Recent Articles - Upper Peninsula Sled Dog Association - UP 200

November 20, 2017

UP200 and Midnight Run races rules for 2018 are finalized and available on our website. The significant change for UP200 mushers is that the Wetmore upbound checkpoint is now assisted unless a musher is registered for the race as an Iditarod qualifier. Iditarod qualifiers must take Wetmore upbound as an unassisted checkpoint. There are no other significant changes in either the UP200 or the Midnight Run race rules.

November 20, 2017

Judges for the 2018 races have been confirmed. For the UP 200 and Midnight Run, Al Orazietti is once again serving as Race Marshall. Carl McKenzie and Jill Churchill are returning as judges. New this year we are very pleased to welcome Joshua Lindstrom from Grand Marais, MN. Josh raced dogs during the mid-1990s and more recently has worked with the Gunflint Mail Run in Minnesota. You can learn more about Josh in the Judges section under Race Info. We are also pleased that Bernie Jensen will be returning as our Jack Pine 30 judge.

October 14, 2017

The Upper Peninsula Sled Dog Association (UPSDA Marquette, MI) is excited to announce changes to this years races.

August 14, 2017

While summer is still holding on strong, UPSDA Board members have undertaken the rather huge job of implementing project management software. After reviewing three of the most popular software programs, Zoho Projects was selected. We are currently reviewing numerous Milestones (as Zoho labels them) and the Task Lists, Tasks, and Sub-tasks associated with completing the milestones. Examples of Milestones include start/finish, checkpoints, trail, musher registration, fundraising, officials and veterinarians, banquets, merchandise, and the always essential volunteers.

August 11, 2017

The UPSDA board typically meets the second Wednesday of each month. August is unusual in that the meeting is a week later, on August 16th. Anyone interested in the sled dog races is invited to attend meetings. Approved minutes are posted on the UPSDA website. We thank the Holiday Inn in Marquette for providing us with meeting space. Meeting dates coming up in 2017 are: August 16, September 13, October 11, November 8, and December 13. All meetings begin at 6:00 pm at the Holiday Inn of Marquette. Changes to the meeting date, time, or location will be posted on the website.

August 11, 2017

We welcome Megan Barrett as the newest UPSDA Board member! Megan was appointed in July to a one-year term to fill the vacancy created when Ron Hewson resigned. Rons resignation came after he took a promotion at Vollwerth & Company last fall and in addition to having new work responsibilities, he moved from Gwinn to Lake Linden. Megan is enthusiastic about the sled dog races and has volunteered at Sand River road crossing and the Jack Pine 30. She is busy with her board orientation packet, getting ready to step into her new role as a board member at the August meeting.