CALUMET - Now entering its third year, the CopperDog 150 sled dog race is hoping to build on the success of last year to help establish a nationally recognizable, sustainable event. And the race is so much more than a competition, according to organizers.
"We don't do a race to have a race; we do it because we think it's going to help the community," second-year CopperDog race director Todd Brassard said. "One of the primary imperatives of our mission is to improve community vitality."
Last year, about 4,000 people lined Fifth Street in downtown Calumet for the start of the race, and those people fill up hotels, visit restaurants and buy from local shops. And if the race continues to be a success, the economic impact on the community will extend well beyond race weekend, which is March 2 to 4 this year - just 48 days away.
"For some reason, this place is magical. People come here ... and they tell us that the community is beautiful and the people are so friendly. That is the feedback we're getting from the mushers, the helpers, the families," Brassard said. "Because of this they come back on their own and what that is, is brand-new, fresh tourism dollars.
"And I want to believe the cumulative effect if we can keep doing this year after year after year is it will have an impact. ... We want to put our region on the map," Brassard added.
Even with such ambitious goals, Brassard said he and a dedicated group of organizers have a humble approach, and six months of preparation go into putting on a successful CopperDog event, headlined by a 150-mile race from Calumet to Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor and back to Calumet.
The CopperDog 150 is ultimately a subcommittee of the promotions committee of Main Street Calumet, and with several subcommittees under that, more than 25 people work behind the scenes to make the event a success.
Managing a couple dozen people and an event expected to cost upwards of $50,000 is no easy task, but the committee has learned from past years and has several improvements to make the 2012 CopperDog even better.
"The quality of the event is really important to us," Brassard said. "We decided not to grow the race this year because we want to solve naggy little problems from last year before we try to grow the size of the event."
The 2012 race reached its 30-team limit in just 10 days when registration opened in September, which Brassard thinks is a strong indication of the race's quality, but now the success of the event depends on several factors, namely good volunteer turnout, sufficient sponsorships and weather conditions.
Organizers can't control the weather, but they've created a new, more efficient volunteer registration system that should make finding the ideal opportunity easy. People can match volunteer opportunities to their schedule and interest, and sign up at copperdog150.com. Interested sponsors can also pursue opportunities through the detailed, regularly updated website.
In addition to the new volunteers and sponsors who have already signed up, this year's event will feature several other new additions, including a hand-crafted, 5,000-pound, all-wood starting gate for downtown Calumet; and a reverse start for stage two of the race, which means the slowest stage one team starts first and the fastest starts last, creating more excitement throughout.
"What is good about this? Everything. It's super fun and you see a lot of action very quickly," Brassard said. "The mushers get to see each other, there's lots of passing, dogs see other dogs. ... It reduces the volunteer shifts and time by half, which is big. We did this last year as an experiment and the mushers and volunteers loved it."
For more information on the CopperDog 150, visit copperdog150.com.
