Local mushers ready to race this weekend
By DAVID ERICKSON
Whitefish Pilot
“It’s completely quiet, and all you hear is the panting of the dogs and the swish off the snow. It’s nature’s show, and you’re just alone with your friends. Words can’t really describe the feeling you get.”
This is the reason Scott Donaldson, a local musher from Radnor (north of Olney), loves the sport. He plans to run his six-dog team — Tiger Woods, Sandy, Pirate, Rosie, Outlaw and Gypsie — across 50 miles of fresh, heavy and deep snow on Saturday during the second annual Flathead Sled Dog Days event. More than a dozen teams from around North America are scheduled to show up Jan. 2-4 for the races.
Donaldson, who has been sled-dog racing for 10 years, said there’s a large community of local dog mushers.
“From Lupfer to Radnor, there’s nine mushers that I know,” he said. “It’s a pretty big mushing community. When we’re out racing, it’s competitive. Everyone wants to win. But afterwards, we’re all great friends. It’s a fun community.”
Donaldson said he often rides his team of dogs through downtown Olney to the bar and everyone loves his dogs.
“I take ‘em right up to the Mercantile,” he laughed.
Donaldson has been training his animals since September, steadily increasing the distance they run each day. He’ll be feeding them lots of meat in the form of soup, a way of getting them to drink more fluids.
“I love the animals,” he said. “They just amaze me with how tough they are and how hard they work.”
On Saturday, Donaldson and his team of young dogs — each no more than three years old — will compete for a chance to win the $2,500 purse.
Along with six-dog teams racing 50 miles, the event will feature a 100-mile race for 12-dog teams in the Stillwater State Forest north of Whitefish.
A doggie-skijoring demonstration at Depot Park will kick off the event on Friday, Jan. 2, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will also be a raffle, silent auction and vet check at the O’Shaughnessy.
Racing action starts on Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. sharp at the Olney snowmobile trailhead on U.S. Highway 93 at mile marker 145.5. Visitors are asked not to bring pets to the races. The route will head into the Stillwater State Forest, with the 100-mile trail taking racers up and over Stryker Ridge.
“It was a blast last year,” Donaldson said. “I didn’t place real well, but I was in the 100-mile race with an older team of dogs. This year I have younger dogs.”
Donaldson took a couple trips to Alaska to buy puppy litters. He knows as well as anyone that Iditarod racers breed the best Huskies.
Donaldson makes custom dog-sleds for a living. His coach, trainer and mentor, Jack Beckstrom, owns and operates Adanac Sleds and Equipment. They mill all their own wood and create dog sleds and training equipment to specification.
“You can pretty much get any kind of equipment you need for mushing from us,” Donaldson said. “We fabricate every part of the sled, so each one is unique. We do Iditarod sleds as well as beginner sleds. You would be surprised, we do amazingly well with our beginner sleds. The business does better every year.”
An awards banquet will take place at the Buffalo Café in Whitefish on Sunday at 4 p.m. For more information, call the dogsled race headquarters at 406-881-3200 or visit online at www.flatheadsleddogdays.com.