Statesman

Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Joe Olivieri

UMD Catering Manager Matt Rossi became involved with dog sledding when his daughter got into it 12 years ago. Long story short, the family now owns 50 Alaskan huskies.

At the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon on Jan. 31, Rossi began the first leg of a 390-mile race along the North Shore-the longest sled dog marathon in the lower 48 states.

"We have been preparing all year for this. Our dogs have around 1,300 training miles on their legs," Rossi said.

After mushing in the 2007 Iditerod in Alaska and finishing with a time of 14 days, 18 hours, 50 minutes, 50 seonds, Rossi developed a tremendous amount of respect for the importance of proper training.

As soon as the temperature drops below 50 degrees, Rossi takes his dogs out to train by pulling an ATV. "We start really slow while going really short distances, building muscle," Rossi said. "You go from a 1000-pound four-wheeler to a 50-pound sled. Then it's time to build endurance."

Hopefully their training will be enough, because according to Beargrease's two-time reigning champion Jason Barron, "It's an awfully solid list of talented mushers, and even more talented dogs."

"The competition is awesome this year," Rossi said. "There are five returning champions with 10 wins between them. This is the most competitive this race has been in many, many years."

The race started in the outskirts of Duluth at Lake Park. By Feb. 3 the mushers who make it through the Northern countryside will be at the finish line north of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, nearly in Canada.

Last year only six of the 21 entrants were able to finish the race, leaving many dogs behind at checkpoints.



"Dog care is what this race is all about. These guys are extreme athletes, they are the coolest thing you have ever seen, running like this day after day," Rossi said.

The dogs burn anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 calories during one day at the race, running over 100 miles a day. For the four-day race, Rossi cut up 250 pounds of beef, 100 pounds of pork fat, 160 pounds of dog food and 50 pounds of chicken fat for his dogs to eat.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools