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The Bachelor Butte Dog Derby is a return to racing sled dogs in the Cascade mountains near Bend/Sunriver, Oregon. The event is a trophy race scheduled for March 2-4, 2012 at Wanoga sno-park. This is an opportunity to experience the splendor of the the Cascades and contest one's dog team on world class terrain. The courses will be challenging and the classes offered somewhat nostalgic.
The short course is a 4.25 mile loop that features some climbing; tight, downhill turns, a mile long straight-away, and a dramatic otter slide hill into the finish at Wanoga. This will be a 5-dog maximum for sprint teams and a separate 2-dog skijour event. We plan to offer the 9-dog 9 mile course, and a 9-mile advanced skijor race again in 2012! (Please see entry form for pre-qualification information for the 9-mile skijor event.)
The middle distance course is 22.5 miles of beautifully groomed trails and promises to be different...this is to be an open class event! Mushers can start with as few as six swifts in tow and hook-up as many as they can safely control. As teams depart Wanoga sno-park they will climb the otter slide that is trail #4 and climb for about 4 miles. At trail #25 the teams will descend for 6 miles through junctions and tree tunnels and circumnavigate Wanoga Butte. The return is a climb up trail #25 and 4 miles of mostly downhill to the finish.
The distance race is planned as a 3 day stage race of approximately 50 miles each day and guarantees ample challenge to mushers and their teams. With the right weather mushers will enjoy views of Bachelor and the Cascades from every angle. The course includes trails in the Bachelor and Three Sisters system - there will be switchbacks, a tour through the high country and Triangle Buttes, and inbound and outbound summits of Kwolh Butte. The race will start/finish at Three Creeks in Sisters on Friday and at Wanoga with the sprint races on Sat/Sun. We hope that this slightly different format will encourage many more distance mushers to join us! And while the course is not short on challenge, the rewards are sure to be great.
For more information on the distance event, contact Shay Miller at: shay927@gmail.com
Sprints: Polly Riley plriley22@gmail.com or 541-420-1064
Course maps:
5 mile sprint course map 700 kb
9 mile sprint course map 860 kb
25 mile open course map 2.4 mb
150 mile course map 9.5 mb (will be updated for 2012 as soon as possible!)
Remember that Deschutes National Forest requires that all straw - including the straw in your dog boxes - be certified weed free!
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