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Duluth News
Dan Kraker
Duluth

Rain and warmth forces postponement of the first sled dog race of the season

Gunflint Mail Run sled dog race
A musher and their sled dog team traverse Poplar Lake at sunrise during the Gunflint Mail Run in Cook County, Minn.
Nace Hagemann | 2018

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Organizers of the first sled dog race of the season in Minnesota have postponed the event due to poor trail conditions caused by recent rain and warm weather.

The Gunflint Mail Run was scheduled for Jan. 11, 2025. Fifteen teams of 10 dogs were set to run 65 miles in two legs along the Gunflint Trail in far northeast Minnesota, departing and finishing from Trail Center Lodge, about 30 miles north of Grand Marais.

But recent downpours and mild temperatures have depleted the snowpack. Early season snowfalls spread an 18-inch blanket atop much of the trail. But now the snow has compacted, and is icy, hard and fast, said race organizer Cathy Quinn.

“We’ve got canine athletes that are running on these trails, and the safety of them and their mushers” is “the first and foremost concern for us,” she said. “So if we can’t provide a course that is going to be safe for the teams, then we’re going to have to look at what Plan B is.”

In a Facebook post Wednesday organizers said the forecast holds little to no snow before the race date, so they had made the difficult but necessary decision to postpone, likely untill February

In an interview before the announcement Quinn said a fast, hard track increases the risk of wrist and shoulder injuries for dogs. It can also make it more difficult to use snow hooks to effectively slow down sleds. She said another 8 to 12 inches of snow would be ideal.

It’s a far cry from earlier this winter, when early-season snow had officials optimistic the race would proceed as planned.

Officials were forced to postpone last year’s race, and eventually cancel it, because of the unusually warm winter and lack of snowfall.

It’s become a growing concern as human-caused climate change has resulted in significantly warmer winters in northern Minnesota in recent years. Just a few degrees warmer temperatures can mean the difference between moisture falling as feet of snow, or inches of rain.

Quinn said that has Gunflint Mail Run organizers debating the timing of future sled dog races.

“We have had this conversation every year now for probably four years, because I think if our trail boss had his way, we'd push this race back deeper into winter,” she said. “Ten years ago, it didn’t seem to be an issue, but now it’s kind of a repeated pattern. I’m going to guess that, after this experience this year, we might get more serious about pushing our date back further into winter.”