For 25 years, intrepid mushers and their teams have completed the more than 200-mile icy loop that makes up the annual Can-Am Crown 250 sled dog race. On March 5, a Quebec competitor beat the field to the finish in Fort Kent, Maine, for an eighth title, a record. The Can-Am includes three races: typically 30, 100, and 250 miles. But it’s the longest race that you’ll hear about on the car radio, with updates slipped between songs as the race unfolds almost entirely out of public view. Spectators catch a glimpse of racers at the start, cheering the teams as they run through downtown Fort Kent before disappearing into the woods. The teams won’t reemerge for hours, miles away at Portage Lake, the first checkpoint, where they’ll stop to feed their dogs, bed them down on hay, and wrap them in blankets for a rest. Warm winter weather wreaked havoc on the usual course this year with ice starting to run on some rivers that racers usually cross, and some trails being rendered impassable. Officials rerouted the checkpoints, trimming the 250-mile race to 209. Even with the shorter haul, it still takes days to complete the race, with mushers resting at mandatory intervals and then heading back into the bitter cold to harness their dogs. Sleep takes place in spurts and many legs are run in the dead of night with only a headlamp to illuminate the narrow trail. -- By Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
A team belonging to Gilles Harnois of Quebec waits patiently for the start of the 209-mile race. There are three Can-Am Crown races: 30, 100, and 250 miles, but some of the usual trails were impassable this year because of the thaw, and the longest race had to be shortened by 41 miles. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)
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