Copper Dog 150 Volunteer Training

The weather is being very cooperative in helping prepare for the Copper Country’s largest sled dog race.

The Copper Dog 150 gets underway later this week, and the volunteer staff is ready.

A day of training was held on Saturday in Calumet to prepare these volunteers for anything they may face during this weekend’s 150–mile race in the Keweenaw.

Volunteer coordinator Brad King says that without the volunteers, the Copper Dog 150 doesn’t happen.

They need about 15 volunteers for every musher entered in the race.

Participants learned how to handle the dog sleds, how to direct traffic and how to help when things go amiss.

For many of these volunteers…it was their first time helping out.

Volunteers came from all around, though probably none farther than Jamaican–born Ryan, who’s spending his first winter in the U.P.

He says it was a bit frightening working with all those dogs at first, but once they calmed down after some petting, he didn’t have any trouble with them.

Posted by: Mike Hoey