Canyon Sled Sled Dog Challenge cancelled; musher and sled dogs will be at the Darling Run | News, Sports, Jobs
PROVIDED PHOTO Mary Beth Logue is shown with one of her Alaskan husky sled dogs in this photo provided by John Eaton. She will have seven of her huskies with her at the Pine Creek Rail Trail at 9 a.m. on Saturday, February 26 for a show and display.
The Pennsylvania Sled Dog Club has officially canceled the Canyon Sled Dog Challenge due to this week’s weather forecast. Challenge organizer Mary Beth Logue invites the public to meet some of her sled dogs, see sled dog teams in action depending on trail conditions, and learn about other canine sports, like skiing joëring and canicross on Saturday.
This special free event will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Darling Run Access to the Pine Creek rail trail. To get there, take Route 6 from Wellsboro or Galeton to Shippen Township, turn onto Route 362, travel approximately 1.5 miles, turn right, slowly enter the access area and park.
“Ability to demo by running our dogs on the Pine Creek Rail Trail this Saturday depends on trail conditions,” said Logue.
This mid-distance sled dog racer who lives in Trout Run will have seven of her Alaskan huskies with her at Darling Run along with racing gear and supplies.
“I also invite other mushers to bring their dogs”, she says. “We can run on the trail if the conditions are safe.”
At the Darling Run Access parking lot, Logue will give short presentations on mushing. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet her and her dogs and also to dress up as a musher and stand behind a sled for a friend or relative to take their picture.
“My sled dogs are friendly so people can approach them,” said Logue. “I bring Hornet, Inish, Limerick, Ruby, Cyclone, Typhoon and Triumph.”
At 11 a.m. this Saturday, Logue will also be exhibiting his huskies, sled and gear at the Burnin’ Barrel at the Ansonia Valley Inn in Shippen Township (address: 5440 Route 6, Wellsboro, 16901). This will give people a second chance to meet this musher and his dogs as well as dress up like a musher and stand behind Logue’s sled to have their picture taken for free.
The Challenge is a mid distance race on the Pine Creek Rail Trail which covers a total of 18 miles from Ansonia to Tiadaghton and back. Its purpose is to test the abilities of skijorers – cross-country skiers harnessed to one or two dogs – and teams of six to eight professional and registered sled dogs and their mushers.
The Challenge is scheduled for 2018, 2019, 2020 and this year but due to lack of snow or threat of ice on the trail has not yet taken place. In 2021, it was not planned due to COVID-19.
“If there is ice on a trail, it is not safe to run teams of six or eight dogs on it because there is no way to slow them down or stop them safely” , said Logue.
“Since Monday, the weather forecast announces an 87% probability of ice on Friday”, she says. “That’s why we canceled the challenge. If there is snow, we may be able to hold demonstrations with our dogs on the Darling Run trail this Saturday.
The number of 30- to 150-mile mid-distance races Logue enters each year depends on how much snow there is enough to hold the events.
“Some years I went to a race and some years I didn’t,” she says.
The organizers of the Canyon Sled Dog Challenge are the Pennsylvania Sled Dog Club, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry, and the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce.
Anyone interested in more information about the event can visit the club’s website (https://www.pasleddogclub.com/races-events-source/2019/2/23/canyon-sled-dog-challenge) or call the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce Friday at 570-724-1926 or email info@wellsboropa.com.
