"Cold run, happy dogs" Musher Bob Maas on UP 200 Sled Dog race, 1996. Photo: Bill Sampson

Upper Peninsula 200 Dog Sled Races

Taking place February, Michigan's Upper Peninsula 200 Dog Sled Races (UP 200) were initiated in 1990 in Marquette, Michigan, when 14 teams, most running with the maximum of 10 dogs per team, were ready to embark on a 240 mile journey that would take them from Marquette on the Lake Superior shore to Chatham, then on to Rapid River, and then to Escanaba on the shore of Lake Michigan. After a layover in Escanaba, the teams would make their way back north through Gwinn before returning to Marquette for the finish.

Modern competitive racing first appeared in the Upper Peninsula in the 1970s, but by the 1980s there were no competitive races in the Upper Peninsula. In 1989 the UP 200 were created, and the dormant sport of sled dog racing was rekindled.

The project is documented with a narrative of 19 pages with a bibliography, 16 stunning 8 x 10 color photos, a list of winners from 1990 - 1999, descriptions and maps of the trail, an entry form, registration instructions and rules, a program from the 1999 event, newspaper coverage, promotional materials, copies of the Upper Peninsula Sled Dog Association Newsletter and a video, "Mushing the U.P."

Originally submitted by: Spencer Abraham, Senator.

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