live streamed through iFan Sports. The link for the iFan channel will be available at WolfTrackClassic.com and on Facebook.
Fans may tune in to the iFan network to follow race activities away from the start and finish area.
“If folks decide to head someplace else (after the start) they can tune in and then get an idea of when to come back and when the teams will be back at the finish line,” said Sebesta.
