Outdoors

Race To The Sky underway; musher OK after spill

Posted: Feb 9, 2013 12:52 PM by Evan Weborg - MTN News

The annual Race To The Sky sled-dog event is now underway, but there was a brief scare early in the event.

One racer tipped over coming around a turn and was pulled sideways for a several dozen yards.

Spectators jumped out and helped to stop the dogs, and neither the racer nor any of the dogs were hurt, and they got right back into the race.

This year's field consists of 10 mushers, including three from Montana.

Reporter Evan Weborg will have an update on today's portion of the race during this evening's newscast.

Visit the Race To The Sky website for more information about the event, including this overview:

Race to the Sky commemorates the Camp Rimini War Dog Reception and Training Center just outside Helena and has been since 1989. Dogs were used during World War II at Camp Rimini.

In 1943, Camp Rimini became the training ground for 800 sled dogs, 100 pack dogs, and about 125 men to become dog mushers. It was a perfect place nestled near the Continental Divide just a few miles from the capital city of Helena, Montana. The operation existed for about a year and a half and was an excellent place to train sled dogs, perform training maneuvers, and witness the harsh winters.

This unusual training camp is an important part of the Race to the Sky's history. Each February we commemorate the soldiers and sled dogs who served during World War II in a remote area of Montana.

Each February the volunteers organize a 350-400 mile sled dog race which has become the premier winter event in Montana. Race to the Sky is a Montana tradition and its supports, volunteers and sponsors have supported this distance race since its birth. It is the volunteers that make the race happen each February and without them, it wouldn't take place.