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Dog Sled Competitive Racing and Races

Dog sledding racing has become very popular in recent years. With the advent of snowmobiles the necessity of dog sledding for transportation has decreased. Only a few people use dog sledding instead snowmobiles these days. So, dog sledding are mostly used for recreational activities. The most popular of them are dog sledding racing. It is a winter dog sport and a lot of people participate with their sled dog to win the race. It is most popular in the Arctic regions of the United States, Canada, Russia and some European countries. It is the competition of the team of sled dogs that pull a sled with the dog driver or musher standing on the runner. The team completing the race in the least time is the winner.
There are several types of races in a dog sledding racing. The short distance races are known as sprint. It covers a short distance of 4 to 25 miles. It generally is two to three day event and the musher has to use the same dog. There is another type of racing. It is called mid-distance races and generally covers 28-200 miles. This kind of races can be heat races of 14 to 80 miles per day or continuous races of 100 to 200 miles. Musher can change the sled dogs in this kind of races. Long distance races are normally over 200 miles but it has no limit as it can be even over 1000 miles. This type of race can be either stage race or continuous. In stage race participants run a different course each day. The start of a dog sledding race can be timed start or mass start just like car racing. In the timed start team start one after another in a certain time interval. In this type of racing who finishes first is not important. Rather the one takes least time to finish the race is declared winner. In the mass start all the participants’ starts at a time. The number of participants can be even over 300 hundred. The starting of this type is pretty exciting and popular in Europe and many parts of Canada. Participants use various kinds of sled in the race. The look of the sled is also an important factor in the dog sledding racing. Skijoring race has also become popular recently. It is similar to ski race but in this kind of race sled dogs are used to pull the musher.
In 1932 Winter Olympics dog sledding racing was a demonstration sport and also at Olympic at Oslo. Each year numerous number of dog sledding races are organized. Some of them are unsanctioned and organized by local club. National and international events are also held every year. ISDRA sanction races in United States and Canada and ESDRA sanction races in European countries. IFSS sanction the international races known as world races all over the world. The most prestigious dog sledding races is Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. It is a long distance race of over 1150 miles and this race is known as “Last Great Race on Earth”. Popularity of dog sledding racing is increasing every year and so is its participant and viewer.
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