The second annual Boundary Dog Sled Classics Sprint Races that had been scheduled for Jan. 17 and 18 at Jewel Lake have been cancelled because of unsafe trail conditions.
Ruth Sims, president of the Boundary Dog Sled Association, posted to the group’s Facebook page on Jan. 1 that the day had been spent working on the trail.
She reported that while there was a good snow cover, it had unfortunately created surface melting on the lake ice causing a few inches of slush to build up in a lot of places.
“The lake is not holding up well for us at this time so we are looking at putting in alternate trail at this time,” read the New Year’s Day post. “Keep checking back here, as I will keep you updated as things progress.”
Two days later it was announced that the race was being cancelled for 2015. “Unfortunately we have decided to cancel the race in 2015 due to unsafe trail conditions,” was the message posted to the group’s Facebook page on the evening of Jan. 3.
The two-day event was to have included four classes; one class that has three dogs pulling, another class with four dogs pulling, yet another that has six dogs pulling, and one that has two dogs pulling someone in cross country skis (called skijoring).
Last year 15 teams made it onto the lake, racing for nearly $10,000 in prize money.