Only 5 days left until the race start

The Dagoo 340 Sled Dog Race Planning Committee sat down last night with a group of about 20 volunteers in order to begin making all the final race preparations, and to come up with the answers to many of questions that mushers have been asking us over the past few weeks.

We are happy to announce that we now have a solid group of 5 volunteers that will be leaving Old Crow on Tuesday the 20th to travel down the race trail from Old Crow and set up our check point. The Checkpoint will be approximately 60 – 70 miles from the Village of Old Crow. The camp will be simple consisting of 2 or 3 wall tents and a big fire pit. The check point will provide mushers with an excellent place to camp out a dog team for a few hours and provide hot water for the dogs and food for the mushers.
We have also begun to make preparations for the check point in the Village of Old Crow, the planning committee decided that the mushers and dog teams will camp out at the cross country ski facility in Old Crow. This facility is fully equipped with washroom and kitchen facilities and boasts the best view in town. The ski lodge is also located on the edge of town and is isolated from the main part of the village, the planning committee feels that this location will provide a safe and quite environment for all the dog teams while they are camped out in Old Crow.

Over the past few weeks The Dagoo 340 planning committee has recieved a number of questions regarding the food drop and dropped dogs. This was a concern for us also so we have worked out a deal with our snow cat operators to make a second trip in with the race. The snow cats will now be our main supply hauler and trail proofers.

Food Drop

We have made final arrangements for the food drop in Old Crow. The food drop will happen right after the pre-race mushers meeting on the 22nd, mushers will be asked to have their food drop bags pre-packed to enable us to get the drop bags on route to Old Crow as quickly as possible. Weight for the food drop bags is not really an issue anymore, but mushers will be requested to not exceed the previous 100lbs limit by too much, but if your bags are over weight don’t worry. The food drop bags should contain enough food for your dog team to feed them for the duration of their stay in Old Crow and the return trip to Eagle Plains. Also be sure to pack enough feul for your cookers as we will not be providing cooker fuel.

Dropped Dogs

There will be two dog drops, the first dog drop will be at the check point between Eagle Plains and Old Crow on the way in, and the second dog drop will be at the Old Crow check point.
Halfway check point – Dogs dropped at his check point will have to stay there for the duration of the race. We have a check point manager that will be staying out there for the duration of the race that will care for and feed any dogs that will be dropped there, and we will provide the food for any dogs that are dropped there also.
The Old Crow check point - Dogs may be dropped in Old Crow, any dog that mushers may wish to drop in Old Crow should stay with its team while the teams are camped in the village so that mushers can care for their own dogs. The Dogs will be dropped on the Sunday before the race is restarted in Old Crow.

All dogs dropped in Old Crow will be carried out on the snow cats all the way to eagle plains, the snow cats can also pick up the dogs that have been dropped at the halfway check point and carry them to eagle plains as well.

Unfortunately there will be no dog drop at the halfway check point for the second half of the race, as we will not be able to ensure that dogs dropped here on the way out will be safely transported to Eagle plains, mushers will have to cross the finish line with all the dogs that they started the second half of the race.

Purse

The Dagoo 340 Planning Committee also took a dive into our finances and it looks like we have met our goal of being able to provide a minimum purse of $10,000
The minimum breakdown will go as follows:

1st – $2500
2nd - $2000
3rd - $1500
4th - $800
5th - $600
6th - $400
7th - $300
8th - $300
9th - $300
10th - $300
All other finishers will receive $150 and of course any left over money will be added into the purse as well. So the total available purse money may increase. (this purse breakdown is also not finalized and may be subject to change)