2009 UP 200 Dog Sled Race in Michigan

My sled dog images can be seen at UP 200 Sled Dog Race Images by Paul Retherford Photography, LLC

The 2009 UP 200 Dog Sled Race is coming to a close and I had an opportunity to capture images from the race.  It was my first dog sled race and I had a blast.  The opportunity was kind of a last minute decision and I am glad that my wife and I decided to alter our route so that I could capture a portion of the races.

I started out on Friday by heading to the Headquarters at the Holiday Inn in Marquette, Michigan.  They had a vet check in the morning and people were kind of just hanging out and chatting.  It was a nice place to see some dogs, talk to the mushers, and grab some nice images of the dogs as they relaxed on their chains.  I also had the opportunity to speak with the nice people at the headquarters and they helped with some details about the race.

After my visit I headed down to the starting line in downtown Marquette.  I wanted to get a feel of the course and also plot out a nice spot to park before the race.  My plan would be to catch some of the Midnight Run race in Gwinn and they head up to Marquette for the start of the 2009 UP 200 in downtown Marquette.

2009 Midnight Run Dog Sled Race in Gwinn, Michigan ending in Munishing, MI

Gwinn is just a really small town and I was able to hang out and capture some incredible images before the beginning of the Midnight Run dog sled race.   I spoke with some of the mushers and they really schooled me on the strategy and the art of dog mushing.  I found out that the Midnight Run was run with 8 dogs or less and the UP 200, which is actually 240 miles, has 12 dogs or less.  I was told that the Midnight Run speeds are likely faster than the UP 200 speeds, even though they have less dogs, because the UP 200 mushers don’t want their dogs to wear out.

I caught a handful of the starts in Gwinn before I had to high tail it to Marquette for the start of the UP 200.    All I can say is that if you have never seen a start of a dog race, and you love dogs, you HAVE TO check it out.  I had goosebumps and was laughing as the dogs got so pumped up to run.  These dogs LOVE to race and pull the sled and you can tell.  It was tough for the volunteers to hold them back at times.

The following morning I was in Wetmore at the check station for a couple hours capturing the UP 200 and then headed over to Munising to catch a bit of the Midnight Run finish.

I was told that the UP 200 is an Iditarod qualifying race.

You can see my Sled Dog Images at http://www.paulretherford.printroom.com/UP200

———————————————————————————————–