Southern Oregon Dog Races Prove Popular Since 1970s

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

The Southern Oregon Sled Dog Club staged races in Lakeview, the Castle Lakes Nordic Center, McCloud, and Sterling Creek Meadows.  The club also put volunteer time and energy into organizing the Diamond Lake Sled Dog Race.
In 2001, sixty dog teams competed on courses of ranging from two to 24 miles in length.  Drivers and teams consisting of four to as many as 12 dogs started at one-minute intervals, racing the clock with a 20-minute delay between the last finisher of one event and the start of the next.  Other events included junior and peewee races and skijoring, consisting of cross-country skiing pulled by one or two dogs.  The mushers had either wooden or aluminum sleds and steered by leaning. 
In 2007, the club merged with the Cascade Skijoring Alliance to form the Pacific SledDog [sic] and Skijor Association.
Although the Diamond Lake Race was canceled a few times because of lack of snow, it resumed in 2017.
Sources: Varble, Bill. "Explosions Waiting to Happen." Mail Tribune, 21 Jan. 2001 [Medford, Oregon] , www.mailtribune.com/article/20010121/News/301219995. Accessed 11 Nov. 2017; "Race Officials and Musher Biographies." Siskiyou Snow Dog Sporting Association, Siskiyou Snow Dog Sporting Association, 2010, siskiyousleddograces.com/musher-bio-page/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2017; Pacific SledDog and Skijor Assoc., PSDSA, 2017, www.psdsa.org. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017.

 

 

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Luana Loffer Corbin