Copper Basin 300 - and they're off!

Yesterday (Saturday) was the start of the Copper Basin 300 sled dog race.  It's a qualifying race for the Iditarod.  There ended up being 48 teams racing this year - that's a lot of dogs!

We were happy that the weather had warmed up substantially since the middle of the week - it was in the teens above zero when we went to watch the race start at 10 am (much better than the negative 30s we'd been having).

Those doggies were just so excited and so ready to run!

There were 2 minutes in between each team start, and it was fun to see each dog team.  They brought each team across the highway to the starting point, anchored by a four-wheeler.  Had they not been anchored, they would just just been off!

I started to get cold so we stopped at the store for a drink, and headed out of town to see the race  without so many people.

it was very snowy for a while

As we drove North on the Richardson, we saw the teams, and were able to see that there had already been some teams being passed.  When we knew we were in front of all the teams, we found some good places to stop and take pictures.

The finishers should start arriving back in town tomorrow (Monday).  I might keep an eye on the website and head in to town to see a finish or two.  Maybe then I could get some better doggie pictures...

Looking for more info?
CB300.com